Titans forward Tanner Hendriks is ready for the playoffs. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Titans Hockey

Titans ready for their first playoffs in a long, long time

Feb 22, 2020 | 12:00 PM

It’s been a long time since a Prince Albert-based team made it in the Prairie Junior Hockey League (PJHL) playoffs.

Back in the 2011-12 season, the Prince Albert Icehawks narrowly lost out to the Tri-Town Thunder in five games in the PJHL North Division Survivor Series.

And a lot has changed since then. The Icehawks are now the Titans. The Tri-Town Thunder also changed their name, they’re the Carrot River Outback Thunder now. The survivor series is now a best-out-of-three series instead of five. Even the division changed its name from North to the Bob Dybvig Division.

But the Titans are back in it. They will take on the third-ranked Saskatoon Royals in a best-of-three-game series. Game 1 will be on Sunday at 7:45 p.m. at the Rod Hamm Arena in Saskatoon. Game 2 will be at the Kinsmen Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. If necessary, a rubber-match Game 3 will be back at the Rod Hamm Arena on Thursday.

“It’s been a while, but the boys are excited for a playoff run here,” Titans head coach Kim Dryka said. “We’re preparing hard here. So hopefully on Sunday, we can come back Tuesday and try to seal up the deal.”

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A lot has changed internally with the Titans themselves, beyond their name or their presidents. They won 12 games this year, which is three more than they won in the last two years combined (six last year, three the year before). The Titans also crushed November by registering 15 out of a possible 16 points—including a six-game winning streak.

Dryka said the Titans being able to get athletes from the local Midget AA clubs has been a big plus for the team and their development.

“More kids stuck around. We got more [midget] AA quality kids, we got higher level kids here. The team bought into the system and everyone is excited to be here,” Dryka said. “Contributing to the factor that we’re in the playoffs now, it’s a lot of hard work throughout the year. We’re looking really forward to it. The fans really deserve this, and the organization and everyone there.”

One of those big gets from the Midget AA ranks to the Junior B Titans was Prince Albert’s Tanner Hendriks. Hendriks has led the Titans in scoring in both of his seasons with the team, scoring 11 goals and 46 points in 37 games this year in his 19-year-old season, and 19 goals and 38 points in 36 games as an 18-year-old rookie last year.

For Hendriks, the decision to play with the Titans was simple.

“This is my hometown,” Hendriks said. “I have a lot of buddies on this team. I just like to stick to where I live. I didn’t want to go somewhere else and play with people I didn’t know.”

The matchup against the Royals is an interesting one. On paper, the Royals are ahead of the Titans across the board with their 21-17-2 record, compared to the Titans 12-24-4 record. But head-to-head, it’s a lot more even. The Royals took the season series by a narrow 3-2 margin. The Titans did win 5-2 on Nov. 15 and 5-1 on Nov. 20. The Royals took the opener on Sept. 29 6-0, 4-0 on Dec. 11 and 12-2 against a woefully shorthanded Titans on Jan. 8.

The Titans were forced to roll a lot of short benches in the second half of the year due to exams, work commitments and those that had to drive from out of town to get snowed out. But Dryka said his whole team will be ready to rock for the playoffs.

“We feel good. We feel like we can beat these guys, we’ve beat them before,” Hendriks said. “We can definitely make a good run, win this series and move on to the next one. We just have to work hard. The last few games, we didn’t give 100 per cent effort. We just have to give 100 per cent and we’ll be good in this series.”

Playoff schedule

Game 1, Titans @ Royals, Sunday Feb. 23, Rod Hamm Arena

Game 2, Royals @ Titans, Tuesday, Feb. 25, Kinsmen Arena

Game 3, Titans @ Royals, Thursday, Feb. 27, Rod Hamm Arena

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW