‘We don’t want to feel that pain’: Trojans facing elimination

However, just like their playoff run so far, the Blazers didn’t go quietly. Forward Rhett Gibson rifled a shot off an offensive zone faceoff to tie the game 1-1 going into the second.

For most of the second, the Trojans controlled possession and outshot the Blazers 10-6, although they couldn’t get the high-danger scoring chance to give them the lead.

Darrell Mann, Trojans head coach, told northeastNOW getting traffic in front of the net while maintaining possession was the difference.

“I thought we used our D-men really well,” Mann said. “We won battles down low, got them back to our point and got shots through, but Pesente (Blazers goaltender) was able to see it. If he’s going to see the puck he’s going to make the save.”

After a minute and a half of pressure on a third-period power play, Trojans’ forward Kalen Ukrainetz blasted a shot in and gave his squad the 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, their lead wouldn’t last long. Blazers’ forward Cole Nagy was left alone near the blue line and got a shot off.

The puck was blocked by Trojans’ forward MacKenzie Carson, deflected high in the air and above goaltender Tanner Martin’s shoulders and in. It was a tie game 30 seconds later.

Regulation time couldn’t crown a winner, so the Trojans and Blazers would face one another in overtime for the third time this season – the first time in the playoffs.

Mann said moments before overtime began that he and the Trojans were confident they would win, and it seemed to be that way two minutes in after some cycling and puck possession.

But one rush the other way, the first time the Blazers entered the Trojans zone, they ended it. Nolan Flamand skated up the wing, got a shot on net and the Josh – the other Nagy – put home the rebound three minutes in.

The Saskatoon Blazers lead the best-of-five series 2-1, and can book their ticket to the SMAAAHL Finals with a win on Sunday.

Mann called game three a tough one to lose after the Trojans had outshot the Blazers 32-22. In what was the quietest post-game dressing room this season, his message was still positive.

“We had some chances in the second period to get up by a couple goals and unfortunately we didn’t,” he said minutes after the loss. “I just finished telling the guys we’re going to a rink where we haven’t lost yet this year. We’re 3-0 in Saskatoon against the Blazers so we might as well make it 4-0.”

The Trojans did win both regular season games and game two of the series in Saskatoon. If they want to think of more stats that would be in their favour, the Blazers are 1-3 at home in the playoffs.

For the first time in this year’s playoff run, the Trojans face elimination. With a majority of last year’s team who lost an elimination game to the Swift Current Legionnaires on the road, a similar scenario to this year, Mann said the lessons learned from then will need to be applied now.

“We don’t want to feel that pain,” he said. “We don’t want to go into Saskatoon and not give them everything we have. I think with this group of guys we’re really going to find a way to crank it up one more notch and bring this back home for game five.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

‘We don’t want to feel that pain’: Trojans facing elimination

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