The Shawville Pontiacs lost a 4-1 decision against the Madawaska Valley Wolves at the Paul J. Yakabuski Community Centre in Barry’s Bay on Friday night.
The Pontiacs were shorthanded for the game, with many players not able to make the 2.5-hour drive to Barry’s Bay from Gatineau, where many Pontiacs players live. Head coach Darcy Findlay said it was hard to field a roster.
“We struggled to put together a lineup with injuries and family commitments, and probably just the Barry’s Bay flu when they put it in their GPS,” Findlay said, adding that he brought along some local men’s league players from the Shawville area to pad their roster for the game.
Once the whole team was suited up and ready to go, the Pontiacs started slow again, surrendering three goals in the first period to the hometown Wolves. Findlay said that starting slow has been his team’s Achilles heel this season.
“I gave them the old Albert Einstein quote there – insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” he said of his message to his team.
A second-period goal appeared to give the Pontiacs some added momentum, but that was all the visitors could muster. A fourth and final Wolves goal was the nail in the coffin for a Pontiacs squad that has now lost four of their last five games.
“I think it’s a combination of, your lineup’s short, you have a three-hour drive, and we had three guys that missed warm-up completely just from the travel. In the second period they started to play and we took control even with the short lineup that we had,” said Findlay.
With five games left in the regular season, the Pontiacs sit in third place in the Pioneer Division, right behind the Wolves. Neither of them are likely to catch the first-place Manotick Mariners, meaning that the two teams are almost sure to face each other in the first round of the playoffs.
“The reality is they’re going to play a rough and tough game, which benefits them in Shawville because it’s a smaller rink. When you get to Barry’s Bay, it’s a bigger ice pad [ . . . ] Playing there could benefit us more because we’re a deep team full of skaters,” he said.
On Saturday, Findlay and three Pontiacs players drove to Tweed, Ont. for the NPHL Capital Division All-Star Game. Forwards Julien Arruda and Joey Brennan, as well as defenceman Jean-Robin Mantha represented Shawville in the game, while Findlay served as the Eastern All-Stars head coach.
Findlay said it was a good experience to coach the team, though not much actual coaching was done. He said the players were of very high calibre, and the game was competitive to the last whistle – in the end a 6-5 victory for Findlay’s team, the Eastern All-Stars.
The all-star festivities also featured a skills challenge, in which Pontiacs players competed. Mantha competed in the hardest shot contest, while Brennan competed in the breakaway challenge and the fastest skater challenge. While no Pontiacs player won any challenges, Findlay said it was a fun and competitive weekend all around.
“It was highly skilled, lots of really nice goals [ . . . ] at the end of it, it was a fun day, no one got hurt. It was a great experience for everyone,” he said.
The Pontiacs will have their work cut out for them during the final few weeks of the regular season. On Jan. 23 the team will host the league-leading Manotick Mariners, and two days later will travel to Chesterville to face last season’s league champions, the North Dundas Rockets. They will round out their season against Madawaska Valley once again before the playoff round begins in February.
