The Lloydminster Bobcats kept on truckin’ during a bountiful Thanksgiving weekend, winning a pair of road games to extend their Alberta Junior Hockey League win streak to four games.
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In a battle of the North Division heavyweights, the second-place Bobcats skated past the front-running Whitecourt Wolverines 7-3 on Sunday afternoon, one day after posting a 4-3, last-minute victory over the Devon Xtreme.
Saturday’s game at Devon marked the Bobcats’ second straight win over the Xtreme, including a 2-1 decision last Wednesday in Lloydminster. The same teams meet again this Saturday night (Oct. 18) at Lloyd’s Cenovus Energy Hub.
Before then, the Bobcats took a 6-3 record into a noontime Wednesday (Oct. 15) game against the host Camrose Kodiaks (4-3).
After last weekend’s action, Lloydminster trailed Whitecourt (7-2) by just two points atop the North. With a 2-4-1 record, Devon sat last in that six-team division.
RAPID FIRE
On Sunday, a pair of goals just four seconds apart — from linemates Matthew Hikida and Raphael Messier — turned the tables late in the first period when Lloydminster took a 3-1 lead at Whitecourt. Gus El-Tahhan made it 4-1 before the period ended, as the Bobcats gained firm control.
The visitors went up 6-1 before the game was half finished. Jack Ferguson netted his second goal of the afternoon and, 56 seconds later, Jadon Iyogun potted his first of two goals Sunday.
El-Tahhan and Iyogun each scored last-minute goals in the first and second periods, respectively, as the Bobcats troubled a Wolverines team that had lost just one of its previous five home games.
The AJHL’s top scorer, Jalen Bianchet, netted two of Whitecourt’s goals, one of them on a power play. Bianchet has 12 goals and 18 points in nine games.
Quentin Bourne scored the Wolverines’ other goal Sunday before he became tangled with Hikida during a skirmish late in the scoreless third period.
KONDRO ON THE MARK
Bobcats goaltender Matthew Kondro stopped 31 shots to register his fourth win this season. His teammates fired 30 shots at Wolverines starter Elliott Pratt and his third-period replacement, Luke McKechnie.
Lloyd’s most offensive line continued to pile up points, combining for seven Sunday. Hikida scored his team-leading sixth goal and added two assists, Ferguson recorded his first two-goal game as a Bobcat, and Messier added a goal and an assist. Hikida and Messier each had 12 points after nine games.
With two assists Sunday, Bobcats captain Kade Fendelet contributed a pair of points in each of the two weekend victories.
Whitecourt’s coach and general manager is Shawn Martin, who worked with Lloydminster coach Eric Labrosse and GM Nigel Dube — along with head coach Mike Reagan of the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers — in guiding Canada West to a bronze-medal finish in the World Junior A Hockey Challenge last December.
In the Bobcats’ victory at Devon on Saturday, Messier scored the winning goal on a power play with 16 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Collecting a goal and an assist each were Fendelet and El-Tahhan, with a game-opening power-play tally.
Hikida also scored for Lloydminster and Esteban Cinq-Mars contributed two assists from the back end.
New goaltender Ben Polhill was a winner in his first game as a Bobcat, as the 19-year-old Cochrane, Alta., native made 25 saves. Polhill, a six-foot-three product of Edge prep school in Calgary, played junior A last season with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins and the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings.
Lloydminster fired 32 shots at Devon goalie Preston Lewis, who stopped Iyogun on a penalty shot in the second period. Xander Schulte, on the power play, Ben Deacon and Stefan Serediak scored second-period goals for the Xtreme as they evened the score at 3-3.
Aiden Bruce and Lucas Knorr each bagged two assists for Devon.
It was the second one-goal game between Devon and Lloyd in four days, including the Bobcats’ home victory last Wednesday at the Hub. This Saturday, the Bobcats and Xtreme face each other for the third time in 11 days when they clash at the Hub at 7 p.m.
“It’s definitely a battle,” Devon defenceman Darius Hordal said after the first head-to-head game against the Bobcats. “They’re a good team. We fell short tonight, but we’ve got ’em back on Saturday, hopefully we can win that one.
“We were playing good. We just couldn’t bury the puck.”
The Xtreme faced a wall in Lloyd goalie Kondro, the St. Albert kid who stopped all but one of the 36 shots he faced in that game.
Lewis blocked 30 for Devon.
“They’re a divisional opponent, so it’s big points to get,” Kondro said. “Hopefully, we can pick up some more wins.”
The victory at home set the standard for the Bobcats’ weekend road trip. Not to mention their three-game series of sorts versus Devon.
“To win the first one here tonight is huge,” said captain Fendelet. “It sets the tone for the next couple of days. We wanted to show them the kind of hockey team we are and I think we did a pretty good job of that. It’s a really good feeling to get the first one.”
At the same time, the Xtreme have been playing better than their record would indicate as they transition to new coach Taylor Harnett, who replaced ex-NHLer Kelly Buchberger during the off-season.
“Absolutely,” Fendelet agreed. “They played really well, and made the adjustments they had to do. Fortunately, we were able to walk away with the two points. But yeah, they definitely played a pretty solid game tonight.”
Ferguson’s power-play goal early in the second period proved to be the winner, as he gave Lloydminster a 2-0 lead in front of 707 fans at the Hub.
Devon’s Corbyn Demchuk, with his first AJHL career goal, replied less than a minute later.
Iyogun put the Bobcats ahead 1-0 in the first period. The 20-year-old Calgarian had four goals and five points after six games with Lloyd.
FENDELET RETURNS FROM HEALTH LAYOFF
Last Wednesday’s win marked the return of Fendelet after a two-game absence. He took a 10-day break between games to deal with headaches.
“Just my head was bothering me a little bit,” said the Bobcats’ hometown captain. “I dealt with a little bit of head stuff growing up and what not, so obviously those ones, you err on the side of caution. Playing it safe. I wouldn’t want to rush back (into game action) and do something to make it worse. So, sit out the extra game or two now just to make it that much better (later).”
He reported all was OK after playing at home against Devon, and in both weekend road games.
“The first game back, you’re not playing timid, but you are just being a little more cautious,” he said. “Everything felt really good tonight. I’m definitely happy to be back in the lineup with all the guys.”
It’s still that time of year where new and old faces are beginning to mesh to form the 2025-26 edition of the Bobcats.
“There is usually quite a bit of movement, especially early on in the year,” Fendelet said. “From our part, the (veteran) guys who have been there, we’re just trying to do everything we can to make the new guys feel included, make them happy to be here. They’ve done really well. They’ve been helping us out a ton. It’s been awesome having those guys come in.”
NAIM NETS FIRST AJHL GOAL
Before playing in Lloydminster this Saturday, Devon stops in Bonnyville to face the Pontiacs (3-6) on Friday night.
Bonnyville snapped its five-game losing streak last Saturday with a 4-1 road victory over the Drayton Valley Thunder (2-5-1).
In just his third AJHL game, former U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers defenceman Ryder Naim scored his first junior A goal, which turned out to be the insurance marker. Naim, 18, is from Bonnyville.
Princeton University commit Maxwell Pendy supplied a goal and an assist to give him six goals and 16 points after nine games with the Pontiacs.
MILLER ON THE MOVE
A former Lloydminster goalie, Anders Miller, was involved in a WHL trade announced on Thanksgiving Monday.
The Calgary Hitmen sent the 19-year-old Miller to the Everett Silvertips in exchange for a third-round draft choice in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2029.
Last season, Miller played 10 games with the AJHL’s Bobcats before being called up to Calgary. He appeared in 22 regular-season games with the major junior Hitmen, along with 10 playoff games. The Tampa Bay Lightning invited the Alaskan to their summer development camp and the NHL prospects tournament in September.
This season, Miller played in three WHL games with the Hitmen, whose two remaining goalies are Aidan Hesse and Eric Tu, both born in 2008.
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