Mintos run out of gas at Mac’s tourney
The Prince Albert Mintos are on their way home from the Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament in Calgary after losing in the play-off round. They were eliminated Tuesday after five intense days of competition in an event their head coach conceded was just a bridge too far for his understrength line-up.
After leading 2-0 at one point of their quarter-final today through goals from Austin McLean, they lost momentum and ended up 5-2 losers to an impressive Saskatoon Blazers line-up.
“We ran out of gas I think was the issue,” Danton Danielson told paNOW from Calgary. “We’re playing with a fairly short bench and a few key injuries, and it left us needing to play a lot of games in a short period of time [like everyone else] without a few key pieces.”
Danielson said the experience of playing in such an intense environment was a big learning boost for the squad. A late tie against AK Bars Academy of Russia and a big win over the Calgary Buffaloes were the highlights of their undefeated four-game round-robin games.