Mintos fall to Trojans 1-0, trail best-of-five series 2-1
The Prince Albert Mintos are one game away from elimination after dropping a 1-0 decision to the Tisdale Trojans at the Art Hauser Centre on Sunday night. Trojan netminder Zach Johnson made 22 saves for the shutout in his postseason debut as Tisdale now leads the best-of-five semi-final series 2-1.
“We thought we still had a chance to win the whole way,” Mintos head coach Ken Morrison said.
“We almost tied it up at the end. We just didn’t get a bounce at the end when we needed one. (We) took too many penalties in the first and that was the difference in the game and I think we expended a lot of energy in the first killing penalties.”
The Mintos spent the majority of the first period in the penalty box and faced a pair of five-on-three power plays from the Trojans. In total, Tisdale had six chances with the man up in the frame, and while P.A. killed off a majority of those penalties, the Trojans finally got the puck past Mintos goalie Cale Elder when Thomas Bollefer scored with Layne Matechuk in the box with 27 seconds to go before the break.
“Some guys are trying a little too hard and making the odd poor decision,” Morrison said.
Bollefer’s goal would stand as the game winner as both goalies were perfect throughout the remainder of the game. The refs also put away their whistles for last two periods, only calling one penalty, a hooking call on Tisdale’s Colton Schell in the second period, during the last 40 minutes of play.
The Mintos pushed hard as the game neared an end, eventually earning an offensive zone faceoff with 44.1 seconds on the clock. The team pulled the goalie for the extra attacker but were unable to equalize. When the final buzzer sounded and the Trojans cleared the bench in celebration, P.A.’s Logan Barlage shoved a Tisdale player, setting off a scrum.
Game 4 is Tuesday at the Tisdale Recplex starting at 7:30 p.m. With the Mintos trailing the best-of-five series 2-1, the team is going to have to get a win if they want to keep their postseason alive.
“We’ve just got to forget about this (game) and play like we can in the next game, that’s about all you can do,” Morrison said.
“Win that one there and it’s tied up again and come back here and get another chance here. Hopefully we can make that happen.”
Game Summary
Tisdale 1, Prince Albert 0
The Trojans lead the best-of-five series 2-1
First Period
- Tisdale, Bollefer 2 (Frey) 19:33 (pp)
Second Period
No scoring
Third Period
No soring
Goalies: Prince Albert – Cale Elder, 28 saves (L, 4-3-0); Tisdale – Zach Johnson, 22 saves (W, 1-0-0).
Stars of the Game: Home Star – Jacob Leicht, Away Star – Thomas Bollefer.
