The Flashback: streak for Trojans and Mustangs, Hawks trailing slightly

I expected a tight game; a battle between the Blazers’ elite offence and the Trojans’ elite defence and goaltending.

A 5-0 shutout never crossed my mind, but as the game went on the absurdity became the reality.

The Trojans penalty kill was a perfect six for six against the SMAAAHL’s top offence and the power play scored twice in the second.

Liam Rutten scored twice, the night after he made his Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) debut with the Weyburn Red Wings.

Tanner Martin, who has played the most games and minutes with the best save percentage and goals against average in the SMAAAHL while doing so, picked up his league leading fifth shutout of the season.

I couldn’t believe it, and even head coach Darrell Mann couldn’t believe it.

“We went in there thinking it would be a real hard fought, low scoring hockey game,” Mann told northeastNOW. “We know we’re a good defensive hockey team and that was kind of the structure that we wanted to bring. We were able to score a couple goals in the second period and then I thought in the third we really took charge.”

The win in Saskatoon pushed the Trojans closer to first than they’ve been all season. Four points behind the Blazers for first in the SMAAAHL with four games in hand and a league leading point percentage of 83 per cent.

Wednesday in Saskatoon was the highest point of the Trojans’ season, although they won’t have any more time to enjoy it.

A two-game home stand against the third place Regina Pat Canadians from Dec. 1 to 2, and a four-game road trip which includes stops in Prince Albert against the Mintos, Duck Lake against the Beardys Blackhawks, and Saskatoon once more against those same Blazers.

“I don’t know what I was doing when I was doing the scheduling this year but yeah, are we ever in a tough stretch with teams right now,” Mann said with a laugh. “It’s good for us, it lets us see where we stand and how we’ve got to play against these other top teams.

“Regina is a different type of team than Saskatoon, we know it’s going to be a tough, physical two games against them this weekend. Hopefully we can match their physicality and walk away with a couple more victories.”

There’s still half a season to play so it’s too early to ask if the Trojans will host the Telus Cup Western Regionals in April as the best midget team in Saskatchewan.

Although if the first half of the year has anything to say about it, the Trojans will at least be worthy hosts.

Melfort Mustangs – Turning point

Fast forward to the end of the SJHL season, if the Melfort Mustangs are still first in the league and we must point out where their season changed, I would suggest the Oct. 27 game against the Estevan Bruins.

A 9-4 loss on home ice isn’t where the Mustangs figured it all out, but it’s what transpired after that appears to have taken them to the next level.

After the blow out by the Bruins, the Mustangs went west and acquired two B.C. boys: goaltender Shawn Parkinson from the Alberta Junior Hockey League and defenceman Marshall Skapski from the British Columbia Hockey League.

Since the B.C. boys dressed for their first game on Nov. 7 against Kindersley, the Mustangs have been on their season best 10 game win streak.

The most impressive aspect of the streak isn’t about how many games the Mustangs have won, but how they’ve won them.

For a team that had no issues scoring but problems keeping the puck out of their net (60 goals against in the first 17 games, 3.53 per game), the Mustangs haven’t surrendered more than two goals a game during their 10-game winning streak.

There have been wins against lower teams in the standings such as La Ronge, Melville, and Weyburn in that time and good teams that don’t score as much such as Kindersley and Nipawin, but good high scoring teams such as Battlefords and Yorkton have been shut down.

Ten consecutive games of two goals or less is impressive against any calibre of teams, and Parkinson and Skapski were key in the Mustangs defensive turnaround.

Skapski playing defensive minded minutes with Boedy Donald has relieved Jake Hobson and Kayle Tosh of a heavier workload, and quite frankly, Parkinson is playing like a starting goaltender.

Since his arrival, Parkinson started seven of the 10 games he’s dressed and is 7-0 with a .958 save percentage and 1.05 goals against average, leading all (unqualified) goaltenders in both categories who have also played seven games.

I’m not saying Parkinson has taken the starting gig from Hunter Arps, but his deployment and performances are worth tracking forward.

The Mustangs host the Yorkton Terriers on Friday, Nov. 30, followed by the team that potentially started this impressive stretch, the Estevan Bruins on Saturday.

Nipawin Hawks – Getting back up

With half the SJHL season gone, the Nipawin Hawks can be described as resilient.

The Hawks lost four of five after starting the year 6-0 and they got back up to win seven of nine.

They lost another back-to-back series with the Mustangs and they win five of six and four straight.

No matter the disappointing setbacks, heck even the wins coach Doug Johnson mentioned how frustrated he was with his team’s performance, the Hawks always get back up.

It’s not being down for long which has kept the Hawks near the top of the SJHL standings. The Mustangs and Broncos share the lead with 41 points and have gone on 10 and seven game win streaks respectively, yet the Hawks still trail them both by only two points.

Only seven players have returned to the Hawks after their Canalta Cup win as SJHL champions last season, so younger players such as Carson Erhardt, Austen Flaman, and Jake Tremblay would need time to get used to bigger roles with the squad.

If progression continues in the second half for the three mentioned and other younger players on the team, and the Hawks pick up wins in Melville on Friday and against the Weyburn Red Wings on Saturday, the Sherwood Division race and the overall standings could be just as interesting in the second half.

The Hawks or Mustangs as a fourth seed or lower come playoff time could be a shame for their efforts this year.

aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

The Flashback: streak for Trojans and Mustangs, Hawks trailing slightly

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