By Mat Barrett/ CJVR

Battle of the titans as second place Trojans meet first place Blazers on Wednesday

Nov 28, 2018 | 10:00 AM

There’s just one game on the schedule Wednesday night in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL), and it should be a good one.

The Tisdale Trojans hit the road for a meeting with the league leading Saskatoon Blazers at the Rod Hamm Memorial Arena. Saskatoon sits at a record of 19-4-1, good for 39 points, while Tisdale isn’t far behind at a record of 15-2-3, good for 33 points and second place in the league.

The Trojans are coming off a pair of wins against Beardys Blackhawks on Saturday Nov. 24 (3-1), and the Notre Dame Hounds on Sunday Nov. 25 (4-1). Trojans Head Coach Darrell Mann said they were excellent defensively.

“We limited both team’s chances,” Mann said. “We had a really good penalty kill on Sunday against Notre Dame, and I think it was a big team effort again, led by Tanner Martin in net, from our D core out to our forwards.”

The Blazers have won three games in a row, and in 24 games this season, have scored 111 goals. Mann said it’s tough to shut down an offence like Saskatoon.

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“You’re never going to shut them right down,” He said. “Obviously they’ve got lots of forwards and a couple of [defencemen] that have been putting up some big numbers. Our biggest thing is that we have to make sure we outwork them, and if we can do that, I like our chances. We’re going to have to keep them to the outside, and make sure [Tanner] Martin can see everything, because we know that if he can see it, he’s going to stop it.”

Martin has been excellent for the Trojans this year. He is 10-3 on the season, with a .943 sv%, a 1.39 GAA, to go along with four shutouts. His play has been key to allow the Trojans to allow the least amount of goals in the league with 36 in 20 games.

The game will not only feature some of the league’s top goaltenders, but also some of the SMAAAHL’s top scorers with three of the top four point makers in the game. Blazer forwards Josh and Cole Nagy are tied for second with 33 points, while Trojan forward Cade Hayes is tied for fourth with 32 points.

The Trojans and Blazers met twice back in September for exhibition play, with each team grabbing a win on home ice. The Blazers took a 5-1 win on Sep. 6, while Tisdale grabbed a 5-4 win on Sep. 12.

The game can be heard on CK750 with Winmar Tisdale Trojan Hockey getting underway at 7:30 p.m. with the pre-game show from the Rod Hamm Memorial Arena in Saskatoon.