Mintos get their mojo back in 8-2 win over Argos

The top line for the Mintos accounted for most of the damage. Riley Sawchuk had two goals and two assists, while Erik Gardiner had a one goal, four assist effort on the night. Defenceman Jake Hobson had two goals and an assist as well. Taylor Kreutzer added a goal.

“We wanted to get our offence going, it was stuttering a bit,” said Mintos head coach Tim Leonard. “I thought we had a good push there to get us going. Those young guys got us going on the right foot and we got clicking on the power play.”

But two players that stood out were call-ups Kyrell Sopotyk and Austin Lamotte, who both play with the Sask Valley Vipers of the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League. In their first Midget AAA game, they both scored a goal each—Sopotyk also added an assist.

“We want to thank Sask Valley for letting them come, because they played last night and they play tomorrow,” Leonard said after Saturday’s game. “I said we wouldn’t give them much ice time, just for emergency, but jeez they played well. We started them, we thought it would be a spark plug for the bench and it was.

“It carried through and they deserved the ice time they got. They both scored, we’re pretty proud of that and happy for them. They want to be Mintos in the future—it looks good.”

Derrick Hucul made 17 saves in the game for his fourth win of the season.

Anthony Neuenschwander scored both goals for the Argos.

The Mintos are back in action Sunday against the Regina Pat Canadians. Puck drops at 1:30 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Behind the Moose Jaw Generals (6-1-0-1), the Mintos and Pat Canadians both have five wins on the year, with the Mintos at 5-2 and the Pat C’s at 5-3.

Leonard hopes the offensive outburst will carry over

“We sure hope so,” said Leonard. “I just said in [the dressing room], ‘we’re happy, let’s put some smiles on our faces. We played a good game for 60 minutes pretty much, but we’re not satisfied.

“It’s a win, now that’s done. We got to get our game faces on, get a good meal in us and a good rest and we’ll have our hands full [Sunday].”

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos get their mojo back in 8-2 win over Argos

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