Northern Bears, Mintos feeling youthful ahead of season puck drop

He added that the team has seen some action ahead of the regular season, not in the preseason but in the form of tournaments. The team was in Portage la Prairie, Man. for the Central Plains Preseason Showcase last weekend, where they finished with a split record at 2-2-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL).

“The travel to Portage was a bit long, but the tournament was good. I think it showed us a lot of things on what we have accomplished to this point and what we have to work on.”

Mintos Head Coach Dion Antisin echoed Young, saying they’re also putting out a youthful product on the ice this year, adding that he was also impressed with the preseason.

“I mean, we have a young team this year. We know that, everyone knows that, so there’s no hiding that. But we’re very excited. I mean, seeing things in preseason was great – having a .500 record was good to see with that because it showed us that we can play with some of the big teams and that we can’t take nights off. A lot of these young guys, they don’t know the level, they don’t know how to recuperate for back-to-back games, so for them it was great to see the style that this league brings and how they need to play every night.”

The Northern Bears are running with 10 rookies this season, including forwards Layah Mitchell, Andie Marshal, Lea Hildebrandt, and Adyson Wallin; defencemen Reyn Siklenka, Macy Clarkson, Jana Simonson, and Kasey Marshall; and new goaltending duo Maggie Schell and Avery Brunen. The team has five 2008-born players that will graduate from the team, and the league, at the end of the year, along with eight 2009-born players and seven players born in 2010.

It’s much of the same look for the Mintos, who have just four 2008-born players on the roster. Netminder Jaden Blanchette is the lone returning veteran player from last year’s team, while the other three are newcomers like defenceman Barret Berger, who the Mintos signed from the Saskatoon Contacts, and forward Cruz Stacey and fellow goaltender Wyatt Nelson, who spent last season with the Lake Country Timberwolves in U18 AA.

With rosters mostly made up of younger players and rookies, either coach said they’re looking to gain that valuable experience as the season progresses.

“We just need to learn how to play that older, pro-like style that this league forces you to learn,” said Antisin, who’s in his first year as head coach. “You don’t get away with bad habits anymore, you don’t get away with toe drags anymore, [defence’s] are too good. We have one returning forward and 11 young new players that don’t understand that yet, so they’re learning that. That’s going to be something that takes weeks to figure out, it’s not something that you can change overnight. So for us, it’s just going to be staying on the course, following the path that we’ve talked about as coaches and being able to learn that style.”

“I think one of the biggest things is hopefully we’ve learned from it,” said Young, speaking about that first-round playoff exit last season. “Like I say, the young players we have returning were also in that, a lot of them were in that game. So they know both games went into overtime, and they know how important it is to get points early in the season. Those are the little things that take you where you want to go.”

The Mintos are in Yorkton to kick off the regular season against the Maulers where they will play two games tonight, Saturday, and again tomorrow before their home opener against the Saskatoon Contacts on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Northern Bears embark on the new season at home tonight at the Art Hauser Centre, playing host to the Battlefords Sharks at 7 p.m. The two will rematch tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social

by Logan Lehmann

Northern Bears, Mintos feeling youthful ahead of season puck drop

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