Boutin Wins Telus Cup in 3OT for Mintos

Coming into the tournament all eyes were on Dakota Boutin and he made sure they stayed there at the end on Sunday.

The former Moose Jaw General scored with 1:24 to go in the third overtime period to lift the Prince Albert Mintos to their third Telus Cup midget national championship with a 4-3 win over the Chateauguay Grenadiers.

“That was pretty sweet.  I have no words to describe that feeling,” said Boutin moments after scoring the biggest goal of his young hockey career.  “I can’t describe it.  I just want to celebrate this one with the boys.”

Heading into hour four of hockey at Mosaic Place in gold medal game, both teams were trying desperately to end it, but neither goalie was allowing that to happen.

The Mintos finally got a break as Lance Yaremchuk scooped up the puck in the neutral zone and went racing up ice with Boutin on a two-on-one.  Yaremchuk slide over a perfect pass to Boutin who put it into a wide open net.

“I knew Yarry was going to get me the pass and I was little frustrated, so I wanted to burry that one so bad,” said Boutin, who had a pair of chances earlier in the game, but couldn’t capitalize.

“He had a glorious chance early to give us a two-goal lead and he usually doesn’t miss those,” said Ken Morrison, head coach of the Mintos.  “He’s usually late all the time for team functions, so he just scored later than he ordinarily would.”

“In the dressing room I just kept visualizing that puck going into the back of the net and finally it went in,” added Boutin.

The game lasted for six periods due in large part to the play of the two goaltenders, who came up with big save after big save late in regulation and through the three overtime periods.  Connor Ingram made 60 saves in the Mintos net, while Etienne Montpetit turned away 57 shots for the Grenadiers.

“It was crazy, we out played them throughout the overtime and I was just waiting for us to score one,” said Ingram.  “They would come down and I would just get nervous.

“I knew how bad these guys wanted it, they were saying in the room how bad they wanted it and I wasn’t going to give one up,” added Ingram.  “I wanted to win one for (Lane Michasiw) he was the MVP and Kenny picked up me to go through the playoffs and he supported me the whole way.”

The game was back-and-forth throughout.  The Grenadiers scored early in the first period, but then the Mintos responded with two quick goals from Yaremchuk and Carson Cayer.

Chateauguay evened the game in the second period, but the Mintos went back on top thanks to Cayer’s second of the game with just 1.9 seconds to go in the frame.

Martin-Olivier Cardinal, the Grenadiers captain, scored on the power play with just over five minutes left in regulation to tie the game and the two teams battled the rest of the way.

“We played well enough to win and sometimes hockey isn’t fair,” said Bruce Richardson, head coach of the Grenadiers.  “We’re going to leave the building with our heads held high and a silver medal that we’re really proud to have.

“When you lose it’s always tough, so the pain is there and there’s no words that I can tell these guys right now (to take that away), but one thing is I’m just so proud of them.”

The game was a record setting one as it was the longest game in Telus Cup history, beating the 2006 final, which also featured the Mintos.  The win also extended the Mintos’ record unbeaten streak to 21 games.

“The streak is cool, just to be apart of it is unbelievable and that goals against record is something that will probably never be broken,” said Ingram.  “It’s unreal to have your name in something like that.”

Boutin, who left the Generals midseason to join the Mintos, ended up scoring the first goal and the last goal of the tournament in his old home rink.

“At the start of the year we had trouble just scoring goals and he came around and he knows how to find the back of the net,” said Ingram on what the addition of Boutin meant to the team. 

“With this group of guys, it doesn’t get any better than that,” added Boutin.  “There was a few tears, tears of joy.  I’m so happy.”

Boutin, Ingram and Michasiw’s sticks will all be going to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in recoginition of their part in this history making Telus Cup.

The Okanagan Rockets won the bronze medal game earlier in the day, also needing overtime to beat the Toronto Young Nationals 3-2.

The Mintos completed a Saskatchewan sweep for the national midget hockey championships, after the Weyburn Gold Wings won the Esso Cup with a 2-1 win over Edmonton Saturday in Stoney Creek, ON.