The road to a possible championship is still open for several Ponoka Minor Hockey teams.
The midget Fountain Tire Wolves are preparing for their provincial championship as the club was the only zone team entered in the ‘D’ provincials set for Taber Mar. 22-25.
Also remaining in the mix for a provincial title are both of Ponoka’s atom clubs.
The Vantage Physiotherapy club squeezed past Thorsby in the ‘D’ playdowns, winning the two-game total goal series by a single goal. Ponoka fell 9-8 on home ice Jan. 28, but stormed back on the road Feb. 2 with a 5-3 victory to move forward.
The team then quickly dispatched Millet in the second round with a 12-2 trouncing in Millet Feb. 6. The second game in Ponoka was cancelled as Hockey Alberta allows a team to not play if the goal differential is 10 or more goals after the opening game.
Vantage now receives a bye to the fourth round and awaits the winner of the third round series, which will pit Winfield against the winner of the Clive/Calmar second round match. That fourth round series winner will face Bentley in the zone final, but will automatically advance to the provincial championship as Bentley is this year’s host team.
The McDonalds atom team is into the second round of the ‘C’ provincials after posting a 14-4 win over Millet on home ice Jan. 27. Ponoka’s already started the next series, having played host to Winfield Feb. 12 (result unavailable at press time) with the return match in Winfield on Feb. 16. The winner will face either Wetaskiwin or Calmar in the zone final.
Meanwhile, the bantam Moose and the peewee Elks have run the road to a deadend.
The Moose were not able to get past Calmar in the opening round of the ‘C’ provincials after falling 8-6 on the road Jan. 26 before drawing 2-2 on home ice Feb. 3.
While the Elks ditched Blackfalds in the opening round, courtesy of wins on Jan. 26 by a count of 9-2 and Jan. 31 with a score of 7-2, the club couldn’t repeat the feat in round two against Maskwacis. The club was felled 11-9 at home Feb. 5 then lost the return game Feb. 10 by a 14-2 score.
Lacoka still in
The Lacoka female peewee club will take on Innisfail for the right to move onto the ‘B’ provincials in Medicine Hat Mar. 15-18 after the girls got past Warburg earlier this month.
For the bantams, they face an uphill battle in the ‘B’ provincial tomorrow (Feb. 15) as they head to Warburg down in the series after falling 7-3 in Ponoka on Jan. 31. The winner will go up against the winner of Rocky Mountain House and Maskwacis in the zone final.
Meanwhile, the midget club had a bye into the zone final and is awaiting the winner of the Leduc-Rocky Mountain House series that will be decided next week.