BY Jonathan Huntington
SASKATOON – When the Tisdale Trojans battle the Regina Pat Canadians on Friday in Strasbourg – the game will mean much more than two points in the regular-season standings.
The contest is being celebrated as the Mark Cross Memorial Game in honour of the former Humboldt Broncos assistant coach who lost his life in the tragic bus accident on April 6, 2018.
“Mark played in Tisdale and he’s from Strasbourg,” said current Trojans head coach Wes Rudy. Cross parlayed one season in Tisdale (2007-08) into three seasons with the Estevan Bruins in the SJHL before moving to York University for five seasons – finishing his university career as an assistant captain.
Cross returned home to Strasbourg to be a leader on the town’s senior hockey team (2016-2017) and started to coach in the SJHL in the fall of 2017. He was close to finishing his first season as an assistant coach in Humboldt when tragedy struck.
“For me, the biggest thing to let the (players) know on Friday is that when you play in a memorial game, it’s important to play hard in their honour,” continued Rudy. “I know Mark was a competitive person.”
The Trojans are giving-up a home game to play Friday in Strasbourg against the Pat Cs, but the decision to play in the community was a no-brainer. “It’s the right thing to do,” stated Rudy.
AROUND THE RINK: The Trojans’ bench boss is quick to praise Trevor Lakness – the highly-successful skills coach in Regina – for being a driving force behind the memorial game. Lakness is from Strasbourg… The small community north of Lumsden will see Rylan Edwards – the SMAAAHL’s leading scorer – on Friday. With 30 points in 15 games, the first-round pick of the Brandon Wheat Kings is turning heads in the league at the age of 15 in Regina… The game will also mark the first time the Edwards brothers – Rylan from the Pat Cs and Logan from Tisdale – will battle each other in a regular-season game. “Logan is a physical player that takes pride in being the toughest guy on the ice,” quipped Rudy. “And Rylan is a very skilled player.” It should be an interesting sub-plot… Friday’s game will be streamed on Flo Hockey with Regina’s Ardenn Lloyd providing play-by-play.
FINISH LINES: Former Pat Cs Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue dominated the scoresheet at Hockey Canada’s U17 Challenge last week. Schultz finished the tournament as the leading scorer with 16 points in five games in the five nation tournament (Canada, United States, Finland, Sweden, Czechia). Pue finished tied for second in scoring with 10 points… After a great start to his rookie season with the Weyburn Red Wings (leading SJHL rookies in scoring) former Moose Jaw Winmar Warrior Ryan Gibbs is now listed by the Portland Winterhawks.
