The Prince Albert Mintos had a change in venue on Sunday for their game against the Estevan Bears.
The Mintos lost 6-4 to the Bears at the Lakeland Co-op Leisure Centre on Ice One as they became the first prominent team to play at the new leisure centre.
Mintos’ coach Dion Antisin said that the Mintos got off to a slow start, but played better after the first period.
“We just didn’t have the start we wanted,” Antisin said. “We kind of came out flat-footed. I think the mentality just wasn’t there to compete right away and they took advantage of that, getting pucks in, attacking our D quickly, using their speed. We just weren’t ready, so that was a tough game at the start.”
The Bears led 2-0 after the first period and 4-2 after the second period. Boston Schmidt and Brendan Jones scored for the Bears in the first period. At the start of the second period 14-year-old Caleb Philip scored his first SMAAAHL goal at 3:25 and at 4:15 Xander Pritchard tied the game for Prince Albert.
“Once we kind of found our game, made it 2-2, it was a little bit better,” Antisin said.
The two goals came within seconds of each other to open the second period. Antisin said that the goals showed what the Mintos are capable of.
“We could definitely play with this team and then two quick little breakaways that they score on and it just puts us back on our heels again,” he said. “We got to compete, compete, compete.”
Later in the second period the Bears scored their own back-to-back goals as Rhett Amberson scored at 10:39 and Taren Anderson scored at 13:42.
“I think we found a way late (in the game) to really push that pressure, but they played a really dominant and smart game, making sure they just limited their mistakes,” he said.
The Mintos pulled goalie Jaden Blanchette for the extra attacker late in the game and got themselves back in the contest.
“We haven’t worked on that a lot. We know we were desperate and I told the guys, just go hard, 100 per cent like push, push, push, because, you have the extra man, it’s like a power play, but you’re more desperate than a power play,” Antisin said.
Late in the game Maxim Cooper scored for the Mintos at 15:57 on the power play. Amberson scored into the empty net at 17:24 for the Bears. Lachlan Vandall got the Mintos within one with a goal at 18:17. Schmidt sealed the game for Estevan at 19:04.
The Mintos Blanchette made 38 saves and the Bears Evan Hutcheon made 30 saves.
Antisin pointed to the effort of the 14-year-old Philip and Vandall on Saturday.
“They really played their heart out,” Antisin said. “They competed, they worked. And it’s crazy when those guys are two of them better players in a night like this where we have 17-year-olds, 16-year-olds who need to be better, so that was tough for us.”
Antisin said the team was familiar with the ice at the Leisure Centre so there was not much to adapt to.
“We’ve practiced here a few times throughout the weeks. If the Art Hauser’s busy, we’ll hop on over here and practice,” he said.
“We’ve been here a few times, so it was really good. But it was a different atmosphere. It’s a different feeling than being at the Art Hauser, but we treat it like another home game. That was our first home loss this season and it wasn’t at our home.”
As of Nov. 4, the Mintos are in eighth place in the SMAAHL with a record of 6-5-0-0 with 12 points. As far as the season, so far Antisin views the team as being in a good place.
“Our first season we got 11 rookie forwards, a lot of young guys on our forward roster so we didn’t expect to score as many goals as we’ve had so far but they’re all working very hard and doing the right things to progress and being above .500 right now is something we’re aiming for, so the fact that they hit that is a good thing, but we need to keep rolling and find ways to win games and play well,” Antisin said.
The Mintos are in Saskatoon at Merlis Belsher Place to face the Contacts on Thursday.
“The Contacts they have got really big goalies and they’re playing well defensively but they’re struggling to score so we need to take advantage of that,” Antisin said.
The Mintos return to the Art Hauser Centre on Sunday to face the Regina Pat Canadians, puck drop is 1:30 p.m.
