Madden Dell’s power play goal with 2:35 left in overtime snapped a two-game losing streak, and gave the Prince Albert Mintos a 6-5 win over the Yorkton Maulers at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.
Dell knocked in a rebound following a Liam Myhre point shot for his first goal of the season. The tally gave Prince Albert its first win since their home opener against the Saskatoon Contacts.
“It felt really good since we worked for that goal all game,” Dell said. “It could have been any of us, but I’m happy it was mine and we got the win at the end of it.”
Dell’s goal came after Yorkton’s Meric Poncelet was called for tripping Myhre as the Mintos defenceman entered the Mauler zone. The call wasn’t popular with the visiting fans in attendance, and gave a red-hot Minto power play a chance to end the overtime period early.
“It doesn’t matter how you get the win,” Dell said. “We needed that one and we got it, so it was big time.”
Special teams were the story on Saturday. The Mintos had six power play opportunities, and converted three of them. On the other side, the Maulers had just one chance with the man-advantage, and it ended after roughly a minute when a Yorkton player was penalized for illegal equipment.
Before overtime, Mintos coach Dion Antisin told his club to be patient and make smart decisions. He said they were able to do just that with the man advantage.
“Dell, who was playing on the flank, read that Mysie (Myhre) was going to shoot, and attacked the net,” he said. “It was a good shot by Mysie. The goalie makes a great first save, but the rebound sits there and Dell’s right there to pick it up so great job for him going to the net.”
Saturday’s game was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than a goal at any given time. The two teams entered the third period tied at four, but Hazen Larson’s goal roughly two minutes into the period seemed to give Prince Albert the momentum.
Larson’s wrist shot from just below the faceoff dot clanged off the crossbar and in to give Prince Albert a 5-4 lead, but Yorkton’s Keatan Thompson jammed in a rebound shortside following a great bit of stickhandling from Landon Wegleitner to tie things up again.
“That’s the thing we’re going to have with a young team,” Antisin said when asked about the back-and-forth action. “We’re going to have those growing pains of playing with a lead, playing from behind, and all those things.
“For us to always bounce back and be able to keep pushing on and getting one more and one more and finding that goal at the end, it’s great for them to have that energy and know that they can always make that push.”
While the Minto offence was firing on all cylinders, the Maulers were able to exploit several defensive breakdowns in the Prince Albert end. Goaltender Wyatt Nelson was forced to make 32 stops on Saturday, including a stretching pad save with roughly two-and-a-half minutes to go in the third after a Mauler forward carried the puck right to the front of the net without much resistance.
“The offensive side was there tonight,” Antisin said. “At 6-5, it’s kind of a shoot-out, but we’ve got to clean up defensively and that side of the game. I think we gave them too many chances.
“They were just able to move around on us when we weren’t taking enough bodies, so that’s probably going to be our biggest fix for tomorrow.”
Dell said the team played well enough that they deserved the win, but added the Mintos know they need to tighten up defensively.
“(It was) back and forth for sure,” he said. “We played some really good minutes in that game, but we played some minutes that we really need to improve on.”
The two teams are back on the ice Sunday afternoon for a rematch at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 1:30 p.m.
News and Notes:
• Prince Albert product Tye Semenchuk had two goals for the Maulers, including the opener 6:58 into the first period. Semenchuk played four games for the Mintos as an affiliate player last season, and three more in 2023-24.
• Kieran Sobry, Meric Poncelet, and Keaton Thompson had the other goals for Yorkton. Cole Ivey stopped 33 of 38 shots in the Mauler crease.
• Liam Myhre scored his team leading fourth goal at 13:10 of the second period. The Prince Albert Raiders draft pick also had two assists, giving him six points in six games to start the season.
• Liam Acorn, Carter Hryciuk, and Barret Berger had the other goals for Prince Albert. Berger’s and Hryciuk’s both came on the power play.
