Mintos eliminated as Northern Bears continue to surge, senior provincials continue into quarterfinals

For the first time over 20 years, the Sask. Male AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL) playoffs will be without the Prince Albert Mintos.  

During their final weekend set against Notre Dame, the Hounds cemented Prince Albert’s playoff fate on Sunday when they downed the Mintos 4-2 at the Art Hauser Centre. P.A. needed to win their last five games of the season to even have a chance at clinching a playoff spot, which saw them play Notre Dame with the Tisdale Trojans and the league-best Regina Pat Canadians still left on the schedule.  

The Mintos did win their matchup over Notre Dame on Saturday, taking a commanding 7-3 win at the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre, and can now play spoiler against Tisdale as they’re still in the hunt for a playoff spot.  

The last time the Mintos missed the playoffs was in 2005 when they were the last team out with a 19-24-1 (W-L-OTL) record. Their luck quickly turned for the better in the years that followed as Prince Albert went onto win the league and the subsequent Telus Cup National Championship in 2006 and 2007. 

Mintos centerman Xander Pritchard wins the draw against the Notre Dame Hounds at the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre on Feb. 14, 2026. (Image Credit: Logan Lehmann/paNOW)

Meanwhile, the Mann-Northway Northern Bears won their lone contest over the weekend, also against the Notre Dame Hounds. The Bears had the Hounds in a chokehold for the entire 60 minutes, coming away with a 9-4 victory. 

The win marks their sixth straight as they sit with a 9-12-3-3 (W-L-OTW-OTL) with three games left to go in the regular season, two versus Notre Dame and one against Saskatoon. As it stands on Feb. 18, P.A. has a chance to pass Weyburn and Saskatoon in the standings if they win their final three contests, as Saskatoon sits fourth with a 12-11-1-2 record with four games left while Weyburn has a record of 11-15-1-2 with just one game left to go.  

The Bears head to Wilcox to face the Hounds this coming weekend, with back-to-back games on Feb. 20 and 21. They’ll wrap up the season in Saskatoon on Feb. 24. 

One TRHL team left standing in senior ‘D’ provincials 

The Hague Royals are the last club from the Twin Rivers Hockey League (TRHL) remaining in senior ‘D’ provincials following the weekend. 

Hague knocked off a fellow TRHL team in the Birch Hills Blackhawks in the second round, taking the best-of-three series 2-1. The Royals took Game 1 last week, 8-4, behind a six-point effort from Christopher Sawatzky and 41 save performance from Nic Jensen. Game 2 on Friday went the other way as Birch Hills won 6-3 as multiple Blackhawks tallied two or more points, while Easton Wolter managed 31 saves between the pipes.

Game 3 started with a bang for Hague as they scored three goals on their first three shots of the game. Eventually, the Blackhawks rallied back and got to within one, trailing 4-3 at the start of the third. However, Hague hammered the last nails in the coffin in the final frame, scoring three unanswered to take the series via a 7-3 win in Game 3 and advances onto the provincial quarterfinals. 

Meanwhile, the Shellbrook Elks and Allan Flames saw their runs at the championship cut short. 

Shellbrook met their match against the Lucky Lake/Beechy Lakers, falling in three games. The Elks took Game 1 at home 5-3, before struggling on the road in Lucky Lake, dropping Game 2 on Friday 5-1 and Game 3 on Saturday 5-4.  

It was a very similar case for Allan. 

The Flames commandingly won the first game of their series against the Ituna Avalanche, 8-3, before Games 2 and 3 turned in favour of the opposition. Playing in Ituna, Allan lost a close contest on Saturday 5-4, before the Avalanche cruised in Game 3 to a 6-3 win. 

Shellbrook and Allan aren’t finished with their seasons just yet, as the Elks and the Flames will duke it out in one of two semifinal matchups in the TRHL playoffs. A schedule for the series has yet to be released.

On the other side, the league-best Rosthern Wheat Kings will lineup against the Clavet Cougars with that series beginning on Friday, Feb. 20. Game 1 puck drop is set for 8 p.m. in Rosthern