The Shawville Pontiacs faced off against the North Dundas Rockets and the Madawaska Valley Wolves at home over the holiday break, achieving one less and one defeat.
In the most recent matchup, held at the Shawville Arena against the Madawaska Valley Wolves on Jan. 2, the home team emerged victorious, 8-5.
The Pontiacs came out hard in the first period, doubling their opponent’s shots on goal.
Raphael Lafontaine opened up the scoring for the Pontiacs late in the frame, with Joey Brennan scoring a buzzer beater to close things out.
Julien Arruda and Jean-Robin Mantha added two at the top of the second to give Shawville a comfortable lead, but Madawaska caught them flat-footed as the period wore on and scored a quick trio of goals to put themselves back in the game. There was a short delay after a referee took a stick to the chin and required some patching up at the Shawville bench.
The Pontiacs buried the Wolves in the third, racking up four goals from Jean-Phillipe Caron, Brennan, and Alexandre Landreville, along with an empty-netter from Brennan with less than five minutes left for the hat-trick. Madawaska added another two in the dying minutes of the game, but the final score read 8-5.
Coach Darcy Findlay said that despite some foolish penalties, he was pleased with the performance.
“I liked how we played in the first, I thought we took it to them,” he said. “They had seven shots total, five were on the power play, five-on-five we really outskated them. We gave them some life in the second period, we probably had a two-minute lull there where they took advantage of it. You have to be aware when their five guys are on the ice. They’re driven, 80 per cent of their offence, from their top line because they’re phenomenal players.”
He said the win was an important one in the lead up to the playoffs.
“It’s our second game against them. We’ll have two on the road in the next few weeks,” he said. “Both wins are huge here, we’re going to be battling them for home ice in the playoffs, it looks like we’re going to line up against them in the first round [ . . . ]
We stressed the last few weeks the importance of the games against them. It was good that our guys came out on top here and played the way they did.”
Findlay said the team has added some experienced players before the trade deadline in December who have yet to suit up in black and yellow, and also had a few players returning from injuries, bringing some depth to the roster.
“It’s going to speak volumes to our depth, because we had some regulars that weren’t playing tonight plus these guys are coming in,” he said. “So, [Ethan] Mulhearn I knew him from junior, I coached against him, and then he went on to play in the States, NCAA. Alexandre Quesnel is a veteran that played over in the Magnus league in Europe, and then seven years North American league. That’s veteran leadership that we can use. We’re a young team overall, we don’t have a ton of experience in this league, so to have someone like that in our lineup is huge.”
Pontiacs face league’s defending champs
On Dec. 19, the Shawville Pontiacs faced off at home against the North Dundas Rockets, the previous season’s league champions.
The Rockets showed why they’re at the top of the Frontier Division, putting up a goal within the first minute and adding another two over the course of the frame. Though Shawville’s Jacob Roy-Lauzon was able to get one on the board for the home team before the end of the period, it was downhill from there.
The Rockets potted another three in the second period, doubling the home team’s shots on net. Marc-Olivier Racine-Roy scored the lone goal for Shawville to make the score 6-2 for the visitors going into the final stretch.
The Rockets had another two in the third, with Shawville’s Raphael Lafontaine netting a last minute power play goal for a final score of 8-3.
Findlay said that this is the first time they’ve played the former champs this season, and the game was closer than the score implied.
“It wasn’t 8-3, you know, they capitalized on some chances, they’re a veteran hockey team,” he said. “They’ve gone through the trenches together for a couple years, winning championships and battling it out.”
He added that there was a lot of scrapping over the course of a rough, physical game, which is not how his team needed to play.
“We can’t get caught up in the crap that happens after the whistle, that’s what I just told my guys. I said, ‘We had a really good start to the year, we scrambled for three weeks to make our lineup somewhat consistent, we’re the furthest thing from what our hockey team really is right now,’” he said. “When it comes to the bodies playing and making all the additions we have too, it takes time to adapt, right, but we’re not a team that gets caught up in that kind of stuff. We’re more of a skill, speed team.”
He added that they’d had some fluctuations in their lineup over the previous few weeks due to injuries and new additions, which has been challenging.
“Nothing’s consistent. Guys who have chemistry from past years aren’t playing together because guys are sick or they’re hurt,” he said. “It’s a bit of a scramble, you toss them in the blender every night and see what happens for the last three weeks. Which is frustrating a bit. But it’s senior hockey.”
Findlay as well as three Pontiacs players, Jean-Robin Mantha, Joey Brennan, and Julien Arruda will also be heading to the league’s All-Star game and skills competition in Tweed, Ont. on Jan. 17, where Findlay will coach Team East.
“It’s a full day of festivities, they do a great job, it should be a good day for everyone,” he said.
Findlay added that the boys needed to “keep their foot on the pedal” this deep in the season, with at least four road games in coming weeks. The previously scheduled Dec. 27 road game against the South Grenville Rangers was postponed to a date that has yet to be determined.
The Pontiacs currently sit in second place in the Pioneer Division of the Northern Premier Hockey League with a 10-3 record.
Their next home game will be on Jan. 23 against league leaders, the Manotick Mariners.
