Mintos in search of eighth win in first ten games to start season

The Mintos don’t just lead in the standings, but also in goals scored as they have a league-high 42 goals for, and the third-best goal differential at +16. That offensive output has placed three Mintos within the top ten in scoring with Madden Dell leading the team with 13 points (5G-8A), Ethan Janzen with 12 (5G-7A), and Maxim Cooper with 11 (3G-8A).

Dallman said while its great to see players get on the scoresheet, those stats don’t happen without a full team effort.

“Obviously, when you have guys who are higher up in league scoring, that’s a testament to what they’ve done early in the year. But I think it’s important that we don’t forget about the guys who are playing really well in some of our other roles and helping those guys go out and have success. We’ve got lines who are going out and playing against other teams’ top lines and playing them hard, and that frees up some other guys to do some scoring. It’s definitely a team effort , and some guys, they often get forgotten about, but they play important roles in what they do for us too.”

The Mintos embarked on the season with a narrow 3-2 loss to the Battlefords Stars, before winning their next seven games in a row that featured wins against the Saskatoon Blazers on Oct. 15 and the reigning provincial champions Regina Pat Canadians this past Saturday.

Ironically, their most recent game was a 6-3 loss to the Pat C’s on Sunday, and their next game isn’t exactly a walk in the park either.

The Mintos hit the road on Thursday and line up with the Saskatoon Contacts, who are the only undefeated team in the province with a 7-0-0 record. The Contacts also have the top goaltending tandem in the league in Felix Derksen and rookie Wilson Blocka, who have a combined goals-against average of 0.99 and a save percentage of 0.965. They also have three shutouts between them.

“A big focus area for us every day is our compete level,” said Dallman, when asked how the team will bounce back following Sunday’s loss. “Making sure that we’re prepared for what we have to do to go out and accomplish and play our game against a skilled team. We’re an older group, we’re a big group, [and] we skate well, so if we can put those things in place and play the game that we want to play, we feel like we can compete with any team, and we have a chance to win every night. So, get back to getting our compete level to where it has to be and then I think we’ll be okay.”

Puck drop against the Contacts is set for 8:15 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place. Following Thursday, the Mintos are back at home to host the Yorkton Maulers for a weekend doubleheader at the Art Hauser Centre. Game one is Saturday at 7 p.m., and game two is Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Mintos in search of eighth win in first ten games to start season

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