After a pair of exhibition losses to the Warman Wildcats, the Prince Albert Mintos turned up the intensity when it mattered.
The Mintos never trailed on Wednesday, jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead on route to a 5-3 victory over the Wildcats at the Art Hauser Centre. The win gave the Mintos some measure of revenge for a pair of preseason losses earlier in the month, along with renewed confidence heading into Saturday’s rematch.
“They are a good team,” Mintos assistant coach Bryan Swystun said afterwards. “(They’re) well coached. (Head coach) Courage (Bear) does a good job with them, and so we wanted to come out and establish who we are, and that (means) working hard.”
Jacob Cossette and Ryland Martin lead the way with two goals each for the Mintos, who improved to 2-1 on the season. Travis Swanson added a third period insurance goal, and Ty Shumanski made 33 saves to earn the win.
Jaydon Jessiman, Jeter Korte and Mason Bueckert responded with goals for the visitors, while Alex Worthington stopped 26 shots in a losing cause.
“We got pucks deep and we chased them and really wore them down,” Cossette said afterwards. “I thought we came out more physical than them, and they’re not used to that. I think that’s why we came out with the win.”
“Meat and potatoes type of plays against good teams like that sometimes work the best,” Swystun added. “I think that was evident tonight.”
Cossette opened the scoring for the Mintos just over 12 minutes into the first period with a quick wrist shot from the top of the slot to make it 1-0. Martin extended the lead with exactly one minute to play in the opening frame, when he deflected a pass that beat Worthington short side to make it 2-0.
The Wildcats wasted no time getting on the board in the second. Jeter Korte pounced on a rebound and fired it past Shumanski to make it 2-1 just 27 seconds in.
Martin restored the two goal lead with 12:17 to play, but the Wildcats fought back to tie the game on goals from Bueckert and Jessiman. The latter came with just 56 seconds remaining in the period, and looked like it would be enough to send both teams into the third on even footing.
However, Cossette gave the Mintos the lead for good just 24 seconds later when he deposited another rebound past Worthington after a Nate Misskey point shot.
“They made a good push,” Swystun said. “They’re a good team. We knew they were going to come out hard and they did. They got some momentum with that quick goal, and they came hard for that 10 minutes. We knew that was going to happen, and we tried our best to just stay calm.”
“My line got scored on and we didn’t even go to the bench. We just gathered together,” Cossette added. “We realized we messed up and we had to go fix that, so we went down and we … put a puck in the net to get us going.”
The Wildcats outshot the Mintos 12-9 in the third period, but couldn’t beat Shumanski for an equalizer. Then with 12:47 to play, Swanson added an insurance marker when he lifted a backhand over a sprawling Worthington during a goalmouth scramble. The game ended 5-3.
The two teams will be back at it again on Saturday for a rematch at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Scoring Summary
First Period
1. PA – Cossettee (Martin) 7:37
2. PA – Martin (Cossette, Misskey) 1:00
Penalties – Cudmore (PA) Tripping
Second Period
3. WAR – Korte (Jessiman, Dekowny) 19:33
4. PA – Martin (Cossette, Ravndahl) 12:17
5. WAR – Bueckert 10:44
6. WAR – Jessiman (Korte) :56
7. PA – Cossette (Swanson, Misskey) :32
Penalties – Main (WAR) Tripping, Silzer (WAR) Hooking
Third Period
8. PA – Swanson (Blanchette, Misskey) (12:47)
Penalties – Main (WAR) Roughing, Cox (PA) Roughing, Cox (PA) Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Shumanski (PA) Tripping
Goaltending:
PA – Shumanski (W) 33 SV, 3 GA
WAR – Worthington (L) 31 SV, 5 GA
Shots: Warman 36 (12-12-12), Prince Albert 31 (6-16-9)
PP: Prince Albert (0/2), Warman (0/3)