Tagg’s takes the win

Tagg’s (Fort Frances) took top honours in the Bantam division at the annual Falls PeeWee/Bantam Invitational Tournament over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the local K of C PeeWees went 2-0 in pool play but lost 6-1 to Kenora in the final.
Playing in a round-robin format in the five-team affair, Tagg’s needed a victory over the host Falls Bantams in their last game Sunday to secure first place. And they did–skating away with an easy 6-2 win.
Tyler Barker and Brian Chambers got Tagg’s rolling with a pair of unassisted tallies in the first period.
Fort Frances then went up 4-0 in the second on goals by Mike Niskala (Tanner Kaemingh) and Jamie Davis (Jordan Wilson) before R. Cramer finally got the Falls on the board with just over two minutes left in the period.
But Tagg’s regained their four-goal lead when Niskala (Kae-mingh) netted his second of the game in the third. Then after the Falls made it 5-2, Barker scored unassisted with 2:22 to play to ice the win and top spot.
Tagg’s had opened the tourney Friday with a narrow 4-3 overtime victory against Dryden. Cody Mosbeck (Barker) was the hero when he scored with just 14 ticks left in the extra period.
Fort Frances had jumped out to a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Barker (unassisted) and Wilson (Andrew George/Mosbeck) but Dryden stormed back with a pair of markers in the second by Robbie Grant and Ben Bartlett to even the score.
Barker (Scott Bridgeman) netted his second of the game with 11:08 left in the third to put Tagg’s back in front but Joey Pell tied it up again with just 3:12 to go, sending the game to overtime.
Tagg’s lone loss came Saturday with a 3-2 setback against Will-mar, who got all three of their goals on the power play.
Willmar had opened the scoring in the first but George (Terry Kellar) pulled Tagg’s back on even keel later in the period.
Then after Willmar netted a pair of goals to open the second for a 3-1 lead, Kellar (George) drew Tagg’s to within one later in the period but that would be as close as they could get.
Neither team could score in the third.
But Tagg’s got back on the winning track later Saturday with a 4-1 win over Wadena, erasing a 1-0 deficit in the second with four unanswered goals.
Eric Mosbeck led the attack with a pair of goals, including the equalizer in the second. Barker and Kellar netted their other goals. Assists went to Barker (two), Andrew Wiersema, and Wilson.
The KCs had opened play in the PeeWee division Saturday with a 7-1 romp over Bemidji, jumping out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals by Larry Pham (two) and Jared Catholique-Bruyere. Assists went to Tyler Miller and Catho-lique-Bruyere.
After Cody Dittaro (Catholique-Bruyere) netted the lone goal of the second, the KCs made it 5-0 in the third on a goal by David Pierce (Miller).
Bemidji finally got on the scoreboard but the KCs iced the victory with goals by Josh Sigurdson (un-assisted) and Catholique-Bruyere (Andrew Perrault).
The KCs then wrapped up pool play later Saturday with a convincing 11-1 shellacking over Wadena.
The teams traded first-period goals, with Perrault (Sigurdson) opening the scoring at the 12:25 mark. Then it was all Fort Frances after that–exploding for seven goals in the second period, then adding three more in the third to complete the rout.
Perrault completed his hat trick while Pham also scored three goals. Pierce netted a pair, with singles going to Miller, Sigurdson, and Dittaro. Credited with assists were Pierce (two), Miller, Dittaro, Sigurdson (his second), Pham, Bruyere, Shaun Egan, and Paul Dobransky.
But the KCs ran into a buzzsaw in Kenora in the final Sunday, falling 6-1.
Kenora scored three times in the first period, then added two more in the second before the KCs finally got on the board in the third with a goal by Miller (Dittaro).
Kenora rounded out the scoring with just over five minutes to play.