Jason Kerr
Daily Herald
The Prince Albert Mintos earned their first road win of the 2025-26 SMAAAHL season with a 3-2 win over the Saskatoon Contacts on Thursday.
The Mintos jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off a late Saskatoon surge to secure the win. Prince Albert Mintos head coach Dion Antisin said he was happy to see the team respond so well after a tough loss to Estevan at home on Sunday.
“That Estevan game, we didn’t really play with a lot of jump, speed, or physicality,” Antisin said. “We talked about that at practice and then worked on that. I think they did it exactly the way we wanted to right out of the gate.”
Carter Hyrciuk and Maxim Cooper both scored unassisted first period goals to put the Mintos up 2-0. In the second, defenceman Barret Berger added a power play goal with assists to Liam Myhre and Hryciuk to make it 3-0.
“We played fast, (and) we played quite physical, which led to turnovers that gave us opportunities to score,” Antisin said. “Early in the game we had a couple of chances and were able to bury them, which was great. Then we were able to just play the rest of the game the way we wanted to. (We) were able to just mitigate chances against and keep our pressure on.”
Austin Schafer scored for the Contacts less than a minute after Berger’s goal, to make it 3-1 Prince Albert. The third period turned into a penalty parade, with the Mintos giving up three power play chances, including two in the last three minutes.
The Mintos also had two power play chances in the third, the second of which came when Saskatoon’s Kade Kahovec was ejected for checking from behind.
“I think that was two emotional teams wanting that win,” Antisin said. “The Contacts are better than their record makes them look. They have skill and they have good players. They’re just struggling to score at this point, I think, and they’re fighting and clawing for any points they can get right now. We, coming off that Estevan game where we should have played better, knew how important (it) was to not lose back-to-back nights.”
Saskatoon’s Kohen Volk scored with 1:49 to play, cutting the lead to 3-2, but that was as close as the Contacts got.
Wyatt Nelson earned the win for Prince Albert, with 27 saves on the night. Addy Price stopped 26 shots in a losing cause for the Contacts.
The MIntos are back on the ice on Saturday when they take on the league-leading Regina Pat-Canadians at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
