Staff
A promising start to their annual home tournament unfortunately didn’t end with a championship for the Fort Frances Bantam ‘AA’ Canadians over the weekend.
After compiling a perfect 4-0 record through round robin play, the Canadians were dealt a 3-1 loss by the Norwest Stars (Thunder Bay) in the semifinals on Sunday morning at the Ice For Kids Arena to finish shy of snaring a medal.
Evan Kabel potted the lone goal for Fort Frances in the second period, with Emerson Evans drawing the lone assist.
Mathew Lysak had a goal and two assists for the Stars in the win while Michael Ahtila and Jarod Lemieux also tallied.
Eamon Curran garnered the win in goal over Karson Loughrey of the Canadians.
The Canadians had opened play on Friday morning with a 5-3 win over the International Falls Broncos.
Evans notched a goal and three assists in that one while Carter Deschamps, Tayler Chown, Ryan Danylchuk, and Kabel also found the back of the net.
Landon Lowes also dished out a trio of helpers.
Loughrey and Hayden Beckett split goaltending duties for Fort Frances.
Fort Frances then rolled to a 5-2 win over the Stars that afternoon.
Chown tallied twice while Deschamps, Evans, and Noah McPherson also lit the lamp for the Canadians.
Kabel also dished out a pair of assists with Loughrey earning the win in net.
Then on Saturday morning, Chown netted a hat trick to pace the Canadians to an 11-1 rout of the Assinisboine Park Rangers.
McPherson also had a monster game with two goals and three assists while Fort Frances also got tallies from Deschamps, Evans, Thomas Haugo, Lowes, Pierce Gouin, and Dylan Tessier in the lopsided win.
Beckett was solid in garnering the win between the pipes.
The squad then ended round robin play that afternoon with a 5-1 win over the Kenora Thistles to head into the semis as the top-ranked team.
Chown, Evans, Bo Gartzke, McPherson, and Kabel provided the offence for the Canadians in that one.
Deschamps also provided a pair of assists in what ended up being the Canadians’ final win of the weekend.
Loughrey notched the win for the Canadians.
Up next, the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association will host its annual Midget ‘A’ tournament this Friday through Sunday at the Memorial Sports Centre.
