Ponoka minor hockey teams are moving ahead on the road to the provincial championships.
The Fountain Tire Midget Wolves will play Lacombe in round two of the Midget C zone playoffs after the team got past Rimbey, courtesy of a 2-2 draw at home Jan. 24 followed by a 5-3 victory in Rimbey Jan. 26. The first game against Lacombe went last night (result unavailable) with game two set for Feb. 7 in Ponoka at 7:45 p.m.
The bantam Moose also made round two of the Bantam B playoffs after getting past Devon, with the Moose set to play host to Sylvan Lake in game one tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.
The peewee Elks kicked off their Peewee B provincial ride last night at home to Blackfalds (result unavailable) with game two going tonight in Blackfalds.
Meanwhile, the Quality Paint and Collision peewee squad got off on the right foot in the Peewee C playoffs with a 5-2 win at home over Wetaskiwin Jan. 26. The second game in the series goes tonight in Wetaskiwin. Both the McDonalds and Vantage Physiotherpay atom teams were also in action, with McDonalds falling 5-1 to Lacombe last week and Vantage taking on Devon, but the series results were not available at press time.
On the female side, the Lacoka bantam club blanked West Central 2-0 Jan. 28 in Ponoka with game two going in Rocky Mountain House tonight.
Regular season
Provincial playoffs isn’t the only post-season push going on, as Ponoka teams look to set themselves up for league playoffs.
The bantam Moose were on the road for a pair, losing 5-4 in Athabasca Jan. 27 then doubling up host Edson 4-2 Jan. 29. In the loss, Ponoka got a pair from Mathias Sandin and one each from Colter Bresee and Erik Mathieu, while Mathieu got two in the victory with Bresee and Sandin notching the other goals.
For the peewee Elks, the weekend marked a pair of losses — 8-6 to Battle River in Sedgewick Jan. 27 then 6-1 at home to Camrose Jan. 29. Wyatt Avery and Evan Kraft each scored twice against Battle River wthe Josh David and Luke Simanton getting the rest, while Ponoka’s lone goal versus Camrose came off the stick of Kael Street.
In atom action, it was the McDonalds club losing 9-4 Jan. 29 in Coronation with Nathan Parker, Dacian Heinz, Kormac Bresee and Trace Tonneson doing the scoring for Ponoka. Meanwhile, the Vantage Physiotherapy fell at home 15-3 to Hardisty/Hughenden Jan. Jan. 28 with goals from Finn Nelson, Hudson Cutarm and Kavan Flewelling.
As for the Fountain Tire midgets, the club had a three game home stand on the weekend. The midgets beat a severely depleted Jasper squad 6-2 on Jan. 27 only to get blanked the next night 6-0 by Athabasca and then bombed 10-1 in Bashaw by Vegreville. Against Jasper, the goals came from Lewis McDowell with a hat trick, Quinton Adam with a pair and the other from Josh Vold, while Cyrus Thompson had the lone marker versus Vegreville.
For the Lacoka girls, the peewee club lost 8-2 in Athabasca on goals by Chloe Wilton and Hailey Huchkowski, while the bantams lost to Camrose 6-3 in Ponoka on Jan. 27 then 3-2 to West Central Jan. 29 in Sylvan Lake. Versus Camrose, the bantams got goals from Hailey Hoogkamp, Britt-Lyn Bacon and Ivy Woolf, while Macy Auclair and Woolf scored against West Central. The midget girls had a home and home against West Central, earning a 5-4 win in Ponoka Jan. 28 with Danielle Blacklock netting the hat trick with the other goals from Zoe Lorenz-Boser and Jesse Stretch. Sunday’s result in Bentley was unavailable.
Saddle up: It’s another busy weekend at home with the bantam Moose and midget Wolves playing twice. The Moose face Wetaskiwin Saturday (2:45 p.m.) and Fort Saskatchewan Sunday (noon), while the Wolves are in Bashaw Friday (9 p.m.) to play Drayton Valley then Sunday (2:30 p.m.) versus Strathcona. The rest of the games include Quality Paint and Collision peewees hosting Strathcona Friday (6:15 p.m.), Servus Credit Union bantams Friday (8:30 p.m.) versus Camrose, Vantage Physio atoms versus Wetaskwin Saturday (10 a.m.) followed by the peewee Elks versus Vegreville (12:30 p.m.) and then atom McDonalds versus Warburg Sunday (10 a.m.).