Weekend Recap

Canadian Brewhouse Weekend Recap

by Shane Tomayer

This weekend started off with the Bobcats headed to the (always) less than friendly RJ Lalonde arena in Bonnyville for the first of a home and home weekend against the Pontiacs.

Season after season the confines of the RJ have been unkind to the Bobcats.  The fans are always a factor.  The stands are nearly on top of the ice.  The rink surface itself provides a distinct advantage, being that it doesn’t conform to the norms associated with the hockey universe.  For clarity the Bobcats have won just four times in their last 20 regular season games in Bonnyville.  For whatever reason, iteration after iteration of the Lloydminster Bobcats have struggled in the Lakeland region.
Compounding history is the fact the Cats had only picked up 2 points in their opening 8 games of the season – both in losing efforts.  But the Bobcats came through in fine fashion on the road.  Plaguing the Border City clubs offense this year has been an underperforming powerplay unit as well as just an overall struggle to find the back of the opposing net. Both issues seemed resolved by the time the clock ran down on Friday evening.
Newest Bobcat Rhett Miller started things off right on the powerplay midway through first.  He’d add another extra strength marker 5:48 into the second.  His 2nd cued the cavalry.  Nardelli, Fergusson and Moore would all jump on the score sheet before the end of the evening.  All told they combined for 4 powerplay goals and 4 different goal scorers in the game.  In their own zone the Cats were very stingy.  Kaiden Kirkwood came away with his first AJHL shutout, stopping all 20 shots against.
Saturday evening was back in the comforts of the CCC.  The injury riddled home side was riding high off their first W of the season, looking to see if they could go back to back. Certainly hopeful given the outpouring of offense the night before on the road. Scoring would not start until the second period when Alessio Nardelli scored on the powerplay off a cross slot pass from El-Tahhan.That would be the lone goal for the Cats in regulation.  Bonnyville responded two minutes later and that equalizer would hold, to eventually force overtime.
Overtime was high tempo with chances at both sides but the 3 on 3 would also solve nothing leaving the Lloydminster fans cheering through the shootout.  The shootout seemed like it may end quickly with Bonnyville scoring on their first attempt, but the Cats third and potentially final shooter Gus El-Tahhan extended the extra, extra period.  And extend is an understatement.  Running through the line up brought local Jaxan Hopko in the 12th round.  The Yaks goalie bit on a solid move to the right and Hopko found twine high left.  With all the pressure then transferred to the Pontiacs shooter a calm Andres Miller closed the door and solidified the win.
The weekend ended with 4 of 4 points gained and a short step up the AJHL North standings.  Additionally special teams were functioning at expected levels, 5/13 on the powerplay and successfully killing all 6 powerplay attempts against – any coach would be pleased with those numbers.
The black and orange will look to turn their pair of wins into a streak when they head north to Fort McMurray for Friday evening.  Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 at Centerfire Place, you can catch the action on Flo Hockey.
Next home action for the Bobcats comes October 18th when they will host the Devon Xtreme for the first time.