Staff
It was a ‘B’-side that certainly was no hit single for the Fort Frances Canadians.
The Canadians were dumped 6-3 by the Wayzata Junior Gold ‘A’ squad in the ‘B’ final of the third-annual Gus Lindberg Memorial Midget ‘AA’ hockey tournament at the Ice For Kids Arena on Sunday.
Wayzata, which blanked Fort Frances 5-0 during the preliminary round of the six-team event, scored six-consecutive times beginning with Eric Talus’ marker at 13:57 of the first period and continuing with Jesse Hodges’ tally at 18:08.
The lead increased to 3-0 when Hodges connected for his second of the contest at 9:54 of the middle frame.
Hunter Kamm then poured more salt in Fort Frances’ wound by scoring at 18:11.
The Minnesota crew didn’t let up in the first half of the third, either, as Brian Paterson at 2:09 (power play) and Talus at 7:49 made it 6-0 for the visitors.
The Canadians finally found their target in the last 10 minutes of the game. Ryan Lundy lit the lamp at 10:52, followed 59 seconds later by Jeff Gustafson’s conversion of a set-up from Lundy and Ben Bruyere.
Lundy then completed a three-point outing by assisting on Tarran Romyn’s goal at 14:12 to round out the scoring.
The Canadians looked to be a title contender early in the tournament, disposing of the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints 5-0 in their opener Friday night.
Wes Anderson got the ball rolling for the hosts only 53 seconds into the game. Then later in the frame, during a two-man advantage, Tyler Fontana pushed the lead to 2-0 at 17:51.
The Canadians kept on trucking in the second. Chris Bobczynski hit the twine at 12:06 before Brady McMahon followed suit at 16:23 to send Fort Frances to the dressing room with a 4-0 edge.
Lundy wrapped up the scoring with a power-play goal at 10:33 of the third.
Wayzata proved their might Saturday morning in the Canadians’ second game of the weekend, using three third-period goals to seal the 5-0 whitewash.
Talus had the lone goal of the first and Sean Keogh the only marker of the second to put Wayzata up 2-0 after two.
In the third, Jackson Wiese (three points in the game) delivered a back-breaking goal only 39 seconds into the frame.
Wayzata then put two more nails in Fort Frances’ coffin with a power-play goal by Jake Gangstee at 13:22 and Wiese’s second of the game with 1:25 to go.
Later Saturday, the Canadians took on the Duluth Junior Gold ‘A’ and did well to hold the eventual silver-medalists to a 4-4 draw.
Gustafson landed an early body blow to Duluth’s stomach with his tally just 38 seconds into the game, but Duluth responded at 4:06 on a goal by Michael Sorenson.
The back-and-forth exchange continued later in the frame as Fontana put the Canadians back in the lead—only to have Sorenson knot the affair again 21 seconds later.
Brett Bodnar then sent the Canadians into the second on a good vibe, scoring with 25 seconds left before intermission.
Duluth stepped up its play in the second, however, and zoomed out to a 4-3 lead on goals by Joseph Dougherty and Jared Sebesta.
But Cole Godbout stemmed the Duluth tide as the Canadians’ sniper tallied unassisted at 15:20.
A scoreless third period saw plenty of great chances on both sides, but no goals to show for it, leaving the Canadians with a 1-1-1 record from the preliminary round.
The Current River Comets (Thunder Bay) ended up capturing the gold medal, netting the game-winner with 1:36 left in the third for a dramatic 4-3 win over Duluth in Sunday’s ‘A’ final.
