By Dwayne McLaughlin

AJHL

Wolverines look to rebound after two defeats against Bonnyville

Apr 23, 2021 | 10:27 AM

The Whitecourt Wolverines had a tough weekend, losing 6-2 and 4-0 to the Bonnyville Pontiacs, with another two against their North Division rivals coming.

The Wolverines iced just 13 skaters last weekend, seven of which were defensemen, which is what play-by-play broadcaster Wyatt Zieger believes is largely to blame for the defeats.

“I don’t think it was a matter of them playing badly. I think it was a lack of bodies and time to prepare,” says Zieger. “We only had three practices to throw this together and with such limited bodies coming into the weekend, you knew it was going to be a hard match-up.”

The stakes going into the weekend were huge, with second-place Whitecourt now just hanging onto a standings lead of Bonnyville.

The league is determining standings this year by win percentage, with Whitecourt (5-4-1) at .550 and Bonnyville (6-6-2) at .500. Remaining games are limited, and yet to be scheduled, meaning what’s left will carry a playoff intensity as teams jockey for position.

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“You try to treat this like a playoff series. When the first four games were announced, you wanted to steal five of the possible eight points,” Zieger says. “At this point, you want to match, so a weekend sweep would be nice not just standings-wise, but for the boys’ confidence.”

Stumping the Pontiacs’ Kash Rasmussen, who had two hat tricks against Whitecourt last weekend, would do wonders for the Wolverines’ hopes.

“Slowing him down is really about line-matching. He is a strong player, he is physical, he can skate well,” says Zieger. “It’s really about staying in front of home from a defensive side, keeping your gaps tight and not allowing too many 3-on-2 or 2-on-1 opportunities, or even breakaways.”

This should be easier with returning players, as the Wolverines expect to have a full roster for their April 24 and 25 tilts in Bonnyville.

“We should have everybody back this weekend. I think it will be a real testament to what this squad is. I think they will be two very exciting games.”

This season, Whitecourt holds a 1-2-1 record against Bonnyville, and has been outscored 15-7 in those four games. Fort McMurray leads the division with a .893 win percentage.

As of April 14, the AJHL is still expecting every team to play a 22-game regular season, or as many games as possible leading up to the weekend of May 23.

Teams continue to utilize private PCR testing through DynaLIFE on a weekly basis. If a member of an AJHL cohort – players or staff – test positive for COVID-19 at any point in the season, the team is required to isolate and suspend all in-person team activities for 14 days.

Spectators are currently not permitted at arenas, but games can be streamed on HockeyTV.