By Jeff D'Andrea

P.A.’s Warkentine buries 4 goals against hometown Mintos

Jan 13, 2015 | 9:02 PM

Tisdale Trojans forward Drew Warkentine had quite the homecoming on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old P.A. product buried a whopping four goals against his hometown Prince Albert Mintos in the Trojans 5-2 victory Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Two of his goals were shorthanded and if that wasn’t enough, his third goal was celebrated by the Art Hauser Centre crowd —usually unheard of for a player on the away team.

A single black cap was thrown from behind the Trojans’ bench moments after Warkentine scored his third goal to make it 3-1 Trojans in the second period.

“I didn’t know who it was, but it was good to see,” said Warkentine, a 5th round pick of the Kootenay Ice in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft. “I haven’t have the greatest games here the last few years, but it felt good to get four tonight.”

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Warkentine now has 26 goals on the season in 29 games, ranking him second in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. He’s also fifth in the league in points with 45.

When he was still 14-years-old playing for the Prince Albert Venice House Bantam AA Raiders, Warkentine was called up to the Mintos for a game as an affiliate on Dec. 20, 2012, despite not being a part of the team the following season.

That doesn’t seem to trouble him a whole lot as Warkentine finds himself as a key-contributor on the Trojans, who are 22-5-0-2 on the year and just one point out of first place behind the Regina Pat Canadians.

“It doesn’t really bother me, I love it in Tisdale,” said Warkentine. “We have a good team there, no regrets about going there.

“We just work really hard. Whenever we lose a game, we just keep going and practice even harder getting ready for the next game.”

Like the crowd did throughout the game, Mintos coach Tim Leonard tipped his cap Warkentine’s way, as well.

“He’s a good kid. I wasn’t around when he was here trying out and stuff, so I can’t really say what happened but he’s a P.A. kid and it’s good to see him to do good—hopefully it’s not against us too often,” said Leonard, who coached Drew’s older brother Miles with the Mintos in the 2011-2012 season. “(Drew) played extremely well. He shoots the puck a ton, and tonight he found the spots. Hats off to him.”

Summary

Warkentine opened the scoring on the power play with 45 seconds left in the first period, before scoring a shorthanded goal midway through the second.

Chase Tippett, who was likely the Mintos’ best forward, countered with a shorty of his own to draw the Mintos in a 2-1 game heading into the third.

But the Warkentine show had two more scenes left, as he scored 11 seconds into the third on a power play, then added his second shorthanded goal six minutes later to make put the game out of reach.

Caleb Seaman, a 9^th round draft choice of the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2012 draft, scored the Trojans’ fifth goal in the third period.

Brett Harasmyuk made it 5-2 with a highlight reel backhand finish, after a lovely pass from Chris Van Os-Shaw.

The Mintos were 0-7 on the power play and had four consecutive power plays in the first period, but were unable to cash in.

Leonard simply said the Mintos “weren’t ready” to compete, on the power play or otherwise.

Mintos adding size in the middle

Brayden Cockwill, a 17-year-old rookie from Lanigan, made his debut for the Mintos on Tuesday.  Cockwill, a big 6’2, 180 pound centreman, had 21 points in 13 games for the Regina Vics this year in the South Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League. Although he played in 12 less games than his teammates, Cockwill’s 21 points still lead the Vics.

“I thought he did pretty good for stepping into AAA out of AA midget,” said Leonard. “Worried about the tempo, but I thought he adjusted to it quite fine,” said Leonard. “He’s got some skill, he’s got some good hands and he sees the ice extremely well.

“He skates pretty good, so we’re hoping he’ll fill a void with some size up the middle for us.”

Looking ahead

With the loss, the Mintos fall to 15-9-0-5 and are stuck directly in the middle of the 12-team SMAAAHL. They’ll face the fourth place Battlefords Stars on Saturday, before playing the seventh seeded Yorkton Maulers on Sunday. Both games this weekend are at the Art Hauser Centre.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea