Wild finish sees Pontiacs upset Canucks to get back in win column

In a season where the Hockey Gods giveth and taketh away, on Saturday night they gave the Pontiacs a second chance they wouldn’t look back from. Image: Emma Jonker Photography. 

Rhett Melnyk appeared to have ended it. 

The Calgary Canucks had left the ice, down the tunnel to the dressing room. Netminder Cruz Chase grabbed his water bottle, the Canuck scratches packed up the camera gear. The Canucks had won the game in overtime…

Not.

After minutes of discussion, the officials deemed goalie interference precluded Cody Butikis for making the save off a rebound shot, while Calgary was on the man advantage.

This reprieve allowed the game to continue, and the Pontiacs to eventually win a wild, zany, thrilling Saturday night hockey game, amidst atrocious conditions outside.

But the Pontiacs had earned their way into that overtime with three 2nd period goals. The shootout finished off one of the strongest performances of the season, considering the circumstances.

“I think everyone was elated that goal was called off in overtime,” said assistant coach Chad Carder in the post-game show. “It was more of a complete effort than we’ve in the last few weeks for sure. That’s what we’ve been looking for.

“I thought our 2nd period was our best of the season. I thought we forechecked really hard, our F2 were hard on pucks, we were creating turnovers, and finding ways to get pucks on net.”

Tumultuous Friday

A weekend of hockey like this proves what a difference 24 hours can make.

The Friday game against the Camrose Kodiaks saw a Pontiacs team that struggled to get pucks on goal, getting good looks, but failing to hit the net on several occasions.

Camrose played a sturdy game and capitalized on their chances, while the Yaks could not.

It underlined a struggling Yaks offence, that had scored 15 times in the last 7 games, and were shutout again, 3-0.

“It’s getting tiresome. I’m going to call out our group right now because it’s not good enough. They’re not putting the puck in. Yeah, some guys are gripping their sticks, it’s been a few games in a row,” said a visibly frustrated Carder.

But the end of the game had it’s own drama to attend to.

On the Camrose empty-netter, Cole Barrett was crushed at neutral as he released the puck, which saw Cade Meiklejohn’s shoulder ride high into the head.

Meiklejohn was subsequently slashed and will be out for awhile anyway, as he was handed a two game suspension.

Then, just as the final buzzer sounded, Yaks defender Lynden Hanvold was charged from behind by Jack Bouck, resulting in another two-game suspension.

Hanvold was shaken up, but good enough to play on Saturday night.

“Obviously it was unfortunate with Meiklejohn. I think he was just trying to play the body there. Then to be honest it was premediated by them,” said Carder.

“I’m almost certain their coach told number 6 to go out, because he had about three minutes of playing time…he’s looking for something. A gutless hit from behind. I thought it was a cheap shot.”

Elated Saturday

So heading into Saturday, the vibes were low, with a team that needed to come together.

“While our game might not be going the way we want it to, we gotta stick together in the room. That’s what we’ve really been preaching the last couple days, even weeks,” said captain Jordan Schanbacher.

“We just need to stick together as a group because at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to get us a W.”

And so they did.

The Canucks entered the game at the end of back-to-back against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, and without their leading scorers with Jack Plandowski and Nolan Dupont, as well as defender Nathan Maloney, all with Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge.

This was the time to catch the defending champs, particularly after they blew the Yaks out a couple weeks prior.

With a tighter first period, trailing by one, the much discussed powerplay ignited.

Dayton Reschny scored his first goal in nine games, and a subsequent Canucks penalty, then saw Myles Gauld re-direct a Kailus Green shot just 60 seconds later.

The Pontiacs had flipped the script to take the lead.

They played with flow in their game, transitioned from zone to zone well, and created more chances. That led to Brent Hoshowski finally getting off the schneid, potting his first of the year for a two goal lead into the intermission.

As expected, the Canucks pushed back hard, and worked to tie the game with approximately six and a half minutes remaining.

The powerplay could not score late, leading to the controversial overtime. The shootout saw only one goal.

Dayton Reschny scored in the third round, Cody Butikis made the stop, and a much needed win came to fruition.

No stopping

With the Oil Barons win on Sunday against, the Yaks remain eight points back of the MOB with five games in hand.

The busy stretch doesn’t lighten up.

The Pontiacs travel to take on the Devon Xtreme on Wednesday night, before returning home for The Brick Bonnyville Teddy Bear Toss on Friday night vs the Olds Grizzlys, and Saturday vs the Drumheller Dragons.

Tuesday night the Yaks host the Whitecourt Wolverines to finish off 2024.

Notes:

• Myles Gauld became the first Pontiac skater to reach double-digit goals with his marker on Saturday, including his 5th powerplay goal of the season.
• With the powerplay starting to click more often, the Yaks still look to climb out of the basement. Their PP percentage has improved to 13.6%.
• The PK has been steadily improving over the past month and is now at 79%, good enough for 9th in the league.
• While Dayton Reschny stopped his skid, Christophe Lussier has been knocking on the door to snap his own. He hasn’t gotten a point since Oct. 27, eight consecutive games.
• With a pair of assists, Maxim Shuskov leads all Pontiacs defensemen in points with 10 in 16 games.
• In fact, Shuskov is 4th in the league in points per game amongst defencemen, with 0.63.
• Cody Butikis started all three games for the Yaks this week, and it doesn’t appear he’ll sit much with four games left to go before the break. He has played the 4th most minutes of any goalie in the AJHL.
• Rough start for Canada at the World Jr. A Challenge: Canada West was shellacked 10-2 by Sweden, while USA shutout Canada East 8-0. Canada goes head-to-head on Tuesday night.