Welcome to Sports Feever. We are less than three weeks to the first playoff competition. It is hard to believe how fast it has gone.
Graduation is right around the corner, the Governor is going to announce more relaxed COVID-19 measures, it sounds like the State Fair is going to be as close to normal as possible, and more and more people are bein vaccinated. Dare I say, we are getting closer to getting back to “normal.”
Enjoy this weeks column.
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We continue our UMC Baseball watch. Wednesday started with great news as UMC was in the top eight in the region rankings. The top six teams will make it to the regional playoffs.
About 30 minutes to an hour later UMC lost to Minnesota Duluth and several hours later they lost again to Duluth.
UMC was in second place in the conference going into Wednesday. With the two losses they dropped to third place and one game ahead of St. Cloud State and only three games ahead of fifth place Minot State.
UMC has three games left in the regular season and they will travel to Minot State. Here is what we know. If UMC wins one game, they will host a home playoff first round series. If they lose all three games, they will drop to fifth and have to travel to either Minot State or St. Cloud State.
The two losses to Duluth were tough losses, especially when they had their ace on the mound in the first game.
We will take a deeper look at the playoff picture next week as the first round games will be played Thursday and Friday.
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The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team held its end of the year banquet and handed out awards. There was a pretty cool thing at the banquet. Current Pirate Wrestling Head Coach Wes Hanson coached his team to a Section 8A Championship. Back in 1988, Wes’ father, Corky Hanson was an assistant coach for the Pirate Wrestling championship team! The picture below is the two together. Wes with a blanket from the team and Corky with his jacket from 1988.
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Hawley High School graduate, University of Minnesota Crookston graduate, and now Augustana University graduate student and baseball player Parker Hanson had his backpack stolen last week. It normally wouldn’t be a story, but if your not familiar with Hanson, he was born without a left hand and has a prosthetic arm. His arm was in his backpack that was stolen out of his car. Overall, the backpack had $15,000 to $25,000 worth of equipment, but Hanson said the equipment isn’t worth anything to anybody but him and you can’t resell it to anybody because it is specifically made to fit him.
Parker posted the following to Facebook –
To the person in Sioux Falls last night who felt the need to steal other people’s property, I hope those prosthetic arms and attachments bring you more use than they brought me. I hope you can use them to better yourself more than I did for myself. I hope you use them to motivate others the way I strived to. I used them every single day, so I hope you can too. So if anyone sees a tan Nike back pack full of prosthetics, please let me know.
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University of Minnesota Crookston baseball player Mason Ruhlman (Sr., Algonac, Mich.) was named NSIC Player of the Week. The Golden Eagles have obtained three NSIC Player of the Week nods this season. Ruhlman joins Brock Reller (Sr., OF, Grand Forks, N.D.), who received the recognition March 8 and March 15. Ruhlman is a first-time honoree.
He hit .500 (9-for-18) for the week with a 1.333 slugging percentage. Ruhlman hit four home runs and three home runs. He hit a three-run home run, a grand slam, and 2 two-run home runs for 11 RBIs and eight runs scored. One of his home runs was a walk-off against Bemidji State Saturday. On Sunday, he hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning. Ruhlman leads the Golden Eagles hitting .348 with 33 runs scored, eight home runs, one triple, eight home runs, and 28 RBIs.
Ryan Jares of Augustana was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week.
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The National Federation of High Schools has adopted the shot clock for High School basketball beginning in the 2021-22 season. We will see what that means in Minnesota over the next year or two.
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Congrats to Roseau High School graduate and current Mayville State Volleyball player, Victoria Johnson on being named NAIA All-American Second Team on Tuesday.
Johnson finished the season with 476 kills, a .315 hitting percentage, 136.0 total blocks, and 1.07 blocks per set.
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Gene Glynn, Minnesota’s first Mr. Basketball in 1975 and a former Minnesota Twins coach, has been named St. Clair High School Boys Basketball Coach.
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Congratulations to East Grand Forks Green Wave boys hockey player and all-around student-athlete Landon Parker on being named the recipient of the Class A Herb Brooks Award.
Characteristics and values nominees should feature:
- True love for hockey — a real passion
- Commitment and loyalty to school, team, and community
- Willingness to sacrifice for the team
- Integrity
- Courage of his/her convictions
- Goal-oriented approach
- Sharp focus and strong competitive drive
- Excellent work ethic
- Willingness to accept challenges
- Mental toughness
- Strong hockey skills
- Strong leadership qualities
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JOKES
A husband and wife are sitting on the couch watching TV. The wife looks at the husband and he is staring at the ceiling above her head, she looks up and asks, “What are you staring at?”
“A spider,” he replies.
“I don’t see anything,” she says.
“Oh, it must have fallen on your head,” he said calmly.
The wife jumps up screaming…
The man says, “While you’re up, can you get me another beer?”
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Recently scientists revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones.
To prove their theory, the scientists fed 100 men 12 bottles of beer and observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became emotional, and couldn’t drive.
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A guy spots a sign outside a house that reads “Talking Dog for Sale.” Intrigued, he walks in.
“So what have you done with your life?” he asks the dog.
“I’ve led a very full life,” says the dog. “I lived in the Alps rescuing avalanche victims. Then I served my country in Iraq. And now I spend my days reading to the residents of a retirement home.”
The guy is flabbergasted. He asks the dog’s owner, “Why on earth would you want to get rid of an incredible dog like that?”
The owner says, “Because he’s a liar! He never did any of that!”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Sweden for Vasby IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan league.
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Ben Trostad is playing Club Hockey at UMC.
Ty Hamre is playing Club Hockey at UMC.
Brandon Boetcher is playing Club Hockey at UMC.
Brady Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Brita Fagerlund, is a Senior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.
Rachel Hefta, a Sophomore, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Nick Garmen is a sophomore playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Thea Oman, a sophomore, is swimming at St. Ben’s.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Emily Meyer is a girls hockey and softball assistant coach.
Lacia Hanson is the Junior High softball coach.
Carrie Clauson is a Junior High girls tennis coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach and assistant volleyball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Head Pirate Girls and Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate Baseball coach.
Brock Hanson is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Ben Halos is a Pirate Baseball assistant coach.
Alex LaFrance is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching –
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.
Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris, is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming
Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com
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