(Submitted photo/Tisdale Trojans)

By Ben Tompkins

Completely new team

Trojans showing drastic improvement during first half of 2023/24 season

Dec 22, 2023 | 2:00 PM

The Tisdale Trojans have fallen into much better times during this newest season, as they have now reached their Christmas break.

Through the 2023 portion of this year’s campaign, the Trojans have more than double the wins they had all of last season.

“I believe the growth has been really good, I like the way the kids are responding and buying in. It’s a tighter league this year, top to bottom is a lot closer and there’s not as much separation as there has been in league’s past, so every night’s a battle, there are no easy outs, and I’d like to think we’re not an easy out most nights,” said head coach, Wes Rudy.

“We’re striving to build that winning culture, one of our main goals is just to build a work ethic, effort, and consistency every night and the wins and losses will take care of themselves when you’re playing right. It’s all about culture right now and building our program.”

Rudy is in his first season at the helm of this Tisdale group, which wasn’t an easy ask when he first arrived.

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The club’s previous two years included 11th and 12th place finishes in the 12-team league.

Now, the organization is in eighth place (holding the final playoff spot) with a record of 13-13-2 through 28 games played, compared to the just six wins that they had in 44 games, roughly 12 months ago.

“Playoffs have been my goal from day one, but I don’t want to put so much emphasis on wins and losses because when you’re trying to build culture, you want to put emphasis on consistency and effort and move in that direction. From day one though, my goal was to make playoffs and I think our team should not be taken lightly,” Rudy added.

“This group is tight, there are no individuals in my room and everybody understands it’s team-first mentality and you play for the crest in front and not the name on the back. They bought into that and they understand that’s going to translate into more wins and more wins translates into better opportunities for everybody in that room.”

Better opportunities have included call-ups for some of the Trojans’ best players, like Jaxon Kehrig and Tristin Ziola, both of whom have registered their first career SJHL goals with the Melfort Mustangs.

According to Rudy, if that hard work continues in 2024, not only will the team benefit in the latter half of their season, but their players will also see success for years to come.

“What’s needed to go to the next level is tenacity, it’s winning puck battles and it’s first to pucks. Hockey is a one-on-one game played in different areas of the ice and you want to win those one-on-one battles. Both of them showed that’s the way they play for me and it’s paid off for them at that next level,” he told northeastNOW.

“I think for us, it’s important to just stay focused on the next game and when we get back from Christmas, play that first game hard and get back on track right away. We can’t lose what we’ve built, we need to maintain it and come back with drive, effort and want to win hockey games… I know we have the character and the heart in that room.”

Tisdale will return home for the second half of their season when they host the Saskatoon Contacts at the Recplex on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8