U18s take stage at Pontiac Winter Classic

January 16, 2026

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K.C. Jordan

kc@theequity.ca

It was the U18s’ turn to take centre stage at the Shawville arena this weekend in the second weekend of the inaugural Pontiac Winter Classic hockey tournament.

Twelve teams at the U18 level, including two Pontiac Lions teams, descended on Shawville for the tournament, which runs over a total of three weekends in January and February. Last weekend, the opening weekend of the tournament, saw U13 and U11 teams face off at the Shawville arena.

This time, it was the U18 players’ who took the ice. The first Lions team opened their tournament with a 5-0 victory over Stittsville’s East End Storm on Friday night, thanks to goals from Chase Wittig-Thompson, Dryden Frobel and a hat-trick from Jeffrey Demers.

The team tied their second game of the tournament 2-2 against Kemptville, then defeated the Hull Gladiators 3-2 to finish the round-robin thanks to goals from Dryden Frobel, Bentley Lalonde and Gavin Roy.

Their record of two wins and one loss qualified them for the semi-final on Sunday morning, but came up against a tough opponent in the Aylmer Gladiators. The visiting Gladiators proved too much for the hometown Lions, putting up 4 goals to the Lions’ 0 and advancing to the final.

The Lions then went on to the consolation round, where they faced another tough opponent in the Kemptville team. The Lions managed to tie them on Saturday, but were not able to muster the same result, falling 7-1 to the visitors.

The Shawville 1 team opened their tournament with a 3-2 victory against the West Island Kings on the backs of goals from Fisher Davis (two goals) and Cameron Bernier. The team could not muster another win in the round-robin phase however, losing 3-1 and 5-1 in their next games.

Organizer Holly Lalonde said the second weekend of the tournament was equally a success. “The way the community rallied was amazing. We have had nothing but good feedback and look forward to next year’s tournament already,” she said.

The tournament will return on Valentine’s Day weekend when over 25 U9 and MAHG teams will take the ice at the Shawville Arena.

Lions 1 player Connor Findlay looks to thread the needle against the West Island Kings on Friday evening.

Lions 1 forward Lucas Ethier carries the puck over the blue line on Friday night.

Bentley Lalonde of the Pontiac Lions fights for a faceoff against the Hull Gladiators on Saturday night, a game his team would go on to win, 3-2.

Lions 1 assistant captain Gavan Needham rushes down the left side of the ice.

Pontiac Lions players celebrate a first-period goal against the Hull Gladiators.

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