The Prince Albert Mintos came back not once, but twice on Wednesday and were rewarded for their efforts.
Cruz Stacey’s goal 19 seconds into overtime capped a 5-4 Minto comeback win over the Tisdale Trojans at the Art Hauser Centre. Mintos coach Dion Antisin gave his squad credit for hanging tough, despite trailing 3-1 early in the second.
“We just told the guys, ‘don’t quit. You’re playing well enough to win, just keep going at the little things. Keep putting pucks on the net,’” Antisin said. “Our D really helped us out there getting two quick ones right after another. (We) really had that no-quit mentality that we’ve been trying to teach all year.”
The Mintos wasted no time sending the Art Hauser Centre crowd home happy. Stacey’s shot was the first and only one in overtime. The Minto forward cut across the front of the net and fired the puck into the top right hand corner for the win.
“I was just hoping Berg’s (defenceman Barret Berger) pass got through,” Stacey said. “Then I caught it, kind of buried my head and just ripped it, and it went in.”
“We wanted to control that puck right away,” Antisin added. “We wanted to create offence by just getting guys out of their positions, moving through the slot, and Berger and Abercrombie make nice plays to setup Stacy without throwing the puck away.
“We move it through the slot, and a great shot by Stacy getting the goalie moving laterally and just finding the corner.”
Everything appeared to be going Tisdale’s way when Preston Hoppe put the Trojans up 3-1 less than two minutes into the second period. Hoppe lost his footing while driving the net on a partial breakaway, and slid into Prince Albert starting goaltender Wyatt Nelson.
Hoppe’s momentum knocked Nelson out of the crease. Meanwhile, the puck bounced off the Tisdale player’s leg and into the open goal. The officiating crew signaled a goal, setting off a stream of protests from the Minto bench.
Despite the setback, Stacy said the club didn’t get frustrated.
“(It was) just a positive mindset on the bench,” he said. “The boys (were) hyped and just working hard, honestly.”
Prince Albert responded immediately, with a goal from Xander Pritchard just 14 seconds after Hoppe’s tally. Jakob Schmidt then tied the score less than two minutes later with a wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Tisdale starter Wyatt Fleischhacker over the shoulder.
Undaunted, the Trojans came roaring back courtesy of Prince Albert product Jacob Tait, who had four points on the night. Tait tipped a Carter Hudyma point shot in for his third goal of the game, putting Tisdale up 4-3 in the process.
The Mintos tied the game up just past the midway point of the second thanks to Liam Myhre’s power play goal. That was all the scoring until Cruz’s overtime winner.
The two teams played a scoreless third period, as team defence took over up.
“I think they both knew that the next one was going to be a big one—could be the winner—so everything tightened up defensively,” Antisin said. “Teams were making fewer mistakes, dumping more pucks in, and playing more of a defensive game, which is not a bad thing to teach these guys because at the next level, they have to be defensive and learn how to play in those games.”
The win moves the Mintos ahead of the Yorkton Maulers for fifth place in the SMAAAHL standings. The Mintos are back on the ice on Saturday to take on the Estevan Bears. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
