Press Release
The local Taggs Bantam ‘AA’ squad had been dealt their share of defeats this season.
But Taggs capped their season by winning the 10th-annual Bantam “Stars of Tomorrow” tournament hosted by the Norwest Minor Hockey Association in Thunder Bay on March 4-7.
The squad, featuring only two returning players from last season, took some time to gel but came together over the weekend.
It wasn’t that the team wasn’t competitive in games, they just often were on the bad end of many one-goal games.
In a strange twist of fate, and a forgiving tourney format, Taggs put together a string of victories at the most opportune time.
Their first game, against the Thunder Bay Beavers, was a tight affair until the Beavers blew it open with two late goals in the third period, handing Taggs a 5-2 defeat.
Goal scorers for Taggs were Dylan Curtis and Judd Gardiman. Jack Hamilton added two assists.
Gardiman was chosen as the game MVP for Taggs.
Taggs followed that up with a hard-fought 2-1 setback at the hands of the hard-hitting Neebing Hawks.
Gardiman tallied on the power play for the team’s lone goal.
Taggs’ goalie Scott Parsons turned aside a plethora of shots, and was rewarded with the game MVP nod.
In a scary moment that every parent dreads, Curtis was hit dangerously from behind, resulting in an ambulance trip to a Thunder Bay hospital.
Fortunately, the trip turned out to be precautionary only as Curtis was assessed with whiplash to the neck area.
Whether it was the motivation to rebound after the near-miss the night before, or the fact it was his birthday, Curtis responded with a hat trick in an odd 4-3 loss to the Thunder Bay South End Rangers.
After tying the score at 3-3 with less than a minute to go, Taggs’ coach Monte Ross removed Parsons in favour of an extra attacker in an attempt to win the game since a tie would not help in the subsequent playoff seeding.
After coming close to notching the game-winner, Taggs gave up a last-second goal for the loss.
Curtis took home the game MVP honours.
After finishing round-robin play, Taggs was seeded seventh out of the eight teams, meaning their first elimination playoff game was against the Norwest Stars.
The Stars, the top team in the Thunder Bay Bantam ‘AA’ league, finished as the top seed after pool play.
Taggs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Nolan Ross and Tyler Mosbeck. But Norwest stormed back with the equalizing goals by the end of the second period.
Taggs had lost two one-goal games to Norwest earlier in the season, but they were not to be denied the win as Curtis notched the game-winner in the 3-2 victory.
Davis Ross had a tremendous game on defence, earning the MVP honours.
As an example of the tenacity shown by the Taggs’ players, defenceman Judd Gardiman had two goal-saving shot blocks, including one off of his face mask.
Taggs’ next game afforded the team the opportunity to avenge their earlier loss to the Neebing Hawks.
Neebing had a 2-0 lead by late in the second period until Davis Ross cashed in on the power play.
Time was running out on the Fort Frances squad as the game stayed 2-1 until late in the third. Then Neebing’s rugged style of play once again resulted in a Taggs’ power play with just 1:04 to play.
Again, Coach Ross elected to remove Parsons in favour of the two-man advantage.
The move quickly paid dividends this time as defenceman Ian Kitt fired home a point shot with 0:53 on the clock.
With Parsons back in goal, Taggs pressed forward with relentless pressure. Abe Germain banged home a rebound for the winning marker as Taggs’ fans voiced their pleasure in the 3-2 win.
Kitt, who had the tying goal and chipped in an assist, was the game MVP recipient.
After a long break between games, Taggs finally faced off against the North End Flames, also from Thunder Bay.
As mentioned by Norwest coach Bill Duncan, it was rather bizarre to have had both the number seven and eight seeds from round-robin play each manufacture their own Cinderella story and advance to the championship.
Once again, Taggs had lost in a close game to the Flames earlier in the season in Kenora.
Taggs stormed out of the gate, scoring three goals in the first period. Kitt started the game on the right foot, followed by a pair by forward Hunter Leishman, including a slapper under the crossbar.
However, the Flames were not going down without a fight, notching both a second- and third-period marker.
Then with their goalie pulled, the Flames furiously pressed late in the third period. And after a scramble along the boards, Gardiman outraced the Flames’ defender to the puck and turned towards the open goal.
But just as it appeared the victory would be iced, the puck hopped over Gardiman’s stick.
The Flames quickly charged up the ice for one last push.
The Taggs’ parents worried that the hockey gods would be cruel to their sons. Not today. After strong defensive play by Gardiman, Davis and Nolan Ross, Curtis, and Parsons, the clock wound down for the 3-2 win.
Leishman, the goal-scoring hero, was named the game MVP.
Other players who contributed greatly the entire weekend included Ahwennaseh Mitchell, Nolan Vold, Matt Debenedet, Chandler Cousineau, Braden Webb, Brody McPherson, and Mike Murphy.
