TISDALE — One of the top midget AAA hockey teams in the country is now looking for a new head coach.
The Tisdale Trojans have chosen not to renew the contract of head coach and general manager Darrell Mann.
Trojans president Greg McShannock confirmed Tuesday night that the team was making a change in coaching. McShannock declined to comment further but said in a text the team is looking for a new coach.
On April 28, Mann guided the Trojans to the bronze medals at the Telus Cup national midget AAA championships in Thunder Bay. This past season the team posted the second-best record in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League at 32-7-4-1. Although they fell in the SMAAAHL semifinals, the Trojans rebounded to win the Telus Cup Western Regional on home ice.
Mann, a Sylvania product, had led the Trojans since 2013. It was his second stint with the perennially strong program. All together he was on the Trojans bench for 16 seasons. In a 2015 interview, Mann told the Recorder:
“I’m basically a hometown guy here,” he said. “To come back here and to have an opportunity to coach these guys is very rewarding.”
In 2017, Trojans assistant coach Garry Janke emphasized to the Recorder Mann’s passion for the Trojans.
“Darrell bleeds blue and red. He is a Tisdale Trojan through and through,” he said. “He is there for the boys and to get them to the next level.”
Mann first joined the Trojans as an assistant coach to Carl Van Camp in the 1990s. After several years as an assistant, Mann became team’s head coach for four seasons. During that time, the Trojans won league titles. In 2002, the squad claimed a national championship when it beat the Dartmouth Subways and a talented 14-year-old named Sidney Crosby in the finals.
Mann went on to coach the Melfort Mustangs for seven seasons. After his time in Junior A, he worked with the North East Wolf Pack bantam AA program before rejoining the Trojans in 2013. The Trojans went to the league finals in 2016 and 2017.
