‘Yaks defeat ‘Cats in first round of playoffs

could at the visiting Pontiacs, which they did. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and the ‘Yaks advanced to round two after a 5-2 win in Lloyd.

our players that have been here for multiple years have done, and ultimately, I think they left it on the ice tonight in every fashion,” said Dube.

everything at them. It was six hard games, and I thought we proved to a lot of peo - ple we were more than capable on the ice every shift.”

23034PS0

It was an emotional afternoon for the Lloydminster Bobcats organization as the Bonnyville Pontiacs defeated the boys in black and orange 4-2 in the first round of AJHL playoff action, ending their 2022-2023 season.

The series started on March 10 in Bonnyville with the ‘Cats taking Game 1 6-2. The ‘Yaks fired back with a 4-0 win the following night before the series came to the Border City.

Game 3 was held at the Civic Centre on March 14 where the Pontiacs would beat the ‘Cats 7-4 and take a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was a nailbiter as the ‘Cats beat the ‘Yaks 5-4 in double overtime, tying the series. Game 5 would also be won in OT, but this time, it was a 3-2 victory in favour of the Pontiacs.

With everything on the line, the Bobcats went into Sunday’s Game 6 planning to throw everything they

Despite the season coming to an end, which is inevitable, Bobcats head coach and general manager, Nigel Dube, is proud of his team’s accomplishments this year and noted community support throughout playoffs showed him the community is proud of the boys, too.

“Lots of our guys that were here when we had the take-over, we were lucky to get 200 people a night that year … to come out in front of 1,600 people tonight, I think that speaks volumes to the community support we have, to the work

“They put their best foot forward the whole time and you can’t be more proud of them as a coach for that and where they’ve got the organization to today.”

With tons of support pouring in from local community members, Dube also pointed out he and the team felt as though they had no one in their corner going into the series.

“(People were saying) ‘Bonnyville will make quick work of the Bobcats,’ and I really thought we made them work for every inch,” said Dube. “We poured it all out there.

“Tonight we threw