Mitch Calvert
The local Taggs Source for Sports Bantam ‘AA’ rep team won gold in their first tournament of the season over the weekend in Dryden, dumping the Kenora Thistles 6-1 in Sunday’s final.
Jordan Larson led the way with four goals and an assist while Colton Spicer netted the other two markers.
Shayse Sas broke the goose egg for the visitors in the third period.
Taggs had opened the tournament with a 8-2 rout over Red Lake on Friday. Larson had three goals in that one while Tyler Fontana scored twice.
Jacob Hawley, Dylan Grinsell, and Jason Goldamer added singles.
Then they doubled the Thistles 4-2 on Saturday. Larson, Spicer, Hawley, and Nick Kaun were the goal scorers.
Despite the momentum, Taggs suffered their first loss of the season in their next game, falling 5-3 at the hands of host Dryden.
Jeff Davis (two) and Larson scored in a losing effort.
“The tourney utilized the Page playoff format, and resulted in the two teams [Taggs and Dryden] squaring off a second time just a few hours after the first match,” Taggs’ manager Jim Parsons wrote in an e-mail to the Times.
“This time, the local Fort Frances squad exacted revenge by defeating the host squad 4-2.”
Larson had two goals to pace Taggs, with Spicer and Cole Godbout netting the other ones.
Meanwhile, the Thistles beat Red Lake in the three vs. four match and then upset Dryden in the semi-final with a 2-1 shootout victory.
But despite their big win, they were no match for a slightly-more rested Taggs team in the final.
“The hard-fought previous match seemed to have taken the wind out of the Thistles’ sails as the Taggs squad rolled to a 6-1 championship victory,” Parsons noted.
Taggs next will host their home tournament this weekend (Nov. 21-23) against both Kenora and Dryden, two Thunder Bay-based teams, and one from International Falls.
“We lost four guys to the Muskies and one guy to the Thunder Bay Kings, so my expectations went down a bit,” admitted Taggs’ head coach Don Larson. “But the guys who took their place are doing a really good job.”
