2014 TELUS Cup

BOUTIN SCORES IN THIRD OT, MINTOS WIN TELUS CUP

DAVID BRIEN

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Dakota Boutin scored at 18:36 of the third overtime period, ending the longest game in tournament history, as the Prince Albert Mintos claimed the 2014 TELUS Cup with a 4-3 extra-time win over the Grenadiers de Châteauguay in Sunday’s gold medal game.

Boutin’s goal came after 108 minutes and 36 seconds of hockey, surpassing the 102:24 played by the Mintos and Calgary Buffaloes in the 2006 gold medal game.

After a turnover at the Prince Albert blue-line, Boutin took a pass from Lance Yaremchuk and snapped a shot past an outstretched Étienne Montpetit, igniting the pro-Mintos crowd at Mosaic Place.

It’s the third time Prince Albert has won Canada’s National Midget Championship, joining 2006 and 2007.

The goaltenders stole the show for most of the game; Montpetit was a hard-luck loser after a 57-save performance, and his Prince Albert counterpart, Connor Ingram, made 60 shots.

Châteauguay outshot Prince Albert 63-61.

Carson Cayer, with two, and Lance Yaremchuk scored the Mintos’ goals in regulation time. Yaremchuk finished with a goal and an assist, while Jared Blaquiere had two helpers.

Martin-Olivier Cardinal led the Grenadiers offence with a goal and two assists, including the game-tying goal on the power play late in the third period.

Tyler Hylland had the other Châteauguay goals.

The Grenadiers opened the scoring just 4:23 when Hylland, sent in alone by Cardinal, went to the backhand and snuck a shot under the pad of a sprawling Ingram.

But the Mintos answered with two goals in quick succession; Yaremchuk wired a wrist shot under the bar to tie the game at 11:29, followed just 16 seconds later by Cayer, who chipped in the rebound of a Josh Roberts shot, sending the West Region champions to the dressing room up 2-1.

Châteauguay pulled even five minutes into the second period, and it was Hylland again. The rebound of his shot banked in off a Prince Albert defender, squaring the game at 2-2.

Cayer restored the Mintos’ lead with just 1.4 seconds left in the middle frame, flipping a backhand at the net that hit the skate of a Grenadiers defenceman and beat Montpetit.

With the Mintos just minutes away from celebrating a national championship, Chateauguay tied the game on the power play, and it was captain Cardinal doing the honours; he intercepted a soft shot from Samuel Levac and squeezed a shot through Ingram to force overtime.

The overtime periods were end-to-end action, with both Montpetit and Ingram flashing the leather on multiple occasions to keep their teams in the game.

After both teams failed to capitalize on power play opportunities in the third overtime, Boutin capped one of the greatest games in national championship history, clinching Saskatchewan’s 14th gold medal.