Sports Year in Review: Trojans Telus Cup run

Preparation ahead of 2018-19

There was off ice business to take care of. A committee led by Tisdale locals Scott Janke and Dwight Olson prepared their bid in 2017 to host the Western Regionals. Darrell Mann, head coach and general manager at that time, along with former assistant coaches Gary Janke, Colin Ruether, and Dennis Kubat recruited the team accordingly to give themselves the best chance to win the regionals on home ice.

Multiple 15-year-old players were brought in ahead of the 2017-18 SMAAAHL season so they’d develop into experienced 16 and 17-year-olds prior to the Western Regionals.

One of the recruited 15-year-olds in 2017 was forward Kalen Ukrainetz, the Trojans’ current captain. He admitted the possibility of playing in the Western Regionals heavily influenced him committing to play in Tisdale.

“It’s something you get a chance to do once in your life and we did it pretty well with a great group of guys,” Ukrainetz said. “Those are guys you’re never going to forget in your life, and those are guys I still talk to every day.”

Before the 2018-19 SMAAAHL season began, Janke and Olson’s bid was successful and the Trojans were named hosts of the 2019 Telus Cup Western Regionals in March 2018.

However, the Trojans lost what was believed to be their first line. Kaiden Kohle earned a spot with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League (WHL), Zack Smith cracked the Melfort Mustangs in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), and Dylan Esau – a two-year SMAAAHL veteran with the Battlefords Starts – stayed in North Battleford to play with the North Stars of the SJHL.

Center Trenton Curtis, and wingers Connor Long and Dawson Schaff replaced the departed first line and the Trojans began a memorable season.

Milestone regular season

The Trojans finished second in the SMAAAHL standings with 69 points (32-7-4-1); their second-best record in franchise history.

Leading scorer and forward Cade Hayes, defenceman Landon Kosior, and goaltender Tanner Martin were all named First Team SMAAAHL All Stars, with Kosior winning the Adam Herold Memorial award as the league’s best defensive defenceman and Martin being named as Goalie MVP.

With a berth in the regionals secured by being the hosts, the Trojans didn’t need to go on a deep SMAAAHL post-season run, but Ukrainetz said they wanted to win the league and enter regionals “the right way” and peak during the Western Regionals.

The Trojans swept the Beardy’s Blackhawks 3-0 in the SMAAAHL quarter-finals, before falling to the Saskatoon Blazers in the semifinals 4-1 in heartbreaking fashion. They had 17 days off to prepare for the regionals.

‘A story book ending for the Western Regionals’

The Trojans swept their round robin schedule by defeating the Telus Cup host Thunder Bay Kings 3-1, shutting out the SMAAAHL champion Notre Dame Hounds 3-0, and blowing out the Manitoba champion Brandon Wheat Kings 6-1.

Because they played the Telus Cup host Kings in the Western Regionals Final, the Trojans had clinched their spot in the national midget ice hockey championship.

Ukrainetz said securing their spot in the Telus Cup didn’t give him or his teammates issues focusing during the final game against the Kings. Instead, he thought they were overexcited to start and gradually calmed down and controlled play more.

Still, Tisdale had a 5-4 lead late in the third period and were 10 seconds away from placing the bow on their Western Regionals plan laid out two years prior. That was until Kings forward Nikolas Campbell scored the tying goal to send the final into overtime.

“Yeah, I remember that goal pretty clear,” Ukrainetz reminisced. “I was sitting on the bench… [Campbell] was their top gun – he’s one of those guys when they’re [skating down the ice], it doesn’t end up too well. He got [the puck] to his backhand, got a really good shot off, and it flipped by Martin. I had a weird feeling it was going to happen. It’s how hockey goes sometimes… but we recovered.”

Both teams regroup during a brief intermission before overtime. The Tisdale RECplex faithful of nearly 1,300 cheered right before puck drop after nearly five minutes of silence.

The Trojans threw 11 shots towards the Kings in 1:42 of overtime. The 11^th shot being their biggest of the season.

Dawson Schaff scored one of the Trojans’ most iconic goals and perfectly concluded the two-year plans.

“It all kind of happened really fast,” Ukrainetz said. “Within a 20-second span… everyone was going crazy. I remember getting the puck after Curtis got hammered on the wall and it kicked out to me. I threw it in the slot top of the circle. [Dawson Schaff] was standing there and buried it, then I went and jumped on Schaffy, threw my gloves and I think they went over the glass to be honest. Looking back, all the boys were rushing over and jumping over the boards, it was pretty funny.

“We always get a good crowd in Tisdale, but I’m not going to lie, there was nothing like Westerns. Schaffy and I were huddled up in the corner… I looked back and I’ve never seen so many fans standing up in my life.”

Telus Cup

Two weeks later, the Trojans concluded their celebration and boarded a bus to Thunder Bay for the Telus Cup.

First up, the 2018 Telus Cup runner-up Magog Cantonniers (Quebec Regional champion). And in a complete opposite of their results at the Western Regionals, the Trojans got smoked 6-0.

“When you come off a hot streak of winning four straight games in Westerns, you’re sitting pretty high on yourself,” Ukrainetz said “You go and play a great organization like Magog, who were one of the best hockey teams I’ve ever seen. You play a team like that, go into it like that, your results probably aren’t going to be too well. The competition was a lot different than it was in Westerns and I think a lot of guys didn’t expect it to be like that. It took some getting used to and I think once we finally figured it out, it went well.

The Trojans finished fourth out of six teams in round robin play with a 2-3 record. They defeated the Thunder Bay Kings (host) 4-2, shut out the Halifax Macs (Atlantic Regional champion) 2-0, dropped a tight game last against the Calgary Buffaloes (Pacific Regional champion), and fell to the Toronto Young Nationals (Central Regional champion) 4-2.

In the semifinals, the Trojans saw the Cantonniers one more time, although they were prepared for the rematch.

Despite trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Trojans tied the game 2-2 with goals from Curtis and Hayes. While they had the Cantonniers on the ropes for the first time in the tournament, a late defensive breakdown led to the Trojans surrendering a goal with five seconds left in the second before the Cantonniers sealed it 4-2.

“I still think about things I could have done in the game,” Ukrainetz said. “That’s just being a hockey player. You think about all the possibilities and chances you get in that game and wish you could have done better, but there’s nothing you can do now.”

Even though winning gold medals was out of the question, the Trojans weren’t prepared to leave Thunder Bay empty handed. They played the Buffaloes in the bronze medal game.

Jayden Wiens, a 15-year-old center, scored twice to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead late in the third period. Martin faced numerous late Buffaloes chances and backstopped the Trojans to a 3-2 win and the team’s second medal from the national midget ice hockey championship.

Ukrainetz let out a lungful of held breath, celebrated one last time with his teammates and the Trojans fans who travelled for the Telus Cup, and can look back at the 2018-19 season fondly.

“It was intense,” he said. “It was pretty sweet to see all those fans there. Many families came out; we definitely didn’t expect that many people, considering it was quite a way away. When we got that picture after the bronze medal game and they were sitting in the back, that’s probably something I’ll never forget.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

Sports Year in Review: Trojans Telus Cup run

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