The Tisdale Trojans (white) shake hands with the Saskatoon Blazers after their final games of the SMAAAHL 2018-19 regular season. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW)

By Aaron Schulze

Tisdale Trojans

Trojans finish regular season on a high, shut out Blazers 4-0

Feb 24, 2019 | 9:17 AM

The Tisdale Trojans potentially saved their best effort of the regular season for last.

In their final regular season game, the Trojans shutout the top offensive team in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL), the Saskatoon Blazers – a team that has scored 181 goals in 42 games.

After a disappointing 2-1 shootout loss to the last place Yorkton Maulers the night prior, the Trojans put those results behind them and focused on the Blazers right out of the gate.

It was a night and day performance from the previous game for Trojans head coach Darrell Mann.

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“We threw 60 something shots at [Yorkton] and DePape was unbelievable in net,” Mann told northeastNOW. “We weren’t focused and didn’t show a lot of push. Yeah, we had 60 shots, but we weren’t ready to play. I watch us come out today and just right from the get-go you can tell when we’re winning faceoffs, finishing checks, winning our battles and everyone was doing that all night long. It was an unbelievable effort.”

The Trojans outshot the Blazers in the first period 16-4 but it was in the second period where the Blazers got into penalty trouble and the Trojans really took control. Cade Hayes finished off two passing plays on the power play before a MacKenzie Carson goal put the Trojans up 3-0 after two periods.

Kalen Ukraintez sealed the Trojans’ fate of a top two seed in the SMAAAHL playoffs with a move to the forehand on a breakaway. After eight games of going pointless, one of the Trojans’ leading scorers was happy to get the monkey off his back.

“It was hard playing and not getting any points,” Ukrainetz said. “As a points guy you strive to get some goals and assists but when it’s not going your way it’s really tough. You’ve just got to play through those things.”

The Trojans finished the regular season with 69 points (32-7-4-1), good for at least second in the SMAAAHL standings. Mann said his team should be proud of their effort throughout the season.

“It’s a grind sometimes and people don’t understand that,” he said. “These are young guys that have to keep their focus and keep getting better. It’s a tough push for these guys knowing they’re playing in April no matter what.”

As the host team for the 2019 Telus Cup Western Regionals in April, the Trojans will be playing hockey no matter what. In the meantime, the focus is on winning the SMAAAHL championship.

The Trojans will play either the Beardys Blackhawks or the Saskatoon Contacts, depending if the Regina Pat Canadians can win their final two games of the regular season and finish first in the SMAAAHL standings.

Game one of the Trojans first round playoff series will take place on Friday, March 1 at the Tisdale RECplex.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow