Staff
A weekend of fast-paced, hard-hitting hockey came to a thrilling conclusion Sunday as the local Taggs Source for Sports Bantam ‘AA’ team won their home tourney in dramatic fashion with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Norwest Stars (Thunder Bay).
Taggs had built up a 3-1 lead early in the third period on the second of two goals by defenceman Tarran Romyn after he stepped in from the point and found a hole through Eric Mann’s pads.
But the Stars battled back with a goal from Kenny Turner, then tied the game with less than two minutes to go in regulation when Jordan Leblanc converted a carom of the end boards past Taggs’ goalie Scott Parsons.
Early in the overtime, however, Taggs hooked up for a picture-perfect goal to seal the tourney crown.
Dylan Grinsell chipped the puck off the boards to linemate Colton Spicer, who corralled the pass just inside the Stars’ blueline and then saucered a perfect feed past a defender to Jordan Larson, who made no mistake firing a well-placed wrist shot past Mann to bring the hometown fans to their feet.
Larson also had opened in the first period when he snapped a shot from the slot off the crossbar and in.
The six-team tournament also featured the Dryden Paperkings, Kenora Thistles, International Falls Broncos, and Neebing Hawks (Thunder Bay).
Taggs rolled through the round-robin portion of the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record while Norwest advanced to Sunday’s final with 3-2 record, including a 7-1 win over Dryden earlier that morning.
Taggs had opened the tournament Friday with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over their border rivals from the Falls. Larson had a pair of goals in that one while Grinsell added the other marker.
Parsons gave up goals to Brock Friend and Brett Musich, then held the Broncos at bay for the victory.
Their second game saw Taggs overwhelm Dryden 7-3. Jacob Hawley and Larson each had a pair of goals, with Jeff Davis, Nick Jourdain, and Grinsell adding singles.
Brennan Carroll earned the victory between the pipes.
Taggs then continued their winning ways with a 5-1 defeat of the Norwest Stars on Saturday morning on goals by Nick Kaun (from Cole Godbout and Tyler Fontana), Spicer, Grinsell, Davis, and Larson.
Judd Gardiman and Jackson Coran each had assists while Parsons backstopped the home side’s third-straight win.
Taggs faced their stiffest test Saturday afternoon by narrowly defeating the Neebing Hawks 4-3. Spicer led the attack with a pair of markers, with singles going to Fontana and Davis.
Carroll stopped 20 shots for the win.
Taggs then completed round-robin play with a 3-2 victory over the Kenora Thistles on Sunday morning on goals from Davis, Nick Jourdain, and Grinsell.
