CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY PLAYS A DEFENSIVE 0-0 OVERTIME GAME AT BLAINE

The Crookston Pirates and Blaine Bengals were very similar when they took the ice tonight at the Fogerty Arena in Blaine! Both play a physical up and down game with a lot of action, excellent goaltending and mostly low scoring games. Tonight they played as low a scoring game as possible, 59 minutes of scoreless hockey ending in a 0-0 tie after the eight-minute overtime.
Crookston came out a little slow to start the game, not getting their first shot on goal until eight minutes left in the first period. After that the teams showed what the rest of the night would hold. A frantic up and down pace with end-to-end action. Both teams were adept at blocking the passing lanes and not giving either team any time or space. “We had to get rid of the bus legs,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “it was a long bus trip, we had some nerves as this was a team we haven’t seen before. We didn’t get a lot of shots, but our girl’s worked really hard.”

The second period was all Crookston as they dominated the offensive zone for nearly the whole period. Freshman, Taylor Field was on a mission, as she had two breakaways and another that was a semi breakaway and was stopped on all of them. “Taylor would keep coming into the box and frustrated that she didn’t make a move or make the goalie move,” said Meyer, “we told her something is going to give, keep going hard to the net, keep shooting and something is eventually going to fall.” The Pirates out shot Blaine 16-3 in the second period.

The third period was not ho hum, but it resembled the first two periods. You just got the feeling that neither team was going to score the way the two goalies were playing. A lot of action with both teams getting grade A chances particular late in the period. A couple Pirate defensemen sticks got in the way, Pirate goalie Kambelle Freiji was spot on. Crookston chances came in close and were stymied by Blaine senior goalie Hailee Hansen stopped everything her way. “When we got things in close, their goalie was very good,” said Meyer.  Hansen made a screened shot by getting a pad on it and knocked it away to keep it scoreless.

The overtime was like the first three periods but with ‘more action’!! Both teams were getting tired but kept on the impressive skating up and down the ice. There was not a penalty called during the first three periods. In overtime, the officials called an obvious tripping call on Blaine and half-way through the OT, Crookston had a two-minute power play! With the frantic play throughout, the Pirates were unable to set anything up in the offensive zone and didn’t get many chances with the man advantage. The entire eight minutes had fans from both sides standing and oohing and ahhing as the teams continued back and forth before time ran out and both teams add a tie to their records in a 0-0 overtime tie.”I can’t say anything negative about this game,” said coach Meyer, “the girl’s had a lot of fun with three plus periods of solid hockey and I’m very proud of every one of them.” The Pirate goalie, Freiji lowered her goals against average to .67 for six games and a save percentage of .962. Hansen, the Bengals goalie, has been all state for three years! Crookston is now 6-0-1 on the year and will be at the #1 ranked team in Minnesota Class A, the undefeated Warroad Warriors who also are the defending state class A champions. “We’ll take away from this game that we can really compete with teams like this. The girl’s left everything they had on the ice and that’s all we can ask for,” said Meyer.
JV –  Blaine won 7-1

1st Period
No Scoring

2nd Period
No Scoring

3rd Period
No Scoring

Overtime
No Scoring