Mintos forward Cooper Chisholm gets a piggyback ride from Trojans defenceman Rylan Donald. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos Hockey

Mintos miss too many chances and run into hot goalie in shootout defeat to Trojans

Feb 12, 2020 | 9:59 PM

The Prince Albert Mintos were firing blanks on Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre. And whenever they got a true shot off, Hunter Lolacher seemed to have the answer.

Lolacher made 39 saves on 40 shots and stopped all five shootout attempts to will his Tisdale Trojans to a 2-1 shootout victory over the Mintos.

Lolacher made some key clutch saves throughout the contest, especially in overtime to rob Mintos forward Chase Bertholet of two highlight reel efforts, and slide over to deny a wrist shot in a prime shooting spot against Josh Peppler.

But there were many chances the Mintos squandered by themselves. Within about a minute of each other late in the second period, they fanned on a 2-on-1 rush and saw a clear 3-on-0 opportunity die in a pair of their own skates.

“I think there was just a little lack of attention to detail. Maybe with the efforts we’ve had recently and some of the results, we were due to have one go the other way—I’m not sure,” Mintos head coach Danton Danielson said. “But definitely, guys were not bearing down on chances tonight and we had a lot of chances that we could have finished that we didn’t.”

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The Mintos upped their play in the third period, outshooting the Trojans 16-7 in the final frame after having a narrow 19-18 lead after 40 minutes. Lolacher was certainly at his busiest then, flying all over the crease to keep the puck out.

“I thought we had a great third period and deserved to win based on that period,” Danielson said. “But, I didn’t think were good in the first two and that catches up to you. When you don’t play a full 60 minutes, sometimes you let luck come into play a little bit more then it needs to. I think we were unlucky in the third to not come away with the win there, but if we play like that for three, we probably walk out of here with a couple, or more, margin win.”

Not to be outdone, Joel Favreau made 28 saves on 29 shots for the Mintos in the game, including a last-second pad save to completely rob Kylynn Olafson in the third.

With the Trojans’ win, that means we now know which eight teams will be in the playoffs. Along with the Trojans and Mintos, the Regina Pat Canadians, Moose Jaw Warriors, Saskatoon Blazers, Saskatoon Contacts, Notre Dame Hounds and Swift Current Legionnaires will be in the postseason. The order of how those teams are seeded is still very much up in the air. The Mintos are currently in sixth place a 25-14-1-1 record. The Trojans are tied for eighth place with a 21-18-1-1 record.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Mintos, Austin McLean from Chase Pauls and Cooper Chisholm, 15:11

Second Period

1-1, Trojans, Noah Wills from Carter Briltz, 6:58

Third Period

No scoring.

Overtime

No scoring.

Shootout

Trojans’ Mackenzie Carson scored the lone goal in the five-round shootout

No captain

Mintos captain Chase Friedt-Mohr sat out Wednesday’s game with a sore hip. He has seven goals and 29 points in 38 games this season for the Mintos.

Finishing on the road

The Mintos will play their final three games on the road, Friday against the Saskatoon Blazers, next Saturday against the Swift Current Legionnaires and next Sunday against the Yorkton Maulers.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW