(Facebook/Tisdale Trojans)

By Ben Tompkins

Development Year

Trojans building players on and off the ice as first half concludes

Dec 10, 2021 | 3:41 PM

The Tisdale Trojans haven’t had the first half they wanted, at least record-wise, as they currently sit in last place on their league standings.

After playing exactly half of their regular season to this point, 22 of 44 games, the Trojans currently hold a record of 2-18-2, good for only six total points.

General Manager of the Tisdale Trojans, Cole Simpson told northeastnow their record doesn’t show the full picture, as although they aren’t where they want to be, as far as wins and losses are concerned, there’s still a lot of positives to take with them, heading into the second half of their season.

“I don’t think anyone is going to be really excited about the record we have right now but there are lots of good things happening behind the scenes,” he said. “We do a lot of things that we think are going to develop the players, both on and off the ice. They’re constantly working on their skills on the ice and although those skills haven’t translated into wins just yet, we do see some steady improvement and we expect that’s going to start to show in the win column soon.”

Simpson also mentioned the off-ice experience the boys are getting and the impact that has on their all-round development.

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“We also have a good off-ice program as well. The guys are spending lots of time in the gym with conditioning and rehab. We also have our coaches going through film and explaining to them, why we do what we do. As far as we’re concerned, we’re taking a full development program with them.”

And as far as the rest of the season is concerned, Simpson knows there is a lot of work to do, however, he understands how much effort has already been put in.

“We have these guys putting in so much time and effort that you have to appreciate what they’re doing and we have to make them believe that everything they’re doing has a purpose,” he said. “They are going to start seeing some results come out of that. We want to finish off these last few games before the Christmas break on a positive note, have some competitive games and, hopefully, see some wins on that schedule. We also just need to head into this second half and continue to get better the whole way.”

Simpson also said despite the amount of youth and lack of experience heading into the season, they can’t use that as an excuse and have now had enough time to put that in the past, as it’s something they owe to their dedicated fans.

“We don’t want to use any excuses. There’s no question we’re a young team and you could tell that we were missing that experience factor early on but as we carry on, we can see that experience grow.”

“Our involvement with this community is really a win-win, as the boys benefit so much from being surrounded by people that support them,” he said. “I think for our fans, this year might be a little more difficult to see than most but I hope everyone can maintain confidence that there really is a lot of positive things going on. Our hope is that all the time and effort that we’re putting into these boys are going to mean something and will translate to success on the ice as well.”

And for Simpson, he was also sure to point out, leaving the record aside, it’s just nice to be back in the midst of a ‘regular’ regular season.

“I think something we take for granted, is that we’re able to carry on a regular season here, so as much as we’ve gone through some struggles from time to time, you have to look up and appreciate that we’re right in the thick of where we want to be and that’s carrying on through a full regular season schedule.”

The Trojans will look to start off the second half the ‘right way’, with a pair of games this weekend at home with Saturday, Dec. 11 against the Notre Dame Hounds and Sunday, Dec. 12 against the Warman Wildcats.

Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8