By Jeff D'Andrea

Minto knock out Stars from playoffs, stranglehold on 3rd

Feb 15, 2018 | 8:44 PM

The Prince Albert Mintos’ 5-4 win over the Battlefords Stars Thursday did a lot in determining the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoff picture for both sides.

For one, it mathematically eliminated the Stars from playoff contention. And for the Mintos, it most likely will give them third place.

The Mintos had four different leads in the hockey game, all of which were evaporated by the relentless Stars as they battled for their postseason lives.

But Kishaun Gervais was the X-factor for the Mintos, who had a massive two goal, two assist night.

Gervais broke the deadlock with 17.1 seconds remaining. He played the puck past two Stars defenders, had his wrist shot trickle past Stars goaltender Carter Serhyenko and was able to find the loose puck in the crease before Stars forward Adam Beckman could dive on it.

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“It was like a weight off my shoulders,” Gervais said. “Austin [Lamotte] gave me a really nice chip off the wall. I managed to poke it by two guys and the goalie challenged me, a lot, came out I just managed to get the shot off. There was kind of a battle for the puck and I saw that puck go in.”

After opening the scoring in the first period from a tip, Gervais then provided one of the flashiest passes of the season to set up Josh Pillar to put the Mintos up 2-0. Gervais passed the puck between his own legs, with his back turned to Pillar, to complete the mind-bending blind pass.

“I just saw him open, I kind of contorted my body,” Gervais said. “It was kind of a weird bounce, I tried to get it to him as quick as possible and it ended up working.”

Stars forward Matthew Flodell, who played his Bantam AA Hockey in Prince Albert, got the Stars on the board on the power play. Adam Beckman had a goal and an assist in the Stars’ push back.

With that, the Mintos have one game left on the regular season, Saturday on the road against the Tisdale Trojans. The Trojans are chasing the Mintos for the third place position.

Although the prospect of closing out the season against the rivaling Trojans excited the Mintos, P.A. head coach Ken Morrison made sure his club was focused on Thursday’s matchup first.

“Our coach told us all week to focus on this game and not the weekend, because these two points matter as much as anything else,” Gervais said. “We had our mind set on winning this game, and we battled back. We faced adversity and we all worked as a team tonight. I think it was one of the biggest team effort games we played all year.”

panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow