HUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Tisdale Trojans trio of Jayden Wiens, Mackenzie Carson and Colby Vranai combined for six points as they went on to double up the Thunder Bay Kings 4-2 Tuesday evening in Day 2 action at the 2019 TELUS Cup Canadian National Midget Hockey Championship at the Fort William Gardens.
Tisdale carried the play for the majority of the first period and were rewarded with the night’s opening tally as the Trojans forced a turnover deep in Kings territory and Carson stuffed in the rebound from the left side during a goal mouth scramble at 15:26.
The visitors then added another while on their fourth man advantage opportunity of the session, using strong puck movement and cycle game that saw Vranai work out of the corner and beat Thunder Bay starter Eric Vanska under two minutes later.
Heading to the middle session, the Kings generated a few more chances and were rewarded with their first of the night as Mason Bazaluk forced a turnover and got it to Peter Hannula, who lifted a backhand over the glove of Tisdale netminder Tanner Martin at 13:58.
The hosts had a great moment to tie it a couple shifts later as Nicholas DeGrazia was hauled down on a partial break and was awarded a penalty shot.
However, Martin outwaited the Thunder Bay forward on the attempt and was there with the right pad to stymie the attempt following a couple of dekes.
A four-on-three power play helped the Kings draw level early in the third as DeGrazia did click this time as he buried one from in close.
Coming right back, the Trojans answered that moments later though with Trenton Curtis chipping one past Vanska off a Kalen Ukrainetz feed on a mini two-on-one.
That would prove to be the game-winner as Tisdale’s Jayden Wiens iced it with a late empty netter to round out the scoring.
Shots on goal in the contest favoured the Trojans 32-26 with Martin picking up the win while Vanska suffered the loss.
Picking up player of the game laurels were Wiens and DeGrazia.
Thunder Bay (0-2) returns to the ice Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Toronto Young Nationals (1-1) back at the Gardens.
SUMMARY
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
