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Looking Ahead

“They want to be winners”: Trojans seeking specific mindset in 2026/27

Jun 26, 2026 | 5:22 PM

The Tisdale Trojans are hoping to use the summer to make sure every one of their players has a specific mindset: one that will allow them to have more success than they did during the 2025/26 campaign and make the 2026/27 campaign one to remember.

“Kids can be skilled and talented, but it’s really important for these young guys that are moving from U15 to U18 AAA…it’s a huge jump, maybe even the biggest one in hockey…so they need to address all the aspects of their game. Obviously, they have to be able to skate, but they have to want to be winners,” said Trojans head coach Wes Rudy.

This past season, Tisdale just missed the postseason, finishing two points back of a playoff spot.

That came after back-to-back playoff berths in 2023/24 and 2024/25, which even included a first-round win in 2023/24.

“The league had its top three to four teams this year, and then the parity among the next six was huge. It’s great to have parity like that, but that means there’s always going to be somebody on the outside looking in who feels like they should have been in the playoffs. At the end of the day, we had chances, and we just didn’t step up and play the way we needed to when it mattered most,” Rudy added.

“If we look at our group, we had a great tournament in Saskatoon around Christmas and came out of that playing really good hockey and won several games in a row. Then, when we started getting some more meaningful games where the points really started to matter, we struggled a little bit. It comes down to us coaches as well, and we just need to have better preparation for those big games. Just getting confident and a little more mature will really help us mentally.”

Much has already happened in the first few months of the offseason, with a few more to go, as signings, camps, banquets, and more prepare the club for a better upcoming year.

Rudy concluded with expectations for returning players to grow and improve in expanded roles, so the results and reflections aren’t the same come 2027.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8