TISDALE — With two weekend wins, the Tisdale Trojans grabbed control of their playoff series.
The Trojans came from behind to beat the Beardy’s Blackhawks 4-3 on Friday. In game two, goalie Tanner Martin and the Tisdale team shutout Beardy’s 4-0.
The wins gave the Trojans a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five first round series.
“When you can get a two-game lead, it’s definitely good,” Tisdale head coach Darrell Mann said.
The Trojans held the second seed after posting a 32-7-4-1 regular season record and coming just a point behind the Regina Pat Canadians in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League standings.
The Blackhawks placed seventh with a 21-18-1-4 record.
The third game of the series was slated for Tisdale on Tuesday after the Recorder’s deadline. If needed, game four would be Thursday night in Beardy’s, with a fifth game if needed on March 9 in Tisdale.
The winner of the series will play the victor of the third-place Saskatoon Blazers and the sixth-place Prince Albert Mintos. As of Sunday, Prince Albert led 1-0.
The Trojans appreciated the support of Tisdale fans at the series opener on Friday.
“The crowd is amazing,” Trojans forward Colby Vranai said. “It’s unbelievable to see how much support the whole town of Tisdale gives us. Without them I don’t think we would be where we are.
“To play in front of them is even better, because you can always hear someone cheering and that little bit of cheering gives you energy and it’s just an unexplainable feeling.”
Last Friday the Trojans trailed Beardy’s 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 partway through the second.
The Tisdale squad got going with a power-play goal from Liam Rutten just before the halfway mark.
Mann said there were definitely some nerves on Friday and that the Rutten goal was huge.
“It just kind of allowed our guys to exhale, breathe, and get back to playing normal hockey,” Mann said.
The Trojans tied the game up before the end of the second period and led 4-2 in the third.
“When we went down 2-0 in the game, everybody stayed positive and we all knew we could get back into the game … Nobody gave up after their second goal, and that’s a huge part of being successful in playoffs, because it’s going to happen to everybody, so it’s great knowing we can battle back in big games like that,” said Jayden Wiens, who recorded three assists for Tisdale and who Mann called an offensive catalyst.
On Sunday, with Beardy’s hosting, there was no score until the second period. Cade Hayes got the puck in the neutral zone, went around a defenceman and backhanded it into the net.
Mann called it a great effort.
“I thought we just built from there on in,” said the coach, whose team led 2-0 at the second intermission.
Martin collected his ninth shutout of the
2018-19 campaign. He made 30 saves.
“I thought he was really solid and looked really confident in the net,” Mann said. “I think that was huge for our guys.”
