Although there was some rust after being off for a week, the Prince Albert Mintos started off their 2019 Mac’s Midget AAA Tournament slate on a positive note Friday afternoon as they picked up a 5-2 over the Sherwood Park Kings at the Max Bell Centre in Calgary.
“I don’t think it was our best game for sure and we kind of played as you would expect after not being on the ice for a couple of days,” Mintos head coach Danton Danielson said.
“We have a couple of big pieces missing from our back end with (Marek) Schneider and (Zane) Florence unavailable for us, but we were able to find a way to get it done.”
Joel Favreau turned a spectacular performance for the Mintos in their Pool 1 opener as he made 44 saves to earn the player of the game honours.
“There was no question that Joel as the MVP of the game and I think anyone who was there would agree with that choice,” Danielson said.
“Sherwood Park is a team that puts a lot of pucks on net and Joel had a lot of work to do at times, but he was there to make the big saves.”
Turner McMillen led the way on offence for the Mintos with three assists, while Chase Bertholet found the net twice.
Gage Helm and Dallyn Peekeekoot had a goal and an assist each in the triumph, which also saw Josh Peppler light the lamp.
“After Dallyn got that first goal, things really started to snap together for us and Chase drove the net to give us a 2-0 lead before the end of the first period,” Danielson said.
Tyler Kutschinski and Caelum Dick scored for the 0-2 Kings, who received a 16-save showing from Brady Roblin.
The Mintos will return to action at 10 a.m. Saturday as they’ll face the 1-1 Lethbridge Hurricanes.
“They already have a couple of games under their belts now so we’ll need to make sure that we’re ready to face them as they’ll have shaken all of the rust out of their systems,” Danielson said.
Following that contest, the Mintos will take on the AK Bars Academy from Russia at 6:15 p.m. Sunday and the Calgary Buffaloes at 12:45 p.m. Monday.
Meanwhile, the Beardy’s Blackhawks started off their Pool 5 slate Thursday with a wild 6-6 tie against the Vancouver NE Chiefs.
Robert Pizzey had three goals and an assist for the Blackhawks, while Cole Duperreault scored once and dished out three helpers.
Holden Doell had three assists in the contest, which also saw goals from Parker Layton and Ethan Bear.
Kaidan Johnson recorded a hat trick for the Chiefs, who had a 6-4 lead before Duperreault and Bear tied things up in the final three minutes.
The Blackhawks are back in action Friday night against the Calgary Northstars at 9 p.m.
They will then face the Saskatoon Contacts on Sunday and the Grande Peace Storm on Monday.
