It was a big game for the Prince Albert Mintos.
Heading into their third contest of Ice Mania on Friday afternoon, the hometown team found themselves behind the proverbial 8-ball.
With losses in their first two games and facing Manitoba's Eastman Selects - another winless team at 0-3 - the Mintos were in a precarious situation.
Win, and move on to the bronze-medal game. Lose, and get stuck in a must-win scenario against the Moose Jaw Warriors late Friday night.
Needless to say, Prince Albert would have to bring a certain level of intensity to the rink against Eastman if they hoped to walk the easy route to the consolation game.
But it didn't happen.
Instead, the Mintos found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision against the Selects.
"We had no intensity out there, no focus at all," said Mintos assistant coach Mo Lemire. "It's pretty disappointing."
The first period was fairly even, with Minto rookie Tyson Dallman striking first at 7:50 with a power-play goal to give Prince Albert the lead.
Less than two minutes later, however, the Selects got a power-play marker of their own when Tyler Lazaruk beat Prince Albert goalie Spencer Laycock to knot the score at 1-1.
The Selects then opened the second frame with a pair of goals to take a 3-1 lead.
But back-to-back goals from Prince Albert's Taylor Fauchoux and Brandon Tash tied the game, before Eastman's Brett Hanson scored the eventual winner with 46 seconds remaining in the second.
Prince Albert wrapped up the round-robin late Friday with another 4-3 loss, this time to Moose Jaw.
For the Mintos, it marked another year they have failed to win their own tournament.
But more importantly, the recent rash of losses (now seven in a row) has left the coaching staff scratching their heads and wondering how to get the team back to its winning ways.
"We have a lot of work to do," said Lemire. "We're going to dig a little deeper to find out what's wrong with the guys right now. Then hopefully we'll mesh together and start playing as a team because right now we're not.
"The guys aren't playing for one another and it's frustrating."
ahawboldt@paherald.sk.ca
Mintos winless at Ice Mania
Mintos winless at Ice Mania
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Published on
November 8, 2008
- Published on November 3, 2009
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Adam Hawboldt
Hosts exit their own tournament with four losses in five-team affair
It was a big game for the Prince Albert Mintos.
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