By Aaron Schulze

Trojans win seventh in a row going into the holiday break

Dec 17, 2018 | 2:17 PM

In their fourth game in seven nights, and second in back-to-back home games, the Tisdale Trojans had a case for why their first period against the Saskatoon Contacts on Sunday, Dec. 16 may not have been their sharpest.

The Trojans outshot the Contacts 12-8 in the opening frame and at even strength did their usual schtick of boxing out and stripping the opposition of the puck. However, it was the transition game, specifically breakout passes, which lacked at the start.

A power play wrister from Contacts forward Matthew Hodson which gave Saskatoon the 1-0 lead is what made Darrell Mann, the Trojans head coach, do some line juggling in the second.

“We did a couple things there with juggling some lines and I thought that really sparked some of our guys to get some going,” Mann told northeastNOW. “We put David Wiens with Trenton Curtis and Colby Vranai and they scored a goal early.”

Vranai was sent in all alone on a breakaway from Wiens and tied the game 1-1 for the Trojans early in the second period. Even without the goal, the Trojans had numerous odd man rushes, including a goal post from MacKenzie Carson.

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The Trojans outshot the Contacts 20-7 in the second, but Saskatoon was able to capitalize on one of their few scoring chances, a nice backhand goal in transition by Davin Griffin nearly halfway through the period.

Two minutes later the Trojans reaffirmed their control. Kalen Ukrainetz received a pass from Jayden Wiens in the neutral zone and used his edge skating to get by some Contacts defenders before he wristed it glove side to tie the game 2-2.

After he set up a goal earlier in the second, David Wiens scored his own after he pounced on a rebound off the glass from a Landon Kosior shot from the point and suddenly the Trojans had their first lead.

The Contacts didn’t lay down and accept the result. They came out in the third with the urgency a team trailing 3-2 would. The Contacts outshot the Trojans 7-0 early on before Michael Flaman tied the game 3-3 early in the third.

Despite the seesaw of consistent and inconsistent stretches, Mann said the Trojans bench still felt confident in the final frame.

“We knew we had to keep pushing,” Mann said. “We scored late last night to win too. It’s sort of what our team’s about, we seem to find a way to score a goal and win by one.

“I don’t know how many one goal games we’ve had this year but we’ve definitely had our fair share and come out on the right side in them.”

The Trojans came out on the right side of this one goal game too. MacKenzie Carson, who was praised by Mann postgame, took a pass from Jayden Wiens and skated quickly up the ice before he scored the game winning goal.

“It was a beautiful pass and I just turned on the jets,” Carson said. “I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just put my head down and next thing I know I was in their zone and I was like ‘OK I better shoot it’ and I did. While I was falling down I heard lots of cheering and guessed it went in.”

The Trojans head into the holiday break on a seven-game win streak will enter 2019 with the highest win and point percentage in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL). The Trojans will begin 2019 the same way they finished 2019: a game against the Saskatoon Contacts on Sunday, Jan. 6, this time on the road.

aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow