By Brent Bosker

Mintos set for another run at the Telus Cup

Mar 31, 2011 | 11:15 AM

The Prince Albert Mintos are a confident bunch going into the Telus Cup Western Regional tournament in Moose Jaw.

“We pride ourselves on having the best league in Canada, so we’re going to go out there with some confidence that we are the team to beat,” said Tim Leonard, Mintos’ head coach.

The Mintos have a reason to be confident. They lost only once on their way to a third Saskatchewan Midget AAA championship, including a sweep of the Saskatoon Contacts in the final.

“We play a good brand of hockey,” said Leonard, following practice Wednesday afternoon.

The team worked on break outs and its fore check, before boarding a bus for Moose Jaw.

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It will take more than just executing our game plan to be successful, Leonard said.

“We’re going to have to get goaltending. It’s been there all year so I expect it to be there. Special teams are going to be huge and staying healthy.”

With the exception of Landon Belchamber, the team is injury free, he said.

Belchamber will miss the regionals because of a concussion and will be replaced by Matt Anholt.

The Mintos play their opening game of the tournament at 4 p.m. today against the Winnipeg Thrashers.

This is the Mintos third trip to Telus Cup regional qualifier and fourth game against the Thrashers.

The Mintos tied and beat the Thrashers in the 2006 final in Tisdale and defeated them a year later in Brandon.

In both years, the Mintos went on to win national championships.

The Mintos face the host Moose Jaw Generals Friday night and finish the round robin with a Saturday afternoon game against the Thunder Bay Kings.

The Mintos went 2-1-1-0 against the Generals during the regular season and have two wins in two meetings against the Kings at the Western Regionals.

The championship final is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre.

paNOW will have extensive coverage of the Mintos at the Western Regionals. You can also listen to 900 CKBI for game updates during the tournament.

bbosker@panow.com