The Mintos will likely take on the Wildcats in the SMU18AAAHL playoffs. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Mintos not going to the Mac’s; still waiting for the playoffs to start

Mar 2, 2022 | 2:23 PM

After its cancellation over the holiday break, the Mac’s U18 AAA Tournament has been rebooted and will run April 6-10 in Calgary. The tournament announced the new crop of 24 teams, but the Prince Albert Mintos were not on the list.

The Mintos, who have basically become a regular write-in for the tournament, chose not to participate in the tournament after some internal meetings.

“It’s a special tournament. There’s teams from the states there, there’s a European flavour, so it’s exciting for the kids in that aspect,” Mintos head coach Tim Leonard said. “I just think the thing with the Mac’s is it has a special time at Christmas. To put it off when hockey’s basically done and there’s not really a lot to play for, we just didn’t think it was a good fit.”

A huge benefit for the participating players in the tournament is all of the postsecondary universities and colleges send their scouts to get a look at the kids.

“And for recruiting, there’s lots of colleges there and lots of scouts there from Alberta and B.C. It opens doors for kids, but I think the purpose is to go early and then get these kids recruited. To go late in the season, I don’t think the recruitment factor will be as significant,” Leonard said.

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You want to talk about playoffs? We just want to play a game!

With the decision, the Mintos can put all of their focus on their playoff run. Leonard said the team’s ultimate goal is qualifying for and winning the Telus Cup.

But the Mintos will still have some waiting around to do. They played their 44^th and final regular-season game back on Feb. 21, losing 4-1 to the Saskatoon Contacts. But the Mintos were one of the few teams that were able to wrap up their season before the league extended its calendar for another two weeks.

They will have to wait until at least Thursday for the rest of the teams to finish out their games.

“With the COVID [delays], we kind of hammered our games in there and then the league came out with a two-week extension. That really didn’t help us, because we were caught up already. We sent the kids home for five days for their school break, which I thought was awesome. Now we’re back at it, starting Monday,” Leonard said.

The Mintos finished in sixth place with a 25-16-3 record. They will take on whichever team finishes third, which will most likely be the Warman Wildcats (32-9-2, 66 points) but the Saskatoon Blazers could fall from the second spot.

Regardless of who they face, the Mintos will have to start the best-of-five series without Jacob Cossette, the only player in the league to eclipse the 70-point mark (with 75 points). Cossette will serve a one-game suspension after taking a major cross-checking penalty in the Mintos’ defeat to the Contacts.

“It will be tough without Jake, he led the league in scoring and he’s out the first game. But it’s a ‘next man up’ mentality, we’ve kind of had it all year with guys in and out of the lineup. We’re going to go there and we’re going to be as structured as we can be,” Leonard said.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW