Sometimes, there are more important things than hockey.
The Fort Frances Taggs Bantam ‘AA’ squad showed some admirable perspective by purposely taking themselves out of the title hunt at a tournament last weekend in Thunder Bay.
With 12 minutes to play in the ‘A’ semi-final and Taggs leading the Winnipeg Rangers 3-0, a Ranger was on the receiving end of a solid bodycheck from an unidentified Taggs player and went down in a heap.
The player had to be taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries, but the situation caused Taggs’ head coach Randy White to request for a premature ending to the game—leaving his team one goal short of qualifying for the championship final.
“There was no penalty given on the play,” said White. “But the Rangers were pretty shook up and we didn’t want to play after that, either.”
Alex McQuarrie, Tyson Romyn, and Andrew Easton had tallied for Taggs in the semi-final, with Brian White adding two assist.
The squad opened the tournament with a 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Stars, with Mitchell Green notching a pair and Easton adding a goal and two assists.
Brian White and Brock Benjamin had the other markers for Taggs.
The locals then got third-period goals from Easton and White to down the Thunder Bay Beavers 3-1. White finished with two points while Josh Sigurdson had the other Taggs goal.
A third period that swung in the other direction, though, came back to haunt Taggs as they were doubled 4-2 by the Neebing Hawks in their next outing.
Leading 2-1 heading into the final period on goals by Alex McQuarrie and Benjamin, Taggs gave up three markers to suffer their only defeat of the weekend.
< *c>Tougher competition
Taggs ran up against tougher competition at a tournament across the river in International Falls on Jan. 24-26, posting a 1-3 record.
A goal early in the third period gave Ely, Mn. a 4-3 win over Taggs in the tourney opener, with Sigurdson, Tyler Miller, and Green scoring for Fort Frances.
Lake of the Woods then killed off five power plays to take a 5-2 decision in Taggs’ next contest. Tyson Kadikoff and Tyler Kinnear scored the lone goals in a losing cause.
In their next game, the host squad had firm control of things, holding a comfortable 4-1 lead over Taggs after two periods.
But Benjamin capped a remarkable comeback by scoring the tying goal with 2:45 left in regulation time, then notching the game-winner 41 seconds into overtime for a 5-4 victory.
Romyn and Green also scored in the third-period rally, which set up a rematch between the two teams in the playoff round.
Only this time, it was the Falls who had the overtime magic working as they took a 4-3 decision to eliminate Taggs from further contention.
Sigurdson, Miller, and Kinnear all scored for Taggs in that one.
Taggs will return to tournament action in March with events in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
