Mackenzie Carson celebrates a goal in the Trojans first round series against Beardy's Blackhawks. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Trojans Playoffs

Trojans set for semi-final tilt with Blazers

Mar 12, 2019 | 9:00 AM

The Tisdale Trojans are set for their second round series in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL).

The Trojans will take on the Saskatoon Blazers in the semi-finals, starting on Tuesday, March 12 at the RecPlex in Tisdale.

Tisdale is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Beardy’s Blackhawks in the quarter finals, and haven’t played since game three on March 5.

“We gave our guys a couple of days off after we swept Beardy’s,” Head Coach Darrelll Mann said. “We got back skating here a little bit and kind of cranked it up the last couple of days. Any nicks and bruises we had, we’ve got those all ready to roll and we’ve got our team probably at best kind of scenario that we’ve had all season long.”

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Even though the Trojans didn’t lose a game in their first round series, they did need to come back a few times. Mann said it was “great character” for the team as they were down multiple goals in games one and three at home.

One of the Trojans to step up was 15-year-old forward Jayden Wiens. In the three game series, the Carrot River, Sask. native tallied three goals and three assists, including a hat trick in game three as the Trojans came back from a 3-1 deficit. Mann said Wiens was right in his element.

“We know Jay is a big time player,” Mann told northeastNOW. “The bigger the game, it seems like the more he’s ready to play. We were hoping he was going to play this style, and obviously he’s been really huge for us in taking the load off some of our other players.”

The Blazers are coming off a hard fought five-game series with the Prince Albert Mintos that only ended on Sunday, March 10, and even though the Trojans won three of four meetings between the two teams, Mann said they cannot take the third seeded Blazers lightly.

“They have a lot of offensive firepower,” Mann said. “They’re a team that, if you give them an opportunity, it’s going to be in the back of your net. We have to be a little bit more consistent, we have to be better defensively, shut down their opportunities, and hopefully we can get up on them early. They just finished a big five-game series, so I think the start for us, starting fast will be very important.”

Games three and five (if necessary) will also take place at the RecPlex in Tisdale.

The Regina Pat Canadians take on the Notre Dame Hounds in the other semi-final series in the SMAAAHL.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6