It doesn’t matter what level of hockey you play, taking too many penalties is always going to be a problem.
And while the Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors didn’t spend an inordinate time in the box on Saturday afternoon against the Prince Albert Mintos, the time they did proved exceptionally costly.
The Mintos scored three power-play goals -- including a pair in the third period -- and would go on to a 3-2 win in Sask Male AAA Hockey League action at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
All told, the Warriors gave Prince Albert six opportunities with the man advantage, and when three of those end up in the back of your net, well…
“I thought we played well, but they scored all three goals on the power play, so it’s obviously not good enough that we’re taking that many penalties,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “But I thought we played well enough to win, it was a tough goal at the end that we gave up and that’s the way it goes. We just have to make sure we rebound here on Wednesday.”
Beyond the sheer amount of time in the sin bin, it was what put the Warriors in that situation that was especially bothersome for Weisgerber -- penalties that were the product of stick infractions due to being out of position and similar instances.
“We have to be better,” he said. “It comes down to guys taking onus on what they’re doing out there. Half those penalties are not good, we can accept the aggressive penalties and things like that, but when you’re not skating and taking stick penalties or on the wrong side of the puck and have to hook guys, that’s what we have to get rid of… It’s bit us two games in a row here now and it’s gotta change or we’re going to be in tough here trying to win hockey games killing penalties half the night.”
Connor Miller scored the lone goal of the first period as Moose Jaw took a 1-0 lead out of the opening 20 minutes.
After Owen Nelson tied things up for Prince Albert 4:53 into the second, Miller struck again with a power play goal with 46 seconds left in the frame, giving the Warriors their lead heading into the third.
There, Logan Beebe tied things at the 4:49 mark and Carson Olson followed with the game-winner with 4:25 to play.
Ryan Bain had 20 saves in goal for the Warriors, Jayden Kraus stopped 36 for Prince Albert.
“They played well defensively and their goalie played really well, but we had lots of opportunities to score goals to try and get that game to 3-1 or 4-1 and get control,” Weisgerber said. “So we’ll just keep working at it and be back again this week.”
Moose Jaw fell to 2-2-0-1 with the loss, Prince Albert improved to 3-0-0-0.
The Winmar Warriors are back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Estevan Bears. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
