The Prince Albert Mintos came into the Art Hauser Centre Saturday night looking to sweep their season-opening series with the Warman Wildcats, but it was the visitors who left with the win, and some revenge after a 5-3 setback on Wednesday.
The Wildcats outshot, outchanced and outscored the Mintos, leaving Prince Albert with a 4-0 victory.
Wildcats goaltender Alex Worthinigton shut the door on all 25 Minto shots. Meanwhile, Minto goalie Jayden Kraus did his best to keep his team in the game, turning aside 41 of 45 shots that came his way.
Minto captain Rhett Ravndahl spoke highly of Kraus after the game.
“He played amazing,” Ravndahl said. “He’s a great goaltender, and I wouldn’t ask for a better goalie to play with.”
The Minto captain also commended the play of the Wildcats, saying “they’re a tough team to play against.”
Prince Albert came into this game sporting a 2-1 record, with an opening game 7-2 shellacking of the Swift Current Legionnaires, followed by a 5-3 upset by the Regina Pat C’s, and the aforementioned 5-3 victory over the Warman Wildcats.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats came into this one with a 2-1 record in the early stages of the season, thanks to hot starts in back to back wins against the also newly inaugurated Estevan Bears, before dropping a 5-3 contest on the road in PA.
It was a pretty even battle for the opening 15 minutes until Dustin Renas opened the scoring for the visitors with 4:28 left in the opening frame. From there on, it became a battle that the Mintos were losing, especially in the shot department, and it eventually started to show on the scoreboard.
The second period saw three more goals added, all to the Warman side. Dustin Renas found the back of the net twice more in the middle frame to make it a 3-0 Wildcats lead, and Connor Gabriel added an insurance goal just 8 seconds after Renas’ hat trick tally to make it a 4-0 Warman advantage.
“They came out strong,” Ravndahl said. “They’re a good team. We just couldn’t capitalize on our chances and they did.”
Saturday’s loss drops the Mintos to 2-2 on the season. They’ll face the Estevan Bears at the Art Hauser Centre in their next game on Oct. 9.
When asked how the team would prepare for Estevan next Saturday, Ravndahl said they’re looking at it game by game.
“They’ve played a few games, so we’re going to look at some film in these next few practices, learn how they play and go off of that,” he said.
Puck drop is 7 p.m.