By Jeff D'Andrea

Trojans take control of series over Mintos

Mar 12, 2017 | 10:00 PM

The Prince Albert Mintos’ parade to the penalty box cost them on Sunday in their 1-0 loss to the Tisdale Trojans at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Mintos’ loss puts the Trojans in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League semifinals series. The Mintos will have to win Game 4 on Tuesday in Tisdale to keep the series alive.

The Mintos were forced to kill off seven penalties in the first period alone, including three separate 5-on-3 penalty kill situations.

The Trojans were able to find the back of the net on the seventh, as Thomas Bollefer’s shot snuck through a crowd to give Tisdale a 1-0 lead with 27.3 seconds left in the first period. That turned out to be the only goal of the game.

“We took too many penalties in the first, that was the difference in the game,” Mintos head coach Ken Morrison said. “We expended a lot of energy in the first killing penalties—that’s the way she goes, I guess.”

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The Mintos had some of their bench chances with two minutes left in the third period. Tanner Robin tipped a shot that went off of both posts. There was a furious scramble by both teams to fight for the loose puck.

“We just didn’t get a bounce at the end when we needed one,” Morrison said.

At the end of the game, Mintos forward Logan Barlage bowled over Trojans defenceman Jordan Simoneau, after both were tangled up in the slot. That started a brief scrum and tempers flared on both benches.

Without two big names

The Mintos will have to play the remainder of the semifinals series without their leading goal scorer and their top defenceman.

Kyrell Sopotyk was suspended for five games after a check from behind major penalty on Taylor Schmidt, just as the first extra period was expiring in Game 1’s 4-3 double overtime defeat. Sopotyk sat out his second game of the suspension on Sunday. It was also Sopotyk’s second major for checking from behind, he also previously had a two-minute CFB penalty early in the year.

Braden Schneider was suspended for four games after a check to the head major penalty in Game 2 on Trojans Kris Bzdel, who did not play Game 3.

“Guys are trying a little too hard, making the odd poor decision,” Morrison said. “With the suspensions, possibly you could argue a couple of poor decisions. That’s the way it goes.”

Game 4 will be in Tisdale on Tuesday. If necessary, the series deciding Game 5 will be back at the Art Hauser Centre on Thursday at 8 p.m.

“We have to forget about this one, and come and play like we can in the next game. That’s about all you can do,” Morrison said. “If we win that one, it’s tied up again and we come back here with another chance.”

Jeff D’Andrea is paNOW’s sports reporter. He can be reached at jdandrea@jpbg.ca or tweet him @jeff_paNOW.