Despite a few players short, Ponoka’s tier 3 midgets held their own against Edson in playoffs.
Ponoka forced a third game in the best of three series, playing the last game at the Repsol Place arena March 17. And it was a close one; they lost by just one point: 3-2.
Ponoka started strong with Jake Simanton scoring one early in the first period. There was relatively little action for most of the first period with only three penalties between the two teams.
And then with a few minutes left, Edson put on the pressure scoring two goals against Ponoka before the bell.
While the second period saw no goals, it did see five penalties (three for Edson).
Period three was another close match-up with little action in terms of scoring until the halfway mark. With 12:12 left in the third Edson took advantage of a power play creating 3-1 score.
About half a minute later Ponoka scored to make it 3-2 but there just wasn’t enough to make the win. Ponoka suffered two gross misconduct calls right at the end of the game and one penalty for head contact double minor earlier in the third.
As for the other two games, Ponoka first played at home against Edson on March 15 losing a challenging game 5-2. Scorers were Jake Simanton and Emett Norn.
Ponoka forced the third game in Edson during an overtime shoot out, winning 5-4. Simanton and Norn were the scorers in the shootout to help make the win.