Bobcats captain, Ben Gygrove, shakes hands with Bonnyville Pontiacs goaltender Bodee Weiss after Sunday’s game at the Centennial Civic Centre. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
It was an emotional afternoon for the Lloydminster Bobcats organization as the Bonnyville Pontiacs defeated the boys in black and orange 4-2 in the first round of AJHL playoff action, ending their 2022-2023 season.
The series started on March 10 in Bonnyville with the ‘Cats taking Game 1 6-2. The ‘Yaks fired back with a 4-0 win the following night before the series came to the Border City.
Game 3 was held at the Civic Centre on March 14 where the Pontiacs would beat the ‘Cats 7-4 and take a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4 was a nail-biter as the ‘Cats beat the ‘Yaks 5-4 in double overtime, tying the series. Game 5 would also be won in OT, but this time, it was a 3-2 victory in favour of the Pontiacs.
With everything on the line, the Bobcats went into Sunday’s Game 6 planning to throw everything they could at the visiting Pontiacs, which they did. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and the ‘Yaks advanced to round two after a 5-2 win in Lloyd.
Bonnyville Pontiacs captain Trey Funk crashes the Bobcats’ net on Sunday night at the Civic Centre. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
Despite the season coming to an end, which is inevitable, Bobcats head coach and general manager, Nigel Dube, is proud of his team’s accomplishments this year and noted community support throughout playoffs showed him the community is proud of the boys, too.
“Lots of our guys that were here when we had the take-over, we were lucky to get 200 people a night that year … to come out in front of 1,600 people tonight, I think that speaks volumes to the community support we have, to the work our players that have been here for multiple years have done, and ultimately, I think they left it on the ice tonight in every fashion,” said Dube.
“They put their best foot forward the whole time and you can’t be more proud of them as a coach for that and where they’ve got the organization to today.”
With tons of support pouring in from local community members, Dube also pointed out he and the team felt as though they had no one in their corner going into the series.
“(People were saying) ‘Bonnyville will make quick work of the Bobcats,’ and I really thought we made them work for every inch,” said Dube. “We poured it all out there.
“Tonight we threw everything at them. It was six hard games, and I thought we proved to a lot of people we were more than capable on the ice every shift.”
As with every season, emotions were running extra high as the Bobcats organization had to bid farewell to captain Ben Bygrove, Ryan Schendel, assistant captain Tyson Kowaluk, Brock Krulicki and assistant captain Jordan Borysiuk as they are not eligible to play junior hockey in the future due to age.
“Krulicki joined us and had a huge offensive building block for us the in fall,” said Dube. “Borysiuk was the first signing I had, Bygrove to follow, Kuwaluk to follow, and those were all in 2019.
“The program, where it was at that point and where it is today, a lot of credit goes to those young gentleman and the work they put in.”
For Bygrove, finishing his junior hockey career in a packed barn of home-town fans was the icing on the cake.
“It’s been an honour to show up here every day and play in front of my home town. It’s been great and I really appreciate Nigel giving me the chance to come in here,” he said after Sunday’s game.
“There’s been guys I’ve played with for four years now and they’re brothers to me; it’s been great.”
Bygrove has worn the Bobcats sweater with pride for the last four seasons and is hoping future captains will get as much out of the experience as he did.
“I think whoever the captain’s C goes to, this organization’s in great hands,” he said. “We have really good leaders in there.
“Obviously, there’s some 20-year-olds in there leaving, but we have 19, 18 and 17-year-olds that are great leaders and they’re going to do great things for this organization, I have no doubt about that. Whoever it is, they’re going to do a great job and wear the Bobcat crest proud.”
For Dube, his proudest moments of the season revolved around the team’s commitment to the community.
“More so than anything, I think the the biggest thing I’ll always be proud of is the community service those guys did, countless hours over those years, and you see those relationships they’ve built,” he said. “They got us to where we are today, and on the flip side, for those younger guys, they’ll return next fall to continue to build on that; I’ll always want more and I’ll always look for more.”