Michael Olson won the Fred Page Cup as BCHL champions two years after leading the Tisdale Trojans to winning the 2002 Air Canada Cup (Facebook/Nanaimo Clippers Jr. A Hockey Club).

By Aaron Schulze

Trojans' National Success

‘Really unique’: How a core four of Tisdale Trojans shined nationally in U18 and Junior A

Dec 16, 2020 | 5:35 PM

Michael Olson was amazed to realize it’s been 15 years since his favourite stretch of hockey ended.

The Tisdale-born center who now lives in Nanaimo, B.C. was the captain of the 2002 Tisdale Trojans team that won the Air Canada Cup as national U18 AAA champions.

Entering his Grade 12 year in 2001-02, Olson told northeastNOW he likely could have made the Melfort Mustangs in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), but he knew the Trojans would be strong–not necessarily ‘national championship’ strong but strong nonetheless.

From defeating Swift Current in the provincial finals to winning Western Regionals in Steinbach, Man., to still receiving doubt from his classmates as the Trojans travelled to Bathurst, N.B. for nationals, to defeating Sidney Crosby’s Dartmouth Subways in the gold medal game, all the way to a hero’s welcome back from a full Tisdale RECplex. Olson called the season spectacular.

“All I wanted to do growing up was be a Tisdale Trojan and I got to live that out being the captain,” Olson said. “I remember the first time the Trojans won [provincials]… I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I remember how crazy the building was then and I thought it was extremely special I was able to be a part of that.”

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Following his U18 career, Olson moved to Vancouver Island to play Junior A hockey with the Nanaimo Clippers. He said it’d be cool to have his family in the building every night if he stayed in the SJHL, but it was a chance to experience a new environment on and off the ice.

While he had two fellow Saskatchewan boys – and future NHL players – on his line in Byron Bitz and Tanner Glass, Olson had two Trojans teammates join him for his first season in Nanaimo, and two more follow suit the next year.

Forwards Jaret Engele and Jason Miller joined Olson to Nanaimo in 2002-03. While Miller played in Salmon Arm, B.C. the following season, the Clippers brought in two more Trojans in forward Brandon Kushniruk and defenceman Craig Gaudet.

Two years after winning the Air Canada Cup, the core four of Trojans helped the Clippers win the 2004 Fred Page Cup as British Columbia Hockey League champions and led them to the Royal Bank Cup National Junior A Championship.

Even though the Clippers finished fifth in the RBC Cup, Olson said the season was phenomenal, especially being to another national championship with so many familiar faces.

“It is really unique,” Olson said. “You brought in four guys who have been to a national championship and won. Gone through the rigors of a regular season and the playoffs, all the different scenarios and highs and lows, and you put those guys in and surrounded them. Guys understood what each other’s goals were and what the goal was. It was remarkable and a lot of fun to be a part of.”

Bill Bestwick, Clippers head coach, and general manager at the time, believed the Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League wasn’t as high on other teams’ radars but saw the character, intensity, and seriousness of the players. He made connections with the 2002 Trojans during the Mac’s World Invitational Tournament in Calgary.

“Without those Tisdale kids and the character and training they brought to the dressing room, we don’t win,” Bestwick said. “Olson’s leadership was unparalleled. There could not possibly have been more heads down, hard worker, honest, deliberate, determined player every shift than Brandon Kushniruk. You have Craig Gaudet playing alongside Jason Garrison… probably the best pair I’ve ever had. They probably played 30 plus minutes every night. Jaret Engele was a hard rock; intimidated opponents and played the game the right way.”

Bestwick agreed with Olson that those four players having championship success together at U18 and Junior A was rare. He credited Olson and Engele for helping recruit Kushniruk and Gaudet the following season to make the Trojans’ core four a possibility for the Clippers. He said success at younger levels of hockey was also an important factor to his recruiting.

“You know if kids are travelling on busses as much as they do and playing 60 plus games, skating every day, they’re already in junior mindset as far as scheduling and commitment,” Bestwick said.

Olson hopes to visit Tisdale soon and show his children where he grew up, and perhaps look at the Air Canada Cup banner and skate on the RECplex ice again. Bestwick, now retired, hopes his former Clippers – including the former Trojans – look back at their time in Nanaimo as fondly as he does.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow