By Jeff D'Andrea

Mintos win Game One of finals over Contacts 4-2

Mar 21, 2013 | 10:22 PM

The Prince Albert Mintos are just two wins shy now of their goal since day one, to win the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League championships.

The Mintos beat the Saskatoon Contacts 4-2 Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five league final series and give the Contacts their first playoff loss this year.

As they went to their dressing room down 2-1 after two periods, the Mintos received a sound piece of advice from their first-year head coach Ken Morrison.

“I just told the boys, ‘it would be a lot easier to dig down deep right now and come out and play as hard as we can for 20 minutes, because if we don’t, we’re going to have to win a game in Saskatoon,” said Morrison. “Take your pick at what’s easier and decide what you want to do.”

Scoring three goals within a six-minute span, it’s pretty easy to determine which option the Mintos took.

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They got goals from Kylar Hope, defenceman Eric Young and Lance Yaremchuk to give them a two-goal lead which they successfully protected for the remainder of the game.

Young’s goal turned out to be the game-winner for the Mintos. With that goal, he now has six points in seven playoff games for the Mintos, tying him with SMAAAHL Defenceman of the Year and Mintos teammate Bryton Sayers.

Sayers dominated the regular season scoring with 53 points, 18 more than any other defenceman, but not only does Young have the same amount of points as him, but has more goals.

“He’s a really good player, I’m just getting lucky with the points I guess,” said Young, rookie from Prince Albert who had 14 points in all 44 games this year.

Morrison is glad to see Young contributing on the offensive side of the puck, but sees a lot more than Young’s six points that have made him valuable this postseason.

“The points aren’t everything, he’s been solid defensively and pretty steady,” said Morrison. “He’s settled in and played with more confidence and it’s showing.

“He just shot the puck and it hit the post and went in—a big goal for us.”

Both teams traded goals in the first period, with Contacts forward Kade Kehoe getting his first goal on a second effort, rebound opportunity. Mintos forward Adam Osczevski tied it late in the first with a terrific end-to-end rush, fighting through an Evan Fiala check and finishing with a high blocker goal.

Kehoe got his second goal of the game and the lone goal of the second period to give his team a 2-1 lead into the third period.

Contacts goaltender Rylan Parenteau, who’s also a Prince Albert Raiders prospect, entered the game with a 6-0 record, a .967 save percentage and 1.06 goals against average.

He stopped 27 shots on 31 Mintos shots.

Tanner Burgardt made 19 saves on 21 incoming shots.

Game 2 will be at the Schroh Arena in Saskatoon on Sunday, with both teams returning the next day for Game 3 at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Schroh Arena has been a tough place for the Mintos this year, who registered a loss and a tie in two regular season games against the Contacts in that building. They were 2-0 during the regular season at the Art Hauser Centre.

This is the third straight year the Mintos have met the Contacts in the finals. Two years ago, the Mintos took the league title, while the Contacts won last year.

So, is it the Mintos’ turn to win again this year?

“Yeah, it definitely is, we really want to beat them,” said Young. “They’re the team that we’d want to beat the most, they’re our rivals.

“We’re heading there with lots of confidence and the momentum. Hopefully we can win one there, some back home and win it.”

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea