The Prince Albert Mintos gave up two late goals, but scored a late one of their own, taking down the Notre Dame Hounds in their first meeting of the year Sunday at the Art Hauser Centre.
“We played hard again,” head coach Tim Leonard said after the win. “They tied it up, but we got a little puck luck and got a breakaway and (Jacob) buried it, and that was the difference.”
Prince Albert struck first midway through the first period, when Nate Misskey ripped a wrister from the point on the powerplay, beating Hounds goalie Wilson Maxfield, and putting the home team up 1-0. With five to go in the opening frame, Karson Blanchette extended the Mintos lead to 2-0, on a laser shot from the high slot.
The Mintos headed into the first intermission with a two goal lead, despite being outshot 11-6 through the first 20 minutes.
The Mintos had two powerplays in the second period, and those were the best opportunities they had to extend their lead even further, but they couldn’t convert on either man advantage. The second period was scoreless, and Prince Albert still held their 2-0 lead after 40.
The Hounds found their way onto the scoreboard with 13:46 left in the third period, when Keagan Merriman struck for the red and white, cutting the Mintos lead to 2-1. With 6:24 remaining, Notre Dame tied it up, with Owen Thomas converted on a nice feed from Luke Marshall, making it a 2-2 score. The Mintos called a timeout with seven minutes left in regulation, trying to settle the game down.
“We were panicking and making bad decisions. We needed to settle down and just play our game. We’re as good as anyone in this league, and we had to play that way at the end.”
The game would only remain tied for 17 seconds however, as Jacob Cossette busted down the ice on a breakaway, ripping a shot past the blocker of Maxfield, putting the Mintos right back on top 3-2.
The Hounds would push back again, hemming Prince Albert in their own end for much of the last five minutes. Notre Dame would take a penalty with 1:50 left in the game, allowing the Mintos to settle the game down back in the Notre Dame end. They killed off a full minute moving the puck around in the offensive zone, but the Hounds cleared the puck, allowing them to pull the goalie and bring out the extra attacker.
It wouldn’t be enough though, as the Mintos hung on and came out with the 3-2 win, taking two out of four points over the weekend.
This is the first time the Mintos have faced off against this Hounds team, and for Minto forward Travis Swanson, it was a new challenge for him and his teammates.
“They’re such an unpredictable team,” Swanson said after the game. “They have guys from all over the world. Most teams around Saskatchewan you know some of the guys personally, but it’s a little different with Notre Dame, because you never know what they’re going to look like.”
Swanson played a huge role in the Mintos win, winning defensive zone faceoffs, and preventing the Hounds from generating any offensive zone chances.
“It was a hard battle,” Swanson said. “Everybody came to play and put in a full effort. We deserved the win”
Jayden Kraus was making desperation saves left right and center in this one, keeping his team in the game, saving half of the Notre Dame shots while on his stomach. He made 33 saves on 35 shots in the win, while Maxfield turned aside 18 of 21 in the loss.
“Jayden was solid,” Swanson added. “He’s a really good goalie and he helped us out tonight. The third period was a bit of a scramble, and he faced a lot of shots, and he kept us in the game.”
Next up, the Mintos hit the road for a game on Wednesday in the Battlefords against the Stars. After that, they’ll travel to Tisdale for a date with the Trojans on Saturday. They won’t return home until November 26th, when they’ll host the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Puck drop in the Battlefords on Wednesday is at 7:30pm.