Prince Albert Mintos defenceman Noah Gibson (#16) had a goal during the inaugural Saskatchewan Hockey Classic in Saskatoon this past week. Here, he's seen playing the puck during a game against the Saskatoon Contacts at the Art Hauser Centre earlier this season. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

On the road

Mintos lose out of inaugural Saskatchewan Hockey Classic

Dec 30, 2025 | 12:23 PM

The Prince Albert Mintos were a part of history this past weekend as one of the first teams to compete in the inaugural Saskatchewan Hockey Classic in Saskatoon.

The tournament began on Boxing Day and will wrap up on New Year’s Eve at Merlis Belsher Place, where the Mintos were joined by five other teams from across the Prairies, including the Saskatoon Blazers, Estevan Bears, Tisdale Trojans, Eastman Selects from Southeastern Manitoba, and Grande Peace Athletic Club from Grande Prairie, Alta.

Unfortunately, Prince Albert lost their three round robin games earlier in the week, which resulted in them missing the semifinals on Tuesday.

The Mintos played in the first game of the tournament on Friday against Tisdale, falling 5-2 to the Trojans before dropping a 4-1 decision to Grande Peace the following night. In their final game on Monday, P.A. squared off with Saskatoon where the Mintos felt the burn from the Blazers, losing 10-3.

Linden Abercrombie led the Green and Gold on the scoresheet during the tournament with four assists, followed by Madden Dell with two goals. Also finding the back of the net was Cohen Greenwood, Cooper Sawatzky, Caleb Philp, and Noah Gibson, while Cruz Stacey, Jacob Schmidt, and Sean Lavoie each collected an assist.

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In goal, duties were split between Cohen Kuntz and Wyatt Nelson. Kuntz had a 7.50 goals against average to go with a .821 save percentage, while Nelson managed a 3.00 goals against average to pair with a .939 save percentage.

The finals will be played on Wednesday afternoon between the winners of Saskatoon and Tisdale, and Eastman and Estevan.

The Mintos return to SMAAAHL regular-season action on Jan. 3 when they welcome Swift Current for a weekend set. Game one goes Saturday at 7 p.m. followed by Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com