Dryden captures Atom tourney

The Fort Frances Atom ‘AA’ Mustangs hosted their annual tournament last weekend, which also included the local Taggs Atom affiliate as well as squads from Dryden, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and International Falls.
The Mustangs opened play against the Falls on Friday afternoon with a 4-3 win. Cody Vangel (from Jeff Davis and Nicholas Kaun) netted the game-winner in the third period.
Chris Bobczynski (Brandon Sinclair) netted the Mustangs first goal in the opening period, with Donovan Cousineau (Bryce Knapp/ Bobczynski) and Sinclair (Jeff Davis/ Tyler Fontana) tallying in the second.
The Mustangs also won their second game, this time blanking Sioux Lookout 3-0. Knapp led the attack with a pair of goals while Davis added the other one.
But it was a different story in their third game against Dryden, which the visitors won 3-1. Knapp (Bobczynski) had the lone Mustang goal.
Then in their fourth game, Vangel (Knapp) gave the Mustangs an early lead but it was all Kenora after that, netting three goals late in the first period and then adding another in the third to win 4-1.
A 2-2 record moved the Mustangs into the ‘B’ final and a rematch with Sioux Lookout.
The visitors took a 1-0 deep into the third period before Bobczynski converted a set-up from Knapp and Sinclair to tie the score.
Sioux Lookout went up 2-1 with four minutes left but Knapp (Cousineau) tied the game with 2:29 to play—sending the game to overtime.
But it was not to be for the local squad as Nathan Cull netted the game-winner with 1:46 left in the extra frame to give Sioux Lookout the title.
The local Atom affiliate team also had a strong showing in the tournament, opening play Friday afternoon against Sioux Lookout.
Taggs grabbed a one-goal lead with just 10 seconds left in the first period on a goal by Jesse Carmody (Brandon Paterson).
But Sioux Lookout evened the score at 1-1 late in the second period, then closed out a 2-1 win with a goal at 8:32 of the third.
A first-period scorefest against Dryden on Friday night saw Paterson (Keast) stake Taggs to a 1-0 lead four minutes in.
Dryden then replied with a pair of goals, but Paterson scored again, this time from Ryne Strachan, to make it 2-2 after one.
But Taggs’ marksmen were held off the scoresheet the rest of the way, with Dryden scoring once in the second and third periods en route to a 4-1 victory.
Taggs returned to the ice Saturday morning with a breakfast-time tilt against Kenora—and the visitors obviously were hungry.
Paterson (unassisted) in the first and Max Madill (Carmody) in the third did the only damage as Taggs fell 7-2.
But the loss did little to dampen Taggs’ spirits as the locals got revved up in their final tournament game against International Falls.
A first-period offensive explosion netted four goals and a fifth in the second period completed a 5-0 win.
Carmody struck for a pair of unassisted markers in the first, with Madill (unassisted) and Jeff Gustafson (Brett McMahon) adding singles.
McMahon (unassisted) got the other goal in the second.
It was all Dryden in the ‘A’ final as they romped to an 11-2 victory over Kenora for the tourney title.