Mintos forward Chase Bertholet gets a step on Blazers defender Zach Gabruch. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Crazy Midget AAA Hockey

This crazy Mintos-Blazers series is all now square after two games

Mar 6, 2019 | 9:48 PM

In just two games, the Prince Albert Mintos and Saskatoon Blazers have combined for a whopping 22 goals in what has been a high-flying, out of control start to the best-of-five game Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoff series.

The Mintos won the first game 7-6 on Sunday at the Rod Hamm Memorial Arena, despite having a 5-0 lead late in the second period. They also lost their head coach Ken Morrison for at least one game after getting ejected at the final buzzer. Then on Wednesday, the Blazers equalized the series with a 5-4 win at the Art Hauser Centre.

“We knew [the Blazers] would probably be a different team. This ice surface is a little bit bigger and they’re a good skating club, so we expected them to come out harder,” Mintos assistant coach Bryan Swystun said. “We played well down there, smaller ice surface and were able to do a lot of things.

“We didn’t expect it to be a high scoring series, but it looks like it’s turning out that way.”

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In the first period of Wednesday’s game, both teams carried on from where they left off on Sunday. Both teams traded goals in the frantically-paced first, and were knotted at 3-3 when all was said and done. All but one goal was scored on the power play.

Mintos captain Alex Ozar scored a pair of goals on the man-advantage. Gabe Klassen, who’s still battling illness but saw some time on the power play, got three assists—all in the first period.

But the Blazers gained the advantage in the second, when James Form scored a pair of goals within the first 8:27 of the period to put the Blazers up 5-3.

“I thought overall, our guys battled hard, but we had a tough second period,” Swystun said. “They came out strong and caught us on some long shifts in our end.”

Gavin Ingram, who had a pair of goals and an assist in Game 1, scored again to bring the Mintos to within one, but that’s as close as they came.

Both teams ended the game going 3-6 on the power play.

Mintos goaltender Carter Woodside made 38 saves on 43 shots in the losing effort. Matthew Pesenti stopped 26 of 30 shots for the Blazers.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Blazers, Charlie Keller from Tyson Wouters, 7:37

1-1, Mintos, Alex Ozar from Gabe Klassen and Andrew Schaab (power play), 7:59

2-1, Blazers, Zach Gabruch (power play), 8:55

2-2, Mintos, Chase Bertholet from Gabe Klassen and Ashton Ferster (power play), 10:38

3-2, Mintos, Alex Ozar from Gabe Klassen and Andrew Schaab (power play), 12:13

3-3, Blazers, Carter Stebbings from Zach Gabruch and Alec Saretzky (power play), 17:53

Second Period

4-3, Blazers, James Form from Zach Gabruch and Carter Stebbings (power play), 3:34

5-3, Blazers, James Form from Carter Stebbings and Zach Gabruch, 8:27

5-4, Mintos, Gavin Ingram from Andrew Schaab, 10:18

Third Period

No scoring.

Game 3 between the two teams will be on Friday, 7:45 p.m. at the Rod Hamm Memorial Arena in Saskatoon.

Game 4, which is now necessary, is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW