The Prince Albert Mintos turned in their best performance at the Mac’s Midget Tournament when they needed it the most.
Thanks to a 5-1 win over the Calgary Buffaloes at the Max Bell Centre on Monday afternoon in Calgary, the 2-0-2 Mintos clinched first place in Pool 1 play and earned a spot in Tuesday’s quarter-final round at 10 a.m.
“We had a little bit of a slow start again, but we did a really good job for the rest of the game after Josh Peppler scored a really nice goal to tie things up in the first period,” Mintos head coach Danton Danielson said.
“Joel (Favreau) did a really good job for us again when we needed him to make some big saves, but we weren’t leaning on him as we had been in some of our other games.”
Their opponent in the quarter-final round will be a familiar one as they’ll be taking on the Saskatoon Blazers.
“Obviously we’re familiar with them as we’ve played them already in the regular season and they are a great team,” Danielson said.
“With the rivalry between the two teams, that will add to the game I’m sure, even though you don’t need that much extra motivation when you reach this point of the tournament.”
Chase Pauls led the way for the Mintos on Monday with a goal and an assist, while Chase Bertholet dished out a pair of helpers.
Dawson Springer, Gage Helm and Ashton Ferster also lit the lamp in the victory, which saw Joel Favreau stop 31 shots.
Daniel Siso had the lone goal for the Buffaloes, who finished round-robin play with a 3-1 mark and will face the Saskatoon Contacts in the quarter-final round.
Tuesday’s other quarter-final matchups will see the Chicago Mission face the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Okanagan Rockets square off with the Cariboo Cougars.
The tournament final will be held on New Year’s Day at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
