By Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos stuck in the sin bin, down 2-0 in series to Hounds

Mar 5, 2015 | 8:56 PM

For the third straight Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoff series the Prince Albert Mintos have been in, they’ve faced a 2-0 deficit.

They’re in that pickle once again to start this year’s playoffs against the Notre Dame Hounds, losing Game 2, 5-1 at the Art Hauser Centre on Thursday—after dropping Game 1 by the same score in Wilcox the night before.

If you ask Mintos head coach Tim Leonard why they’re in this predicament, he’ll point to his team’s momentum destroying discipline.

Although they took eight penalties in Thursday’s game, the one that hurt the most was shortly after Mintos forward Chris Van Os-Shaw scored to get the Mintos back in the game at 3-1. The Mintos were pressing after the goal as Josh Roberts was stoned on a backhanded attempt. But after the whistle, assistant captain Reed Gunville, the team’s top scorer in the regular season, took an ill-advised crosschecking penalty to strip the Mintos of their most dangerous momentum streak they had in the game.

“It’s terrible, it’s terrible. I don’t understand it,” Leonard said, shaking his head. “You don’t have to have the best team all the time, you just have to have a team that wants to put in an effort, keep their nose clean and stay out of the penalty box—then you can compete with a lot of hockey teams.

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“That’s why the Mintos have had their success (in the past), probably not the best teams, but our work ethic, structure and discipline’s been there. This year, we just keep fighting it and fighting it.”

After what started out as a physical, tight defensive game for the first nine minutes, the Mintos fell behind 3-0 before you could say “physical period, eh?”

In a span of 36 seconds, the Hounds got goals from Ethan Crossman, Conor MacLean and Lantz Hiebert that put the Mintos in a hole too deep from them to climb out of.

“Just blown assignments, we know better,” said Leonard. “That’s not the way we draw it up. I don’t know what to tell ya, we had some brain cramps there, and for whatever reason, we left our checks.

“We do it (well) probably 50 or 60 times a game and did a good of it except for those two or three chances that they got.”

Mintos forward Chris Van Os-Shaw scored a power play goal midway through the second to stop the bleeding, but Carson MacKinnon restored the Hounds’ three-goal lead heading into the third period.

Hiebert ended the game with an empty net goal in the game’s final minute, his second tuck of the night.

Hounds goaltender Dylan Ferguson made 22 saves for the win. For the series, Ferguson is 2-0 and has only given up two goals on 47 shots for a .957 save percentage. Mintos goaltender Derrick Hucul surrendered four goals on 30 shots.

Not new territory

This is the third consecutive SMAAAHL playoff series that the Mintos have fallen to a 2-0 deficit in.

Last season, the Mintos had their backs against the wall in the first round to the Tisdale Trojans, only to comeback in dramatic fashion with two overtime wins and 5-4 finish in Game 5.

However, their pixie dust faded away in the next series, getting swept at the hands of the Battlefords Stars.

“I just got to let the guys know, from our standing point last year, we were down two games to nothing, we were even down three goals in the first period of the third game, and we came back and won that game in overtime (4-3 on March 5),” said Mintos captain Brody Reimer, who was on last year’s squad. “We set the momentum for the rest of the series, so I think we have to let the guys know to don’t stop believing in ourselves.

“If we can overcome the adversity, I think we can come back in the series and finish off strong.”

Series schedule

The Hounds could wrap up the series in Game 3, to be held on Saturday in Wilcox. Should the Mintos win and keep the series alive, Game 4 will be back at the Art Hauser Centre on Monday. If the Mintos can recreate last year’s first round comeback heroics, Game 5 will be in Wilcox on Wednesday.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea