The Shawville Pontiacs lost a pair of games against two of the highest ranked teams in the league over the weekend, going 4-1 against the Manotick Mariners at home on Friday night, and 8-4 on the road Sunday night against the North Dundas Rockets.
The Mariners currently sit in first place in the Pioneer Division with a record of 17 wins and one loss, while the Rockets are in first place in the neighbouring Frontier Division with a record of 16 wins and two losses.
In Friday’s home game, both teams came out hard in the first, and though there were several disallowed goals, nobody managed to get on the board. Manotick opened up the scoring with two that period and another two in the third. Jacob-Roy Lauzon scored Pontiac’s only goal on a power play in the third period.
Coach Darcy Findlay said that playing two of the highest level teams in the league back to back was a tough task, especially with a shorter lineup than he would have liked.
“I would consider us in the top three of the league with those other teams, so we competed hard,” he said. “[Manotick’s] goalie stood on his head, he made some ridiculous saves. We gave up a shorthanded goal, which is unacceptable. I thought the second [goal] was weak on our end to give up. But we had our opportunities, we had our disallowed goals. If it wasn’t for their goalie we probably would have won that game.”
Findlay said that he wasn’t pleased with the level of refereeing on Friday night’s game, noting a number of missed calls and disallowed goals, and gave the officials a piece of his mind before heading to the dressing room.
“One of their players smashed our goalie’s water bottle, which should be an automatic unsportsmanlike. One of the linesmen tried to call it and the ref blew it off, just stuff like that,” Findlay said. “I lost it on the refs at the end of the game, sometimes they have to be told. I ended up getting tossed out of the game, even though the game had ended, and I was supposed to be suspended for Sunday’s game. But after all the video review that I sent in to the league, they couldn’t argue with it. They said ‘Yes, we understand why you were frustrated. You’re good to go.’”
He said he understands that it’s difficult to find referees, but he expected the league to address his complaints going into the playoffs.
On Sunday the team travelled to Chesterville, Ont. to play the North Dundas Rockets, where the visitors lost 8-4, though Findlay said the game was closer than it appeared. Shawville was leading by 2-1, but gave up five in the second period and another two in the third.
“It was a very good game. We had an opportunity, but in the second period we gave up five goals, which I told the guys was unacceptable,” he said. “They only scored one on the power play, our penalty kill continues to be extremely strong, I think we’re 90 per cent on the penalty kill.”
Findlay said that he hopes the Barry’s Bay flu isn’t making the rounds again before this Saturday’s game against the Madawaska Valley Wolves, a lengthy drive for many of the players who are based in Gatineau. He said that he understands it’s hard this time of year for his players who coach minor hockey, as this time of year is full of tournaments.
“In my mind, I’m already gearing myself up, which is a shame, because you always want to compete, you always want to win, but you can only control so much,” he said.
“That’s what gets us, the guys with the young families that are coaching PeeWee hockey teams. Saturday, Sunday they’re at tournaments this time of year,” he said. “Everybody’s January is gone to tournaments. It is what it is, they have lives. It’s nice to see them coaching minor hockey at the age that they are.”
The Pontiacs’ last regular season home game will be on Friday Feb. 6 against the Akwesasne Wild. Shawville currently sits in third place in the Pioneer Division, with a record of 10 wins, 7 losses.
