Taran Kozun did it again.
The Prince Albert Mintos goaltender won the battle with former Minto Steven Glass in training camp and he earned a 5-1 win over Glass and the Beardy’s Blackhawks on Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre.
“It feels pretty good, I guess, knowing that I can do just as good as he can,” said Kozun about his 17-year-old counterpart in the Blackhawks’ net.
It was a bit of revenge for the Mintos (19-3-2), as the Blackhawks (11-14-3-1) shut them out 4-0 back in October at the Willow Cree Memorial Sport Centre in Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League action. The win allowed the Mintos to leapfrog the idle Moose Jaw Generals (18-3-3) for first place.
“The last time we played them, we got hammered, so it feels good to get them back,” said the 16-year-old rookie, who sports a 12-1-1 record.
Kozun’s shutout bid was broken late in the third period when the Mintos took three straight minors and the Blackhwaks’ Brett Boehm broke the goose egg on a five-on-three.
“We started taking a bunch of stupid penalties, we weren’t moving our feet and it cost us,” said Kozun.
The Mintos took 10 minor penalties, which the coaches addressed after the game.
The fast-paced, hard-hitting game turned on special teams when the Mintos easily killed off a minor penalty, before getting a couple chances of their own, which they took full advantage of to go up 2-0.
Tyson Dallman opened the scoring for Prince Albert when he took a pass from linemate Brennen Bosovich. The Blackhawks couldn’t stay out of the sin bin and Tad Kozun gave the home team a 2-0 lead when he tipped the puck past Glass when he was left alone in the slot.
“It was good to get the power-play (goals) early and jump up and get a lead and then kind of shut down their power play,” said Dallman. “Beardy’s usually have a pretty good power play, so for us to keep them to only one goal it pretty good.”
Dallman and Bosovich spent last week in Tri-City with the WHL Americans where they were able to participate in practice and each played a game against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
“They battle a lot harder than some of the guys here, but that comes with age, there are 20-year-old guys playing there and they’ve got full beards and stuff,” said Dallman, sporting a thin goatee on his chin.
“As far as we know, we’re probably going to go there and have a good chance to make the team,” he continued, pointing out the Americans just traded a pair of their young players to the Regina Pats for Carter Ashton. “Hopefully, that opens up some spots for us.”
In the second period, the Mintos added a pair of even strength goals, first by Sawyer Lange when the second-year Minto jumped on the puck in the neutral zone and skated in alone on Glass, going upstairs. Dallman gave Prince Albert a four-goal cushion with his second of the game and 12th of the season when the Blackhawks defenceman mishandled a bouncing puck during a clearing attempt.
The Mintos Jeremy Margeson finished the scoring when he did clean up duties for linemate Jordan Tkatch.
Dallman said Kozun’s play this season has given the Mintos’ confidence in their netminders.
“It’s nice to have two goalies who you can rely on,” said Dallman. “Last year, was kind of difficult Dawson (MacAuley) was 15 and you can’t expect too much out of a guy coming into the league, but this year, they’ve both been unbelievable, probably the reason we’ve won a couple of our games.”
The Blackhawks were without Alex Forsberg, the Prince George Cougars top pick in the WHL bantam draft last spring, who is recovering from a broken foot.
The Mintos are in Yorkton for a pair of games with the Harvest this weekend to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule. Game time Saturday is 7:30 p.m. and Sunday 2:30 p.m. The team leaves for Calgary to take part in the annual Mac’s midget tournament Dec. 25.
“It’s always a good time, hanging out with the guys and the team,” said Dallman. “It’s good exposure for lots of the guys.”
slamb@paherald.sk.ca
