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Yorkton product takes on Telus Cup

When the Tisdale Trojans boarded the bus headed to the Telus Cup in Thunder Bay, ON. last week Yorkton’s Colby Vranai was them. “It’s been good,” said the 17-year-old left winger of the Trojans run to the national AAA Midget finals tourney.
Vrnai

When the Tisdale Trojans boarded the bus headed to the Telus Cup in Thunder Bay, ON. last week Yorkton’s Colby Vranai was  them.

“It’s been good,” said the 17-year-old left winger of the Trojans run to the national AAA Midget finals tourney.

“We took a hard loss against the Blazers (Saskatoon) in the second round (of the Saskatchewan league playoffs).”

“Against the Blazers we just couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net.”

But the Trojans had a‘re-buy’ in their pocket.

Instead of hanging up their skates for the season after being eliminated by the Blazers Vranai and the Trojans stayed on the ice preparing as Tisdale was hosting the Regional Tournament which gave the winner a spot at the Telus Cup.

“We practiced then for two weeks,” said Vranai as he waited for a skate at the Farrell Agencies arena Friday, a pit stop for the Trojans on their trek east.

The practice time allowed the Trojans to add a few wrinkles to their game.

“We brought what we were practicing on to the ice,” said Vranai.

And the wrinkles helped as the host Trojans ended up in the final against Thunder Bay.

“We completed the chances we were given” said Vranai, meaning the puck was finding the twine it hadn’t against the Blazers in the Sask league playoffs.

Still, in the regional final 60-minutes was not enough to determine a winner.

The game went to overtime, where a couple of minutes in Dawson Schauf scored for a Trojan win.

It helped that the community of Tisdale turned out in droves for the regional event.

“Every game was 1200 probably,” said Vranai. “They were the biggest crowds most of us had ever played in front of.”

Vranai said Tisdale might not be a very large community, about 3000 population, but they are hugely supportive of the AAA Midget program.

“The town is just really tight. All the fans really support us,” he said, adding the businesses are there too helping in terms of fundraising as well.

“We’re the highest (level) of hockey that is there,” he said.

Vranai said the Trojans have once again been working on a few new things in preparation for action in Thunder Bay.

“We’ve been practicing the past week coming up with some new systems,” he said, adding it will be all about taking advantage of opportunities, and having something new since they have already faced the eastern host team twice, winning both.

So what does Vranai bring to the Trojans in his first year of AAA Midget?

“I’d say I’m a 200 foot player. I take care of the defence first,” he offered, adding when he does end up in the offensive zone goal scoring is not his forte. “I look for a stick out in front and hope to get an assist.”

It helps that the Trojans and Vranai have a veteran coach in Darrell Mann at the helm.

“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve played for,” Vranai said of Mann who has been at the head of the Trojans for 24 years. “He expects a lot of us.”

Vranai said if a player isn’t performing to his potential “he will yell at you and get in your face.

“But you can turn that around on the ice and then he’ll be happy with you.”

The Telus Cup will include the host team, Trojans, Calgary Buffaloes, Toronto Young Nationals, Cantonniers de Magog and Halifax Macs.

Vranai said it is not lost on the Trojans they are coming from the smallest community, with every other team for much larger centres.

“Coming out of Saskatchewan we just want to represent our province and show we have the best Triple ‘A’ league in Canada,” he said.

The Trojans proved that point in their only other trip to the Telus Cup.

“They went back in 2002 and actually won it,” said Vranai, adding “hopefully we can too.”

The 2002 win came in Bathurst, NB, with a win over the Dartmouth Subways.