The Portage Trojans had a tough start to their Christmas Break in Zone Four High School Hockey Action. They fell 3-2 to the CNMPM Tigers Friday afternoon at the BDO Centre. A win in that game would have put them in first place to wrap up the first half of the season. Assistant Coach Mark Essay says he believes overconfidence may have been a factor in the loss, citing a similar instance that led to their 4-0 loss to Carman earlier in the month.

"The guys had a lot of people wearing their jerseys today, and were thinking about the points. I think thinking about the game got away from them. It should have been an easy win, and we went out there with that mentality like we did against Carman, and we can't win. Momentum is dangerous and Pembina got some momentum, and boy, they rode it out."

Essay says the team hopefully takes this loss into consideration as they enter the second half of the season, especially if they hope to be efficient in the playoffs.

"I think these are valuable lessons, losing to Carman like we did and losing to the tigers like we did. Those are games we could, and should, win. We have to figure out how to win games that get away from us, and if we want to be any kind of contender in playoffs, we've got to learn how to win when it's not going our way."

The Trojans are off the ice until the new year, when they host the Morden Thunder on January 7th.