By Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos goalie makes first foray into national spotlight

Apr 16, 2014 | 6:54 AM

In the Prince Albert Mintos back-to-back Telus Cup victories in 2006 and 2007, they had some outstanding goaltending from two improbable rookie goaltenders.

Watson’s Dustin Tokarski was cut by seven Midget AAA teams before leading the Mintos to their 2006 victory. He made 61 saves in the 5-4 triple overtime finals win over the Calgary Buffaloes. A year later, Prince Albert’s own Carsen Chubak led the Mintos to their second Telus Cup final, being named the Telus Cup Top Goaltender.

Both have now moved on to play professionally full-time in the AHL, with Tokarski now with the Hamilton Bulldogs (affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens) and Chubak with the Adirondack Phantoms (affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers). Tokarski has won the Memorial Cup and AHL championship, the Calder Cup. Chubak was one of 10 nominees for the Hobey Baker for the best collegiate player in the NCAA last season.

For the first time since Chubak suited up in green and gold, the Mintos have returned to the national stage this year April 21-27 in Moose Jaw.

The Mintos won the Telus Cup Western Regionals April 3-6 at home at the Art Hauser Centre and Mintos goaltender Connor Ingram was a big reason why.

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In the regionals, Ingram had a perfect 3-0 record, .932 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average and was a dominant force in every game he played.

The question is: can Ingram have a similar impact on the Mintos that Tokarski and Chubak did?

“I think so,” answered Mintos head coach Ken Morrison. “With his attitude and the way he works, I think he’s got a good chance of moving up and playing some high-level hockey—that’s my opinion.

“He’s proven he’s one of the better goalies in this league so far, and if he continues to play well and has a good Telus Cup, that’s only going to help him.”

As a matter of fact, Ingram was the best goaltender in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. He was named the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League Goaltender of the Year despite being a 16-year-old rookie. Ingram ranked first in both save percentage (.928) and goals against average (1.98) and was tied for second in both wins (16) and shutouts (2). 

“He’s a nice player to watch, he bails us out lots,” said Mintos forward Dakota Boutin. “He came up big during Westerns. He’s a really good goalie.”

At the beginning of the season, the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL listed Ingram as well. Morrison believes that Ingram could play for the Blazers in the near future, but jokingly said, “hopefully not next year.”

But even after all his success, and all the good references from coaches and teammates, Ingram took his usual unselfish and humble route.

“Those are two big names. I don’t know, those guys are hard to follow,” said Ingram. “Hopefully we can play our best hockey and bring another Telus Cup back here, that would be nice.”

This isn’t the first time that Ingram has been on a Ken Morrison-coached team. Morrison coached Ingram and his son Loch Morrison for a spring hockey season one year back when the two were just youngsters.

“I thought (Ken) was a lot scarier back then,” chuckled Ingram. “He’s still pretty intimidating when you get around to it. Loch and I played back in the day, (Matthew) Campese was on that team too.

“That (experience) kind of intrigued me to come play here because I knew (Ken) a little bit. He’s a great coach and he’s fun to have around.”

With the Telus Cup around the corner starting on April 21 at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw, Ingram is predictably excited.

“You’ll never get another chance to play in another national championship like this,” said Ingram. “This is probably the biggest stage I’ll ever play on in my life.”

Maybe.

But if he’s anything like Tokarski or Chubak… maybe not.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea