#9 RANKED CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY SKATES BY FORT FRANCES 3-1

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team, ranked number nine in the first State Class A polls out this week, made hard work of it, outshooting Fort Frances (Ontario) 49-11 and ended up in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Muskies in a game this morning at the Crookston Sports Center.

The first period was a sign of things to come as neither team scored although Crookston put 15 shots on goal and about three or four were Grade A chances with senior Muskie goalie, Madison Bliss stopping all 15 shots, while the Pirates junior goalie, Kambelle Freije was not as busy and stopped all four shots at her.
“We didn’t really come out like we wanted to,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “it took a little while to get something going. We were a little frustrated, but the girls knew what they had to work on and comes down to making sure we play together, with that intensity like we did at Thief River Falls and it took us a little bit to get there.”

Neither team scored in the first seven minutes of the second period and it was much of the same as the first. With no penalties called in the first period, Fort Frances would take two penalties just over three minutes apart and the Pirates made them pay. Crookston was 0-8 on the power play in their first two games, but they capitalized on their two second period chances. First it was Cassie Solheim getting her first goal of the season when she tipped a shot by Ashlyn Bailey to make it a 1-0 lead for the Pirates. On the second power play, defenseman, Morgan Nelson made a nice pass to the right side of the Muskies goal to Addie Fee to quickly shot off the goalie and the rebound went to Taylor Field who scored her first goal of the season and Crookston had a 2-0 lead continuing the momentum. “It wasn’t always pretty, but when we got traffic in front, that was kind of the key,” said coach Meyer, “we thought the green line (Jocelyn Field, Brekken Tull, Brynley Coleman), really worked hard today. They weren’t afraid to get hit in that gritty spot and went to the net. That’s what really brought them success. We really knew their goalie from last year and when she could see the puck, she could stop the puck, so we made sure we got in her face a little bit, making a little harder for her to see and that is what happened on those two goals.” Crookston had outshot Fort Frances 30-8 after two periods of play.

The third period was a penalty filled 17 minutes, with both teams having lengthy five on three power plays but did not score. Crookston was 0-6 on the penalty kill in their first two games and were very efficient in this game in killing off a two- person disadvantage early in the period. “We are pretty proud of the way we kill penalties,” said Crookston senior captain, Brekken Tull, “We are able to use our speed and ability to clear the puck, plus we have Kambelle back in goal, which really is a big plus for us.”  Crookston did score just over 10 minutes into the third period when sophomore defenseman, Emma LaPlante picked up a puck inside the blue line in the Fort Frances zone and walked up the slot and let a wrist shot go, on the ice and through the five hole to make it a 3-1 lead for Crookston. “That’s Emma,” said Meyer, “she has speed, is shifty with the puck and has a good shot and she showed all three, picking up the puck and skating in. It was a nice goal and a big goal to give us some more breathing room.”
Bliss, the Muskies goalie, made some terrific saves of her 46 in the game and shut down the angles for the Pirates when they had some semi breakaways and other close in shots. On the other end, Freije had only 10 saves, but a couple were breakaways she steered aside with her stick not leaving any rebounds.

Crookston improves to 2-1 on the season and their second win in a row. The Pirates now are off until the day after Thanksgiving and will play West Fargo United on Friday night at 5:00 PM at the Ralph Engelstad Arena Thanksgiving Holiday Classic. Then another Saturday morning game when they play Fergus Falls at the Ralph at 10:00 AM.

This was the 16th game of the season already for Fort Frances, who are 11-5 on the season. After losing to East Grand Forks last night 7-0, they are 0-2 against Section 8A opponents, but they are NOT DONE for today. They left for Detroit Lakes and play the Lakers tonight at 6:00 PM before they head home. “We are used to playing two games in the day,” said Muskies head coach Shane Bliss, “We play in tournaments in Kenora and other places and play two games in a day.”

1st Period
No Scoring

2nd Period
7:24 – Crox – Cassie Solheim (1)  (Ashlyn Bailey) (PP)
10:16 – Crox – Taylor Field (1) (Addie Fee, Morgan Nelson) (PP)
16:36 – FF – Marlee Bliss (Ella Evans)

3rd Period
10:17 – Crox – Emma LaPlante (2)  (Cassie Solheim)

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