It was not the start the Prince Albert Mintos envisioned, but they were able to come out with the victory, downing the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors 7-4 at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night.
Minto head coach Tim Leonard says the start wasn’t ideal, but the Mintos went to work.
“It was not the start we wanted, that’s for sure, but they got a couple breaks. Holty (Brady Holtvogt) had a couple there he probably would like back, but it wasn’t his fault. We just made the goalie change to change the game, and it did. I thought the second period was really good and the third period we took it over. There’s no quitting that dressing room, they work hard and they earned it again today. ”
THe first two goals would go to the Warriors, with Jonah Pinel and Jake Brentz scoring in quick succession.
The Mintos would respond as Taite Donkin cut the Moose Jaw in half about halfway through the first period at the 9:26 mark.
Pinel would respond less than a minute later to restore the two goal advantage for Moose Jaw at 3-1.
Following the third goal, the Mintos would make a goaltending change replacing Brady Holtvogt with Josh Henry.
Leonard says Henry did an exceptional job coming in relief.
“That’s a tough task for a kid, especially at 16, to go in a 3-1 game. But he went in and made some key saves for us, big ones at certain times in the game and hats off to him.”
The lone goal of the second period would go the way for the Mintos as Kelan Simmonds would find twine for his third goal of the season at the 7:30 mark. Van Taylor and Will Whitter assisted on the play.
The Minto offense would explode in the third period, scoring five goals from Will Whitter, Carter Cole, Owen Nelson, Lincoln Rogers and an empty netter from Kale Margolis.
The highlight of the period was the first career U18 AAA goal for Lincoln Roger with 3:49 remaining.
Leonard was very proud of the effort the Mintos showed in the win.
“That’s our culture, that’s what we want to be is that work ethic. We want teams to know that if they’re going to come play us, they’re going to have to work hard. We had some bad bounces there, but we didn’t quit, we didn’t pout, we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves. We just got back to work and got some success out of it.”
The Mintos return to action on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors. Puck drops at 1:30 p.m.
