The MOB sandwiched the scoring against Bonnyville netting the opener and the closer but in between a poor second period led the Oil Barons to a 6-5 loss to the ‘Yaks while being outshot 41-31.
That sends the Oil Barons pre-season record to a lowly 0-4 with just one last crack at an exhibition win tomorrow night in Sherwood Park.
“When you’re into the exhibition season you want to have a learning lesson from each game, and tonight the learning lesson […] was the fact that we can’t afford to take shifts off, or periods or have lapses,” said Tom Keca, Head Coach. “Good teams will put you away, I thought we were good in the first [period], real good in the third but in the second we just laid an egg.”
Similar to Wednesday’s game it was a tight see-saw battle throughout the night. Adam Scoville opened the scoring at the 10:04 mark of the first period, just over four minutes later Alden Dupuis tied it for the Pontiacs.
Through 20 minutes the score was 2-2 following goals by Chad Hurtubise and another marker for the MOB’s Austin Holmes.
A dismal second period put the game out of reach for the Oil Barons as the Pontiacs took a 5-3 lead. 17-year-old defenseman Tanner Miller scored the MOB’s lone goal in the second frame. Keca says inconsistency will be a point of focus for the coaching staff this season, especially dealing with such a young line-up.
“We’ve said from the get go that this will be a process, we’ve got a group of individuals here that will work hard. There will be nights where we get rewarded and there will be other nights where we’ll be frustrated.”
The Oil Barons made a push-back in the third outscoring Bonnyville 2-1 off goals from Jake Wozney and an Isaac Ceh breakaway marker with under five minutes to go but it simply was too little too late.
“I thought that our goaltender [Dattani] was good, […] I thought that Damon Porter for his first action in a week after missing a couple of practices was real good, I thought that Tanner Miller as a ’98 defence was very poised with the puck, he had a couple of toe drags and had a great goal,” said Keca. “Those are encouraging things and I think those are the things that we’re going to try and stress here as we go into tomorrow.”
After a night’s rest in Edmonton the MOB will take on Crusaders at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sep. 5, in their final match of the pre-season.
The Oil Barons open up the regular season at home on Friday, Sep.11 against the defending AJHL champion Spruce Grove Saints.
Audio: Tom Keca Post-Game Sep.4 2015
Article and audio courtesy of mymcmurray.com.