Mintos with second sweep of playoffs, down Blazers 5-0

Yaremchuk himself had a heck of a night as he picked up a hat trick, scoring three of the first four goals of the hockey game.

Now after six-games, Yaremchuk leads the league in postseason goals with eight. Yaremchuk and his two linemates Jason Duret and Joel Blaquiere now sit in the top-3 in postseason scoring, Yaremchuk and Duret are tied with 12 points in just six games, while Blaquiere is right behind in third with 10.

“It’s pretty great that our line is all up there together, it shows how good we’re working together,” said Yaremchuk. “We’re moving the puck around good and we’re getting the puck in the net too and that helps out the team lots.

“Our other lines are going good too. Everybody’s going, all 20 guys.”

Mintos goaltender Lane Michasiw was going, making 22 saves for the shutout. In three postseason games, Michasiw has a 1.13 goals against average and .943 save percentage.

Although it was all systems go for the Mintos, the Blazers got frustrated and took 59 minutes of penalties total in the game, 53 of which were in the second and third periods.

The message from Mintos head coach Ken Morrison was to avoid the post-whistle scrums and skate away to avoid any suspendable offences—something sometimes easier said than done.

“There were times out there where it was hard to skate away,” said Yaremchuk. “But we made sure there was nothing wrong that could go into the next series so we stayed out of it.

“That’s what we do, stay disciplined and just worked.”

Off to the ‘ship once again

Two years ago, the Mintos beat the Saskatoon Contacts to win the league but last season, they lost to the Contacts in four games.

“That was the thing last year, we ran into a bunch of injuries so hopefully we can get healthy here and give them a good run,” said Mintos head coach Ken Morrison. “It will be down to which team wants it the most so hopefully we’re ready to go.”

The Mintos have picked up three injuries, forward Kody Young who’s close to return from a separated shoulder, D Braxx George who’s day-to-day with a concussion and forward Teal Sobkowicz who still needs time to heal a strained MCL.

But the Mintos have found some good relief in affiliate players to fill in the gaps, especially 17-year-old forward Brody Senger.

Senger scored the first goal of the series against the Blazers and with his assist Thursday, he has two points in three Midget AAA playoff games.

“He’s a really good kid, he just wants to come out to practice all the time and wants to play,” said Morrison of Senger, who led the Midget AA Humboldt Broncos in scoring with 33 points in 25 games. “He’s got a great attitude and works hard so it’s awesome he got a goal.

“He’s had a good year in Humboldt, works hard. We’re lucky to be able to have a guy like that to stick in the lineup. He’s 17-years-old, he doesn’t really hurt us that much.

“It’s nice to have the AP’s we’ve had come in a do a good job for us. It’s going to help us in the long run if we get another injury.”

The second ranked Contacts could make it three-straight playoff berths as well and have a 2-0 series lead over the Regina Pat Canadians.

Although the third seeded Pat Canadians would perhaps be a more favourable match up, some of the Mintos want to see the Contacts to revenge last year’s finals defeat.

“For sure, there’s always a good rival with them,” said Yaremchuk. “We beat them (two years ago), they beat us last year—so it’s our turn.”

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos with second sweep of playoffs, down Blazers 5-0

Off to the ‘ship once again

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