Clay Sleeva (cream, red, and blue) catches his breath as one of the Tisdale Trojans' 12 skaters available against the Saskatoon Blazers. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Trojans Season Opener

Short-staffed Trojans gassed in 7-0 loss to Blazers

Nov 2, 2020 | 10:04 AM

It was the first of 30 games in the shortened, 2020-21 Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL) season, but the Tisdale Trojans’ home opener couldn’t have been a rockier start.

The Trojans entered play against the Saskatoon Blazers on Nov. 1 at the Tisdale RECplex with 12 out of 18 skaters: seven forwards and five defencemen, with one of the defencemen playing up front.

Despite being outshot 30-17 after two periods, the Trojans were able to stay in the game only trailing 2-0, thanks in part to goaltender Hunter Lolacher. Even after surrendering a 3-0 goal nearly five minutes into the third period, the Trojans showed competitiveness in the beginning and had a few scoring chances during a 5-on-3 power play.

However, not scoring on the 5-on-3 power play and surrendering a 4-0 goal shortly after was the dagger en route to a 7-0 loss at home to kick off the season.

“It’s tough for words,” Trojans Head Coach Dennis Kubat told northeastNOW. “You start a year hoping you could be healthy, and it’s not where we’re at obviously. The boys played their hearts out the first 40 minutes. I thought they played our systems and played well in the D-zone. We had a couple of looks that we couldn’t bury. When you’ve got that amount of skaters in AAA, it’s tough to play for a whole 60 minutes.”

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Kubat was more positive following the Trojans’ 7-0 regular season defeat than their two exhibition games against the Prince Albert Mintos. He’s cognisant of his team’s situation, while giving credit to the Blazers – a squad that finished second in the SMAAAHL in 2019-20, has nine returning players, recruited two of the SMAAAHL’s top 10 scorers in Holden Doell and Matthew Hodson, and recruited a 2020 first round Western Hockey League Draft pick Reid Andresen.

“We played an unbelievable hockey team there; I think they’re going to be one of the top teams in the league. It’ll be nice to hopefully play them with a full line-up,” Kubat said.

Until they can face the Blazers again, the Trojans’ focus will be to play a full roster sooner rather than later.

Forward Ashton Ferster is still with the Flin Flon Bombers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Forwards Kayden Ostrom and Kaiden Korolchuk are serving suspensions, but forwards Payton Kachur and Zackery Sommers and defenceman Jeremy Hancock were listed as scratches. The length of the Trojans’ injuries is unknown.

“I don’t think we’ve got a choice,” Kubat said about playing short-staffed. “Hopefully, we can have a couple of more boys in the line-up. At the end of the day, nobody is feeling sorry for us. We’ve got to find a way to face this adversity and hopefully in the long run it builds a lot of character in our guys. Hopefully, we’re laughing about this in a couple months, how the year started and where we’re at.”

The Trojans host the Prince Albert Mintos on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tisdale RECplex. Tickets are limited due to COVID-19 restrictions. Spectators can reserve a spot on a game waiting list online.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Blazers, Logan McCutcheon (1) from Boston Buckberger and Matthew Hodson (power play), 8:05

Second Period

2-0, Blazers, Spencer Bell (1) from Holden Doell, 3:53

Third Period

3-0, Blazers, Holden Doell (1) from Braxton Buckberger and Matty Edwards, 3:22

4-0, Blazers, Braxton Buckberger (1) from Holden Doell and Spencer Bell, 8:08

5-0, Blazers, Hunter Mayo (1) from Parker Lalonde, 10:28

6-0, Blazers, Matty Edwards (1) from Roan Woodward (power play), 12:26

7-0, Blazers, Boston Buckberger (1) from Carter Dereniwsky, 17:22

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow