The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs took the energy and emotion from a pre-game ceremony, which saw Mark Letestu's No. 11 raised to the rafters of the RJ Lalonde Arena and dominated the Olds Grizzlys from start to finish.
The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs took the energy and emotion from a pre-game ceremony, which saw Mark Letestu's No. 11 raised to the rafters of the RJ Lalonde Arena and dominated the Olds Grizzlys from start to finish.
Excitement generated from the presence of the ex-Pontiac captain, now Edmonton Oilers forward packed the building and gave the Pontiacs a huge boost.
"Certainly Mark added to the excitement here. We had parents coming in from all over North America who added to it. The players wanted to play well," said Pontiacs Head Coach and GM Rick Swan.
Josh Borynec sent the crowd of 1,452 into a frenzy when he scored his fourth goal of the season just two minutes into the game.
Six minutes later, with Olds Braden Barker in the box for kneeing, Brinson Pasichnuk whipped a wrist shot from the point through a screened Ben Giesbrecht to put Bonnyville up by two.
"The excitement was similar to a playoff game last year, as we had people in here at warm up, and I think that allowed guys to get more of a jump," said Swan.
With an early two goal lead and momentum in their favour the Pontiacs kept their foot on the gas and dominated every aspect of the game right from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer.
By the time the first period came to an end Bonnyville led 2-0 and had outshot the Grizzlys 24-4.
While Olds would push back in the second there was no letting up from the Pontiacs lethal offensive attack, which kept hammering Giesbrecht.
Eight minutes into the middle frame defenceman Bryan Gerstenfeld jumped up into the rush, took a nice pass from Ryan Piche and redirected it into the back of the net for his 5th of the season.
After Tyr Thompson ripped a shot past Gunnar Neilsen to get the Grizzlys on the board, the Pontiacs answered back with two goals in a span of 17 seconds.
Captain Steenn Pasichnuk, who has been seeing increased time playing the point on the powerplay, was able to tee up a blast from the blueline and beat a distracted Giesbrecht at the 12:03 mark.
Before the goal could even be announced, Chandler Klein picked up the rebound of a Piche shot in front and tucked it inside the left post to put the Pontiacs up 5-1.
Chase Olsen would strike on the powerplay for the Grizzlys sending the game into the second intermission with the Pontiacs leading 5-2.
Just 32 seconds into the third period Kyler Hehn spotted Chad Hurtubise streaking towards the Olds goal, who took a pass and flipped it over Giesbrecht's shoulder.
"I think everyone was doing their part today, so that contributed a lot," said Hurtubise. "We were getting pucks to the net and getting bodies to the net, which resulted in a lot of opportunities."
While saddled with a 6-2 loss Giesbrecht stood tall in goal stopping 56 of the 62 shots he faced.
As for the Bonnyville's netminder, Neilsen was able to pick up his second career AJHL win and appeared to be at ease in the Pontiacs crease.
"This was the second game for Gunnar and we need to get him in some more AJHL action," said Swan. "If something happens (to Olivier Charest) we have to have a reliable guy who feels confident."
Olivier Charest stopped 15 of 16 shots as the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs stifled the Okotoks Oilers offence and grinded out a 4-1 victory.
The six-foot-three, 225-pound netminder was back between the pipes for the Pontiacs after giving way to backup Gunnar Neilsen on Saturday night for some due rest.
"Olivier is our go-to guy for the playoffs and we don't want to get into a situation of burning him out," said Swan. "We learned a lot with Troy Trombley last year from a coaching perspective."
It was a fairly quiet game for Charest, who only faced three shots in the first period, seven more in the second and six in the third.
His lack of activity was due to a great defensive game being played by him teammates in front of him.
"I thought we played great. I thought we outworked them for a full 60 minutes and played the better game," said captain Steenn Pasichnuk.
Four different Pontiacs scored over the course of the first two periods to pace Bonnyville to their 32nd win of the season.
Chandler Klein opened the scoring, notching a goal at the 14:31 mark of the first. After a great forecheck from Alden Dupuis, Klein was able to pick the puck up behind the Oilers goal, wrap around the right side and tuck it inside the left post.
"We played solid defensively," said Swan. "Our philosophy is that if we word hard and as quick as we can on defense then we will have more time with the puck and will create more territorial play in the offensive zone."
At the 5:04 mark of the second period Derek Brown took a pass from Brinson Pasichnuk flying down the wing and ripped a rocket past Oilers netminder Brian Wilson.
Six minutes later Kyler Hehn picked up his 17th goal of the campaign to give the Pontiacs a commanding 3-0 lead.
With just under eight minutes left in the middle period, a lucky bounce helped get the visitors on the board.
Travis Verveda swatted a loose puck past Charest, who was fooled after the puck took an interesting bounce in front of the goal.
Just 2:26 later Bobby McMann restored Bonnyville's three-goal lead, whacking the rebound of a Gen Bryshun shot past the outstretched right leg of Wilson.
Held on for the win capping off a four-point weekend.
"That was our mission. On Friday night we said we wanted four points from this weekend and we weren't going to stop until we got it," said Pasichnuk.
With just ten games left on the schedule the Pontiacs will be in tough to move up the standings. They will have a shot on Wednesday night when they host the Lloydminster Bobcats.
