Daily Herald Staff
The Prince Albert Mintos bounced back from a tough loss on Wednesday with a win in North Battleford on Thursday.
The Mintos jumped out to a 4-1 second period lead and hung on for a 5-3 win over the Battlefords Stars. The win comes one day after the Mintos were beaten 7-2 at home by the Saskatoon Blazers.
Brock Kolibab lead the way for Prince Albert with two goals and an assist, while Alex Gray made 42 saves to secure the win. Landin Frank also had a pair of goals for the Mintos.
The win puts Prince Albert two points ahead of the Estevan Bears for the seventh seed in the SMAAAHL playoffs. However, the Bears have three games in hand.
Frank opened the scoring less than three minutes into the first period with assists to Luke Senick and Kolibab.
Battlefords tied the game at one with 6:18 to play on a goal by Kaegan Lowe, with assists to Rylee Belyk and Austin Schafer. However, Prince Albert retook the lead with 41 seconds left in the period on Kolibab’s first of the night. Senick and Liam Myhre drew the assists.
Kolibab put the Mintos up 3-1 less than four minutes into the second with an unassisted goal. Frank made it 4-1 Prince Albert just 24 seconds later. The assists went to Senick and Lincoln Rogers.
Battlefords clawed their way back into the game with two late second period goals. Waylon Gardipy struck first with 2:09 left to play on the powerplay, assisted by Kash Alger-East and Lukamus Lehman. Gardipy then added another with just 17 seconds to go in the period to make it 4-3. Kash Alger-East drew the only assist.
The two teams played a scoreless third until the final five minutes when Lincoln Rogers added some insure for Prince Albert with 3:41 to play. Kanyan Unger and Staiden Parenteau drew the assists.
Thursday’s tilt was the Mintos’ final road game of the regular season. They’ll play the Swift Current Legionnaires twice at home this weekend to close out the regular season.
Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday, and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
