#6 WARROAD ROLLS TO 7-2 WIN BEHIND FOUR GOALS BY GRANT SLUKYNSKY

Grant Slukynsky scored four goals and had two assists, while Anthony Foster had two goals and four assists for the Warroad Warriors who defeated the Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team 7-2 Tuesday night at the Crookston Sports Center.

The game opened with a flurry with both teams heading up and down the ice to get a couple of early shots in the opening minute of the game.  The Pirates would get the games first goal after forcing a turnover along the wall, and Alex Longoria carried the puck into the offensive zone where he found Ben Andringa sneaking in the back door to the front of the crease and Andringa put the puck past the stick of Warroad’s Zach Foster for his second goal of the year to make it 1-0 Crookston just 1:00 into the game.  “That’s exactly what we wanted to do,” said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy.  “We talk about how good the first five minutes of a game are, especially against a team like that. I thought we did a nice job early in the game, played well, had opportunities to score, so it was a good start to the game.” Warroad would take over from there however putting seven consecutive shots on goal and maintaining the offensive zone before Grant Slukynsky who put a high shot into the chest of Pirate goaltender Noah Dragseth and the rebound fell straight onto the stick of Leyton Salentine and into the Pirates goal to tie the game at 1-1.  Warroad continued to apply pressure over the final ten minutes before taking the with 8 seconds to go in the period when Anthony Foster ripped a shot from the top of the slot off the pads of Dragseth into the left circle, and as Dragseth opened to move to the right post, Slukynsky slid the puck through Dragseth into the bottom of the net for a 2-1 lead.  Warroad outshot Crookston 15-3 in the first, including recording the final 13 shots on goal of the period.

Warroad continued to control the pace of play in the second period as they took the opening faceoff and carried the puck deep into the Pirates’ end.  The Pirates were able to get the puck out and flip it deep into the Warroad end, but the Warriors quickly tilted the ice back in their direction as Saizha Norwegian got loose up the right side behind the Pirate defense just 90 seconds into the period.  Crookston’s Ty Hamre was able to take an angle on Norwegian and keep him from cutting across the mouth of the net, which allowed Dragseth to square up the shot and keep the score at 2-1.  Warroad would breakthrough with their third goal of the night when Shaugabay fired a shot from the bottom of the right circle, and the rebound popped of Dragseth out in front of the goal where Foster buried it to make it 3-1 with 13:02 to play in the second.  Slukynsky would record a hat trick midway through the period with a shorthanded goal when Foster fed him racing up the right-wing, and Slukynsky fired a wrist shot off the bottom of the crossbar that bounced off Dragseth’s back and in for a 4-1 lead with 10:28 to play in the period.  The Pirates would finally get a couple of shots on goal, the first since the opening minute snapping a 21-0 shot advantage to Warroad since the Pirates opening goal, to close out the power-play opportunity.  “I think that all the goals were preventable outside of the shorthanded goal that Slukynsky scored,” said Hardy.  “We didn’t pick up sticks going to the net.  It’s little things, picking guys up, being in the right position, getting a stick down on the ice, knocking a guy’s stick away from a puck.  When you don’t do that, good teams make you pay.  Warroad is arguably a top 2-3 team in the state right now, and they looked every part of it.” Warroad would, however, continue to control play out once they returned to full strength and earned a power-play of their own before defensemen Carson Reed would get in the on the scoring as he fired a shot from the blue line through traffic past Dragseth for a power-play goal and a 5-1 lead with 6:50 to play.  Warroad would add another goal with 3:40 to go in the second when Gage Wilmer fired a shot from the right point off the chest of Dragseth and Slukynsky flipped the rebound over Dragseth’s right leg for his fourth goal of the game and a 6-1 lead.  Warroad outshot the Pirates 19-5 in the period.   Trailing 6-1 after two, Hardy said the message in the locker room was about effort and building toward the weekend. “It’s all about the effort that point,” said Hardy.  “I thought that our on a couple of goals our effort wasn’t great.  We didn’t backcheck hard, and if we did, we didn’t backcheck with a purpose.  So we talked a little bit about those things and trying to come out to win the period. At that point, you can’t rule anything out, but we just wanted to win the third and head into the week.”  

In the third period, the Pirates had a golden opportunity to cut into the Warroad lead when Ben Andringa raced up the right-wing and fired a shot off the Warroad goaltender Zach Foster’s stick that dropped five-hole and trickled toward the goal line. But Wilmer was johnny on the spot to slip his stick between Foster and the goal line to fish the puck out into open ice and maintain a five-goal advantage for Warroad with 13:00 minutes to play.  Warroad would extend their lead when Carson Reed fired a shot from the blue line redirected by Foster into the shoulder of Dragseth, and then Foster would clean up the rebound to make it 7-1 with 10:08 to play. The Pirates had a golden opportunity when Warroad defensemen Todd Powassin fell at the blue line creating a three-on-two opportunity, but Quinn Westlake couldn’t handle a pass off the right wall from Andringa and Warroad took the puck back way.  The Pirates would get back on the scoreboard when Kaleb Thingelstad found Andringa just outside the blue line.  Andringa split the Warroad defense and raced in close on Foster.  As Foster went down, Andringa dropped the puck between his legs and then reached back to flip it over Foster’s shoulder for his second goal of the night to cut the lead to 7-2 with 5:40 to play.  “Ben’s a skilled player with a ton of speed,” said Hardy.  “It doesn’t matter if we are up by ten or down ten, he’s going to be going hard, and that’s what I love about that kid.  So, he had a puck lost in his skates and was able to get it up on his stick, came in, made a nice move on the goalie and scored. Hopefully, that can give him some confidence moving on.  He was getting a little frustrated he wasn’t getting the puck to the back of the net, so getting two tonight, I think, is pretty big.” The Pirates would get a late power-play but were unable to get any closer and fell by a score of 7-2.

Warroad improves to 3-0.  The Pirates fall to 0-4 and will return to the ice Friday at 7:00 p.m. in St. Paul when the play St. Paul Johnson for the Lion’s Cup in a game that can be heard on KROX.

1st Period
1:00 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (2) (Alex Longoria, Kaleb Thingelstad)
7:07 – Warroad – Grant Slukynsky (Anthony Foster, Jayson Shaugabay)
16:52 – Warroad – Grant Slukynsky (2) (Anthony Foster)

2nd Period
13:02 – Warroad – Anthony Foster (Jayson Shaugabay, Grant Slukynsky)
10:28 – Warroad – Grant Slukynsky (3) (Anthony Foster) (SH)
6:50 – Warroad – Carson Reed (Anthony Foster, Blake Norris) (PP)
3:40 – Warroad – Grant Slukynsky (4) (Gage Wilmer) 

3rd Period
10:08 – Warroad – Anthony Foster (2) (Carson Reed, Grant Slukynsky)
5:40 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (3) (Kaleb Thingelstad, Ty Hamre)