Titans in rebuild mode

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This article was published 20/12/2018 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nobody ever said rebuilding was easy.

Last year, the Transcona Collegiate Titans hockey team, which featured 12 Grade 12 players, made a solid run at the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s Platinum Promotions Division title. TCI finished the regular season in fourth place, then beat rivals River East in the first round of the playoffs, only to fall to perennial provincial contender St. Paul’s in the semifinal.

This season, the program is starting over almost entirely from scratch.

“We’re a total rebuild,” said first-year head coach Jamie McCreedy. “We have two returning players and zero Grade 12s. On top of that, we have five Grade 9s, so you have boys playing against men, which is tough.”

McCreedy, whose son Dayson plays on the team, has coached throughout the Transcona Minor Hockey Association, and was assistant coach to Gordon Fritzsche at Miles Macdonell for the last couple of seasons. Although the Titans are currently struggling with only three wins, 10 losses, a tie and an overtime loss for 11 points in the Price Division ahead of a Dec. 20 game vs. John Taylor, he believes they are set up for long-term success.

“We have a great group of guys who have all bought in,” he said. “Some of our stronger players, who’ve played higher levels, are in Grade 9. Two years from now, I see a ton of positives.”

In the meantime, the team’s two Grade 11 veterans are taking the lead in showing the 15 rookies on the team what high school hockey’s all about.

Defenseman Stefan Danyluk, one of the team’s assistant captains, has become the Titans go-to blueliner, scoring two goals and adding four assists in 14 games on the point. 

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On the front end, captain Brendan Tracy leads the team with 14 goals and eight assists in 15 games.

“I didn’t expect us to be one of the top teams this year,” the Grade 11 centre said. “But I set a goal for our team to be middle of the pack. I think we can do that, if we play to our strengths. We can be pretty physical and we have lots of speed, and we communicate well.”

However, there are a number of areas in which the Titans will have to improve if they hope to see more wins when they resume play on Jan. 10 vs. Louis Riel.

“Our defensive game has to get better,” Tracy said. “Our passing and our forecheck has to be a little better. But if we keep practising it, we’ll eventually get there.”

“Our goal is to do as best we can this year,” McCreedy added. “My goal is by the time these Grade 9s and are in Grade 12, we’re winning the championship in A division. When I see what they did last year, there’s no reason we can’t be there.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. The author of Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock (1990-2001), his writing has appeared in journals and online platforms across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. A husband and father of two young children, Sheldon enjoys playing guitar and rec hockey when he can find the time. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca Call him at 204-697-7112

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