The Mooretown Minor Hockey Association hosted a successful Stanley Taggart Memorial Tournament this past weekend — with two home teams winning their respective championships.
“The 2024 Taggart Tournament is the largest that Mooretown has hosted in years,” said Jay Vandenberg, the board’s Tournament Director, noting that organizers had to book extra ice at Walpole Island’s arena, in addition to the hosting Moore Sports Complex.
Both the Mooretown U9 MD Tier 2 and U15 AE teams won gold in their divisions, while the U11 AE team earned silver in the finals.
The tournament, Vandenberg explained, is named after Stanley Taggart, who served as Mooretown Minor Hockey’s treasurer from 1984 until 1997 when he passed away.
Born in Northern Ireland in 1927, he moved to Sarnia-Lambton to run the accounting department at a construction firm in the late 1970s, bought a house in Corunna, and ‘fell in love with the St. Clair River.’
When his son James started playing hockey, the Moore Sports Complex became a second home to the Taggart family, where Stanley eventually joined the executive as treasurer, and won the annual ‘Mr. Hockey Award’ for his dedication to the association.
“It was a full weekend of hockey,” Vandenberg said of the tournament, pointing to 70 games, running from Friday at 8 a.m. through to the final championship game at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
“There were five divisions and 25 teams that we welcomed with open arms to Mooretown.”
Teams included many from Mooretown’s Shamrock league, as well as teams from Huntsville, Listowel, South Oxford, Thorold, Walkerton, Kent and Mid Huron.