#5 LITTLE FALLS USES FAST START TO SKATE PAST CROOKSTON PIRATES BOY’S HOCKEY

The Crookston Pirates Boy’s Hockey team continued their tough schedule with a trip to Little Falls on Saturday to battle the #5 ranked team in Class A, the Little Falls Flyers. Little Falls scored 25 seconds in and never trailed the entire game on their way to a 10-0 victory over the Pirates. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “We did some learning today and obviously Little Falls is an excellent team this year.”

FIRST-PERIOD –

It was a perfect start for Little Falls, as they took a faceoff in the Pirates zone and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead 25 seconds into the game. Unfortunately for the Pirates, that would be the story of the entire first period. Little Falls would score three more times in the first to take a 4-0 lead into the second frame. Crookston would get just one shot on goal in the first period from Alex Longoria, and neither team would have a Power Play. The Flyers would outshoot the Pirates 31-1 in the first seventeen minutes of play. “We came out flat and their top line controlled the game,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “We had a few guys like Kadin Edwards ready to go and they brought the energy, but as a team, we need to do a better job of that.”

SECOND-PERIOD –

The Pirates started the second period much better but eventually allowed the first goal of the period, which stretched the Little Falls lead to 5-0 at the 3:18 mark of the period. The Flyers would score two more to take a 7-0 lead before the Pirates would have their first Power Play of the game. Unfortunately for Crookston, the Flyers would steal a pass and score a short-handed goal to take an 8-0 lead. “We were already down so much at this point, but we did have opportunities in the second period,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “I hate to think we drove three hours and got worse but we have a lot of things to clean up and hopefully some practice time this next week will help us with that.” Little Falls would grab two more goals and take a 10-0 lead into the final period of play. The Flyers outshot Crookston 48-7 through the first two periods.

THIRD-PERIOD –

The final period was played with running time per Minnesota State High School League Rules as Little Falls was leading by 6+ goals. The running time made the period fly by, and neither team would find the back of the net for a final score of 10-0 Little Falls. Crookston did have a few opportunities however and just couldn’t capitalize. “Our energy and effort was much better in the final period,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “We have to have that the entire game when we play a team like Little Falls, and we didn’t today.”

Jaren Bailey suffered the loss in net for the Pirates making 45 saves and allowing 10 goals. Richie Varriano earned the shutout win for the Flyers making 17 saves.

Crookston falls to 2-12-1 on the season and will be back in action next week when they host Kittson County Central on Tuesday night inside the Crookston Sports Center. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. and the game will be live-streamed by going to Kroxam.com. Little Falls improves to 17-1 on the season with the win.

1st Period
0:25 – LF – Carter Oothoudt (Matt Filippi)
5:38 – LF – Matt Filippi (Hayden Johnson)
11:08 – LF – Hayden Johnson (Carter Oothoudt, Matthew Cooper)
13:14 – LF – Luke Avery (Isaiah Jendro, Joey Welinski)

2nd Period
3:18 – LF – Matt Filippi (Carter Oothoudt)
6:46 – LF – Luke Avery (Joey Welinski, Matthew Cooper)
8:02 – LF – Hayden Johnson (Carter Oothoudt, Coltin Johnson)
8:58 – LF – (SH) Hayden Johnson, (Matt Filippi)
11:53 – LF – Isaiah Jendro (unassisted)
14:24 – LF – Garrett Lindberg (Hudson Filippi, Dylan Young)

3rd Period
-No Scoring