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Rutten scores twice, Trojans win sixth in a row

Nov 29, 2018 | 8:33 AM

It maybe wasn’t the nail biting game that some people had in mind, but it was a good night for the Tisdale Trojans on Wednesday night in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.

The Trojans made the trip to Saskatoon for a meeting with the league leading Blazers, and came away with a 5-0 victory, their sixth win in a row.

The first period was fast paced, and even with both teams getting some chances, but neither team could score. The shot clock read 9-6 for the Blazers at the end of 20 minutes of play. Trojans Head Coach Darrell Mann said it was kind of a feeling out process in the first.

“We kind of went through that first period not knowing what to expect,” Mann said. “We had heard about their high flying offence, and our guys were maybe on the defensive side a little more than usual. But in saying that though, we killed off a couple of big penalties there in the first and got ourselves rolling and ready for the second period.”

The Trojans would come out flying in the second period, getting a few chances, leading to a Blazers penalty, which then lead to a Trenton Curtis goal about five minutes into the period, giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead. Tisdale would continue to press hard in the frame, and would get another powerplay opportunity with about half a dozen minutes to play in the frame. Liam Rutten would score his first of two on the night late in the man advantage to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead heading into the third.

Connor Long, along with Rutten scored within the first five and a half minutes of the third, giving Tisdale the 4-0 leading, blowing the game wide open. Tisdale would continue to be the aggressors, even with the big lead. They outshot the Blazers 14-4 in the final frame. Kalen Ukrainetz scored a goal with about nine minutes to play to make it 5-0, which is how things would end.

Tisdale was 6/6 on the penalty kill on the evening, and Mann said they continue to be stingy on the penalty kill in November.

“Our penalty kill throughout the month of November, we were 42 for 43 so I’ll take that in any month,” Mann said. “The one we gave up was in Battleford was when [Tanner] Martin actually mishandled the puck, so that’s the only time our penalty kill has been scored on in the month.”

Martin stopped 20 shots in the win for his fifth shutout of the season. His Trojans move to 16-2-2-1 on the season, and will take on the Regina Pat Canandians this weekend in Tisdale.