(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

Tisdale Trojans Season Preview

Trojans focused on flipping the script under new leadership

Sep 23, 2023 | 11:42 AM

The Tisdale Trojans 2023/24 season begins Saturday night when they visit the Estevan Great North Bears.

The Trojans have had some recent struggles in years past, finishing last season with a league-worst record of 6-35-0-3.

Tisdale is under new guidance this year, however, as Wes Reudy has taken over the reins as the club’s new head coach.

Reudy told northeastNOW this season is going to be different as the mentality amongst the team has changed.

“There’s gonna be some accountability, and I think we’ve shown that through the exhibition already with guys realizing that they get rewarded for good things and if you’re not doing good things you find yourself at the end of the bench,” he said.

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“I think the kids really appreciate consistency, and I don’t like to set too many expectations other than I expect the kids to work hard and learn on the ice and off the ice, and that should equate to wins.”

The Trojans only played two preseason games this year, facing off against the Yorkton Maulers in both contests.

Tisdale won both of them (one on the road and one at home), with 6-3 and 6-5 victories respectively.

Reudy explained that while it is just exhibition, it is nice to build a little bit of confidence heading into the year.

“I don’t read into it a whole lot other than winning is a habit and losing is a habit, so getting a couple of wins is good. Plus the kids have been a little bit fragile over the last few years, I believe, where they’ve had leads and lost them, so having the lead and being able to hang on to it shows me they can bear down and not panic and just stick to the process.”

Part of that resiliency may be amplified even more, as the organization also just named their new leadership group.

Simon Martin will be the captain, while four others will join him as assistants, including Turner Krahn, Jaxon Kehrig, Ryder Mucha, and Luc Bourdon.

Three of those names were some final cuts for SJHL teams this season, while two of them are going on their third year with the squad.

“I think if you mix all that together, it brings a lot of leadership to the group and they’re just good character kids, and at the end of the day you want to make sure your leaders are accountable and good kids,” Reudy added.

“We picked five guys because we’re a developmental team and I want to help these guys develop into leaders. Instead of just having like three guys in that core group, I thought it would be better to have five so that they can learn a little bit more of what it takes to be a leader.”

The Trojans’ first three games will be on the road before they come back to Tisdale for an eight-game homestand.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8