The Lloydminster Bobcats continued to make life difficult for themselves last weekend as they dropped two Alberta Junior Hockey League home games against South Division teams.
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The Bobcats’ undisciplined play was just part of the story as they lost a 5-4 overtime decision against the Canmore Eagles on Sunday, after falling 5-4 to the Drumheller Dragons in regulation time Friday.
Another trend dogging the ’Cats of late has seen them give up goals on the next shift after scoring themselves, nipping momentum in the process.
Sunday’s game pulled Lloydminster (27-14-6) into a tie with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons (27-15-6) for third place in the North Division, but that seemed to be of little consolation after a so-so weekend in front of two more big crowds at the Hub.
“The way we’ve been racking up penalty minutes has been putting us in a lot of trouble,” Bobcats coach Eric Labrosse said after Sunday’s game, while his players skated with fans. “It’s been addressed many times, but we keep going in the (penalty) box.
“Until that changes, we have to understand that it’s going to be hard for us to win games, if we’re continuously in the box.
“When we’re always making comebacks, we kind of give it up with either bad penalties or untimely goals — like those goals that are scored on the next shift.
“Yeah, right now, we’re kind of in a groove that it’s hard for us to take a lead and stick with it.”
Lloyd and Fort Mac were both scheduled to play North teams this Wednesday evening as the Bobcats hosted the Devon Xtreme (14-27-5) and the Oil Barons visited the Bonnyville Pontiacs (23-22-3).
With the Pontiacs entering Wednesday’s action 11 points out of the division’s fourth and final playoff position, and just three weeks left in the regular season, the absence of a legitimate race for that last spot likely hasn’t helped Lloydminster’s focus down the stretch.
Labrosse, however, wasn’t buying that theory.
“No, I’d say that doesn’t have anything to do with it,” he said. “That, to us, doesn’t matter.
“We’re looking above us. That, to us, is our race. We’re trying to grab a hold of third position, and maybe second if we could.”
With eight games left in their regular season, the Bobcats were eight points behind the North Division’s second-place Grande Prairie Storm (33-13-2).
Those teams play each other this Friday in Grande Prairie, kicking off a busy weekend for Lloyd. The Bobcats visit the Olds Grizzlys (16-28-4) on Saturday and the Drayton Valley Thunder (14-28-5) on Sunday.
Last weekend, the Bobcats hosted two South teams that they had visited the previous weekend — Drumheller (23-19-6) and division-leading Canmore (28-18-3).
Bryson Insinger’s goal 30 seconds into overtime gave Canmore its second consecutive win over Lloyd, including a 4-3 shootout victory the previous Sunday.
After their latest win, the Eagles made a hasty exit off the Hub ice surface, matching a similar move from the Bobcats a week earlier at Canmore. Lloyd scored in overtime in that game, but the referees ruled the Eagles’ net was dislodged, so the Bobcats were called back on the ice in a game that they eventually lost.
It wasn’t a coincidence when the Eagles hurried off the ice this past Sunday.
“No, they did it to us last weekend, but the net was off, and they had to come back out,” said Canmore defenceman Quinn Keeler, who spent with the first half of this season with the Bobcats.
“I found it funny that we should do the same to them.”
Aidan Tkachuk, Owen Mastroianni, Miller Komarniski and Cohen Daoust also scored for Canmore, which connected twice on power plays. It was a three-point game for the high-scoring Daoust.
MATONOVICH INJURED
Kael Screpnek kept his hot streak going with a pair of goals for Lloydminster, including a power-play marker. Ethan Elefante and Jaxan Hopko also tallied for the Bobcats. Tucker Robertson assisted on both of Screpnek’s goals in the final nine minutes as the Bobcats rallied to erase a 4-2 deficit and force overtime.
John MacNeil Meridian Source
Canmore goaltender Alexander Scheiwiller made 37 stops to post his second win in three days.
Lloydminster goalie Ty Matonovich was injured during a traffic jam in front of his net. He initially stayed in the game but was in obvious pain when he was replaced late in the second period after Mastroianni’s goal put the Eagles up 3-2.
Matonovich’s replacement was Trent Peterson, a 20-year-old Wisconsin native who made his AJHL debut after joining the Bobcats from the NAHL just a couple of weeks ago. The new tandem faced a combined 31 shots in Lloyd’s net.
Matonovich, who needed to be helped off the ice after the second period, went into the past weekend with some of the best goaltending statistics in the AJHL.
Canmore went 2-0-1 during its weekend road trip, while playing without some key personnel. In the absence of extra help, the Eagles’ long-serving coach, Andrew Milne, was packing sticks after the game.
“We’ve got 19 guys with us on the road, no extra bodies to help, so we’ve got to help out wherever we can,” said Milne, now in his 18th season behind the Canmore bench.
His 17-year-old son, Easton, is a rookie centre with the Eagles.
“It was probably a lot harder on him than it is on me, having been around so long,” said coach Milne. “He’s new to this whole junior experience. The one thing I keep saying with Easton is guys appreciate work ethic, and he’s definitely a hard-working kid. The guys have made it pretty comfortable for him. He’s having a blast.”
Canmore has lost 20-year-old defencemen Casey Black and Carter Kowalyk to season-ending injuries that necessitated surgery.
Evan Markel, an 18-year-old blue-liner, has a knee injury, while 20-year-old D-man Reid Larson is close to coming back from a broken hand, Milne reported.
“So, we do have some guys that are banged up, for sure, and that puts us in a tough spot. We’re not going to see Kowalyk or Black back, but we’ll get Markel and Larson back in the lineup.
“Then, you get a guy like Keeler who’s only going to play 20 minutes (per game), and you’re going to get a real good 20 minutes out of him, versus the 30 he played today.”
DRAGONS 5, BOBCATS 4
In Friday’s game at the Hub, Jase Johnstone scored two goals for Drumheller, including the winner on a feed from Bradley Gallo with just under five minutes remaining. Johnstone and Gallo, with three assists, each had three-point games as the Dragons avenged a 3-1 loss to Lloydminster the previous Friday.
“It’s a tough barn to play in,” Johnstone, 19, said about the Hub. “We’ve been working on stuff all week, for playing against (the Bobcats), and it’s good to see some results.
“It’s a new rink, it’s loud, the team is fast and hard to play against. It was a fun game.”
Down to nine forwards in the third period, Drumheller battled injuries before and during the game.
Johnstone is a second-year Dragon from Whitehorse, Yukon, where his hockey and school friends growing up included Luke Cozens of the Medicine Hat Tigers and former Tigers star Gavin McKenna, the projected top pick in this year’s NHL draft.
“I love it here,” he said about playing in Drumheller. “It’s a fun team to play for, for sure. It’s pretty similar (to home). It’s small town. It’s good. I like it.”
Allen Sherpa, Sullivan Humeniuk and Nathan Ivey also scored for the Dragons. Screpnek, with two, Elefante and Gus El-Tahhan netted the Bobcats’ goals. Luke Dooley had two assists as part of his three-point weekend.
Brandon Williams stopped 36 shots for Drumheller, while Matonovich blocked 29 for Lloyd.
OVERTIME: The Hub’s weekend crowds were 1,350 on Friday and 1,035 on Sunday. … Bonnyville has lost 18-year-old forward Lucas Knorr to the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express. … Grande Prairie defenceman Reily Pickford of Chauvin, Alta., is the AJHL’s rookie of the week. Pickford, 18, scored a goal and three assists in the host Storm’s 9-2 win over Devon on Sunday.
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