The Prince Albert Mintos played with fire for the last few weeks, and on Wednesday night they were finally burned.
The Mintos fell behind 2-0 in the first period against the Saskatoon Contacts, something they’ve done frequently this season, on route to a 5-3 loss at the Art Hauser Centre.
“We’ve kind of developed a little bit of a habit where we’re not playing our best early in games,” Mintos head coach Dion Antisin said afterward. “That’s four games in a row now going down 2-0 to start and we’re really putting ourselves behind the 8-ball.
“Trying to dig ourselves out of an early grave, you’re going to get caught a few times where you don’t win those ones.”
The Mintos have treated fans to some incredible comeback wins this year, and that was almost the case again Wednesday night. The Mintos trailed 3-1 when Xander Pritchard scored with 39 seconds to go in the second period.
The Mintos then received a gift goal just seven seconds into the third when Noah Gibson’s dump-in from centre ice took a strange hop off the boards, bounced off Contacts goalie Felix Derksen’s stick, off his skate, and into the net.
It was all Mintos the rest of the way, however. Kohen Volk put the Contacts ahead with less than nine minutes to play in the third, and Charlie Kay increased the lead on another power play goal less than two minutes later.
While he was happy with his club’s resiliency, Antisin said the Mintos made too many errors, and paid for it on the scoreboard.
“It just wasn’t our best game mentally,” he said. “Maybe it was just because the Contacts are below us in the standings, but they came hard. They played well, and we just didn’t answer the bell early in the game.
“Late in the game, yeah, we had a better chance in the third, but we were just down too much and they got two power play goals at the end to seal it. It’s just a tough one.”
The Mintos haven’t played their best hockey in the first period, but have still found ways to win. On Dec. 3, they overcame a 4-1 third period deficit to beat the Battleford Starts 5-4. On Nov. 20, they trailed the Contacts 2-0 after 20, but rallied to send the game into overtime.
They also spotted the Warman Wildcats a 3-1 lead on Nov. 22, a game the Wildcats went on to win 6-2.
“We talked about it all week here, just trying to change our start, trying to do some different things before the game, warm-ups, just to get us mentally prepared,” Antisin said. “(We’ve) just got to keep going back to the drawing board and see what works. Right now, things aren’t clicking early in games, but they click late. We’ve just got to find a way to get that mentality early.”
The Mintos are at home this weekend for a pair of games against the Moose Jaw U18 AAA Warriors. Game time is 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Both games are at the Art Hauser Centre.
News and Notes:
• Goaltender Jaden Blanchette made 37 saves for the Mintos while Derksen stopped 21 shots in the Contact crease. Addy Price also came in for a brief three minute stretch and made two saves.
• Carter WIngert scored Prince Albert’s first goal midway through the first period. Caleb Philp and Staiden Parenteau drew the assists. Cruz Stacey had the lone assists on the other two Minto goals.
• The Mintos went 0/2 on the power play. The Contacts were 2/6.
