A power play goal and two short handed goals provided all the offence the Prince Albert Mintos needed as they defeated the Tisdale Trojans 5-1 in SMAAAHL play on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
Mintos head coach Tim Leonard says the Mintos have been unlucky at times this season, but it was great to see positive results in the score column.
“We work hard, they’re fun to coach, they’re engaged and they want to win. Sometimes we’re snakebitten. We probably missed 3 or 4 breakaways tonight but pucks finally went in for us because they deserve it.
The Mintos would start strong out of the gate as Kelan Simmonds would open the scoring with power play goal 4:22 into the first period.
Owen Dyck would double the lead with 4:53 remaining as a point shot would get through Trojans netminder Lane Beal
Prince Albert outshot Tisdale 14-9 in the first period.
The Mintos would find themselves in penalty trouble in the second period and the Trojans would make them pay.
The Mintos nearly killed off a 5-on-3 power play but before time could expire on the second penalty, Carter Ralston sniped one past Minto goaltender Brady Holtvogt to cut the lead in half with 7:06 remaining in the second period
The Mintos were short handed again six minutes later, but Konnor Warson was sprung on a breakaway and the leading scorer for Prince Albert made no mistake. Watson would use a beautiful between-the-legs move to beat Lane Beal and restore the two goal Minto lead.
“It’s all about the mental prep and preparing for stuff like that. We killed the first one off, we almost killed the second one off. They got a late one and scored. You got to park it and move on. I thought our kids did a really good job of that here tonight.
In the dying seconds of the second period, Abinet Klassen would get a break up the left wing and a sharp wrist shot past Beal extended the Mintos lead to 4-1.
THe Mintos would score their second short handed goal of the contest as Logan Pickford would get a breakaway and make no mistake with just 3:39 remaining in the third period to extend the lead to 5-1, which ended up being the final score.
Brady Holtvogt earned the win in net for the Mintos turning aside 28 of 29 Tisdale shots.
Leonard says Holtvogt has really stepped up for the Mintos as a young goaltender.
“Lots of pressure on the young fellow. He’s 15 and thrown in the spotlight there. He was solid for us here tonight. He’s a big kid and he’s athletic. He’s a good kid, he is going to a future in the game. We’re happy to get him, he’s won big games for us and he’s 15. That’s pretty good.”
The Mintos return to action on Nov. 26 when they welcome the Regina Pat Canadians to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7pm.
NEWS AND NOTES
Mintos goaltender Jayden Kraus has been recalled by the Victoria Royals (WHL)
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