The Tisdale Trojans (white) attempt to get a late goal against the Notre Dame Hounds at the Tisdale RECplex (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Trojans Streak Ends

Trojans’ five-game win streak ends with 6-2 defeat to Notre Dame

Nov 4, 2019 | 8:59 AM

“If you told me we’d be 7-7 after we were 2-6, I would have taken that any day.”

Dennis Kubat, head coach of the Tisdale Trojans, uttered those words after his team fell at home on Sunday, Nov. 2 to the Notre Dame Hounds 6-2. His quote reaffirmed the optimism created from the Trojans’ recent five-game win streak, despite what feels like an anticlimactic end.

Tyler Guy scored for the Hounds just 27 seconds into the game, and the Trojans were behind the eight-ball early. As the period went on, the Trojans found their footing and Kalen Ukrainetz stole and roofed the puck in the net to tie things up 1-1.

The pattern of falling behind in the beginning of periods and finding momentum later on stuck with the Trojans for the rest of the game.

In the second, the Trojans didn’t get their first shot on net in the frame until the final three minutes and were trailing 3-1. With eight seconds remaining, center Trenton Curtis tipped in defenceman Jeremy Hancock’s shot from the blue line and the Trojans were in striking distance again.

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However, Josselin Dufey scored 1:07 into the third period, and the Hounds never looked back.

Kubat didn’t have a theory on why it took his Trojans a few minutes to get going in each period. It was the Trojans’ fourth game in six nights, having played the night before in a 3-1 win over the Regina Pat Canadians, and they ran a short bench again. Center Keagon Little and defenceman Cole Tanchuk have been out with injuries since Oct. 11 and defenceman Drayton Hvidston has been absent with his own injury since Oct. 18

“Those are excuses to me,” Kubat said. “We just had way too many passengers tonight. We’re a team that can’t rely on four or five guys; we need whoever is dressed. We weren’t mentally ready right from giving up a goal 20 seconds to start the game. For six straight periods in the two times we’ve played Notre Dame, they’ve out classed us, out coached us, out played us, out worked us, you name it.”

Before the win streak began with a 5-1 win over the first placed Saskatoon Contacts on Oct. 16, the Trojans were on a seven-game losing streak and were near the bottom of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL) standings.

With only five returning players from 2018-19, and a rookie head coach, assistant coach, and general manager at the Midget AAA level, the wheels could have easily fallen off on the Trojans’ 2019-20 campaign in a competitive SMAAAHL.

But just like the seven-game losing streak provided lessons prior to the five-game win streak, Kubat believes these losses will make the Trojans stronger going forward.

“It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won in a row,” he said. “When you don’t show up, this is going to be the result. I think it’s a good learning lesson from our vets to our 15-year-olds to our coaches. Maybe we were taking a couple of short cuts as well, knowing that things were going so good and not even realizing what got us to be so successful.”

Good news for the Trojans is they have one game in 12 days, which Kubat admitted will allow his team some more time to work on aspects of their game needing improvement.

The Trojans host the Beardys Blackhawks on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 8:00 p.m. at the Tisdale RECplex.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow