By Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos off to the ‘ship, eliminate Argos with 3-2 win in Game 5

Mar 14, 2012 | 11:15 PM

With Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Notre Dame Argos, the Prince Albert Mintos are headed to the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League finals for the second year in a row.

But the Argos gave the Mintos their biggest test of the season. They had a 2-1 series lead over the top-ranked Mintos after a 4-0 win at the Art Hauser Centre Saturday.

But Mintos head coach Tim Leonard did everything he possibly could to get his team motivated to win the series’ last two games.

The biggest thing Leonard wanted his team to do was believe in themselves, so he made his team write that word, ‘believe’ on their sticks during practices. He even guaranteed a Game 4 victory, which his Mintos won 5-4 in overtime, setting up the deciding Game 5.

“That’s a good dressing room. Those kids, their backs have been against the wall for a couple nights here, lots of pressure, but they came through again,” said Leonard. “I said we’d win down there, I felt good about it. We’ve been the better team but sometimes that doesn’t count on the score clock. The kids went down there, we focused.

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“The kids bought into it and we believed we were going to win down there and we did.”
If there was one guy that needed to believe in himself, it was 17-year-old veteran Adam Fauchoux.

Fauchoux had just one assist in six playoff games, but found his offensive touch at the most important time.

Not only did the Prince Albert product score the game winner in Wednesday in the third period, but was a huge reason why they got there in the first place. Fauchoux scored a hat trick in the 5-4 win in Game 4, including the overtime winner.

“It felt good to finally put pucks in the net, help out the team and finally get out of the slump,” said Fauchoux. “It’s frustrating when you’re not putting the puck in the net, but it doesn’t really matter when your team’s winning. At the end, it feels good to put them in the net and help the team win a game.”

Both teams traded goals in the first period, with Brett Njaa scoring for the Mintos scoring six minutes into the period to put the Mintos up 1-0, before Cavin Leth tied the game seven minutes later, following a 5-on-3 power play.

Mintos rookie forward Miles Warkentine scored the lone goal in the second period, on a backhanded wrap-around.

Fauchoux tipped in a Michael Statchuk point shot in the third period to put the Mintos ahead 3-1, but Stephen Hiff made it 3-2 with 22 seconds left in the game.

The Mintos outshot the Argos 45-22 in the game and in the series, the Mintos averaged 16.4 more shots a game, piling on 42 shots while giving up just 25.6 per game.

Connor LaCouvee made 43 saves in the game for the Argos and had a .933 save percentage and started all five series games. Tanner Burgardt made 20 saves for the Mintos in the win. He earned all three wins for the Mintos in the series.

As the playoffs have progressed, the Mintos infirmary is getting filled up. Forward Jason Duret left Wednesday’s game with a shoulder injury and will be evaluated further. On Monday’s road game, forward Lance Yaremchuk and Max Powiada suffered injuries, and could be sidelined for at least a week. Yaremchuk’s left arm was in a sling on Wednesday, and he could miss two or three weeks.
Mintos defenceman Jordan Harris was injured Game 2, suffering a concussion, but will be tested in the upcoming days and hopes he can play this weekend.

But with all the injuries the Mintos have had to deal with, they’ve gotten some valiant effort from their affiliate players in forwards Evan Patrick, Kent Walchuk, Andrew Zultok and defenceman Jesse Haeusler, who all played in Wednesday’s game.

“We’ve kinda did it all year with AP’s and the biggest thing is making them feel welcome them in our dressing room and making them feel like they’re a part of it,” said Leonard. “We talk about it before games how our AP’s are going to be a big piece of the puzzle in the win and they were again today.

Evan Patrick and those guys had some good pushes, they worked, they forechecked, they won about five or six puck battles and that’s what we ask of them—give us some energy, and they did.”

The Mintos will face the Saskatoon Contacts in the final round, to determine the SMAAAHL champions. Both teams have a 2-2 record against each other in the regular season, and are 1-1 in each other’s building.

The Contacts (2 seeds) , who are making their third straight final appearance, beat their crosstown rivals, the Saskatoon Blazers (7) , in five games in the opening round, then beat the Moose Jaw Generals (4) in the second round in four games.

Rourke Chartier, 1996-born rookie Contacts forward and Kelowna Rockets prospect, has eight goals and 12 points in nine playoff games, despite facing the league’s best goaltender in Blazers’ Daniel Wapple in round one, and the league’s second best defensive team in the Generals in round two.

Raiders prospect Reid Gardiner has three goals and five points in nine playoff games. He finished the regular season with 40 points in 36 games. Gardiner, from Humboldt, was selected eighth overall in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft.

The entire series has not been scheduled as of yet, but Game 1 will take place Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre at 7 p.m. Check the league’s site in the upcoming days for the rest of the schedule.

jdandrea@panow.com