RED DEER, AB – After two thrilling semi-finals on Saturday, the gold medal game is set at the 2007 TELUS Cup.

The Prince Albert Mintos (West) and Red Deer Optimist Rebels (Host) will battle for Canada’s 29th National Midget Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer after coming out victorious in their respective semi-finals. Prince Albert topped the Seminaire Saint-Francois Blizzard (Quebec) 4-2 in the early semi-final, while Red Deer knocked off the Vancouver North West Giants (Pacific) 3-2 in the late game.

Both teams will be looking to join exclusive company with a victory.

The Mintos are just one win away from becoming the first team in the 29-year history of the National Midget Championship to repeat as national champions. Prince Albert went 7- in Charlottetown, PE to win the title. They also carry a 13-game winning streak at the TELUS Cup into Sunday’s game.

The Optimist Rebels are looking to become the first host team in 16 years, and just the fourth host team ever (after North Hill in 1984, Richelieu in 1990 and Calgary in 1991) to win the National Midget Championship.

In their semi-final, the Mintos got a pair of goals from Jadon Potter to top the Quebec Region champions for the second time in as many games at this year’s TELUS Cup. Ryan Fox added three assists for Prince Albert, Travis Statchuk scored once and TELUS Cup Top Forward Tyler Fiddler finished the game off with an empty net goal to send the Mintos to the gold medal game.

The Optimist Rebels survived a tight first period, got a goal in the last minute of the opening period from Matt Fraser, and rode a strong defense and the goaltending of TELUS Cup MVP Marc Boulanger down the stretch to a victory over the Giants in their semi-final. Chase Schaber and Landon Hiebert also scored for Red Deer, while Eric Slemp added two assists.

Thursday night’s round robin meeting between the two teams was undoubtedly the best game of the preliminary round. The Mintos rode the shutout goaltending of tournament Top Goaltender Carsen Chubak to a 2-0 win over the Optimist Rebels, handing the hosts their first loss at Red Deer Arena in 27 games this season. Fiddler scored once and added in assist in that game.

The puck will drop for the gold medal game at 2:30 p.m. MT on Sunday, and can be seen LIVE on TSN/RDS, the official broadcaster of Hockey Canada. The game can also be seen online, via TSN Broadband at www.tsn.ca.

The Blizzard and Giants will play for the bronze medal on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Enmax Centrium.