CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY BLOW THREE GOAL LEAD AND LOSE 4-3 TO #7 FERGUS FALLS

The Fergus Falls Otters eighth-grader Hannah Johnson blasted a one-time shot low in the circle to the left of Crookston Pirate goalie Kailee Magsam to give the Otters a 4-3 win just over a minute into overtime!! The 7th ranked Otters improved to 16-3-2 on the year, while the Pirate’s four-game winning streak was broken to leave them at 11-6-1.

The game started pretty well for both teams with some offensive penetration, but quickly the Otters put their game into high gear and were controlling the play, particularly in Crookston’s end. The Pirates would take advantage of their opportunities and scored just over five minutes into the period when Brekken Tull keeping the puck in the Otters end and Morgan Nelson had the puck to the left of the Fergus Falls goal, slid it across the blue paint, and sophomore from Hatton, N.D., Brynley Coleman was scrambling to get her stick on the puck and tuck it in for a Pirates 1-0 lead. The Pirate goaltenders came into this game playing 186 minutes straight without allowing a goal! Magsam was called upon to make 12 saves in the period, but she had ‘friends’ like four pipes in the first period and another that had a puck lying in the blue area with Magsam down and her defenseman Kaylee Solheim cleared the puck away. The pipes are certainly a goaltender’s best friend, as are your teammates!!! Crookston drew the game’s first penalty with 1:24 left in the period. Crookston would score a ‘shortie’, a shorthanded goal when senior captain Aleah Bienek was into the Fergus Falls zone on a two on one with Addie Fee, Bienek shot, and it went off the pad of Ana Jyrkas, Otters goalie, and right to Fee, who buried it with just over a minute to go in the period and Crookston would lead 2-0 after one period. “Yeah, we didn’t have a lot of shots, but we had ones that mattered,” said Emily Meyer, Crookston’s head coach, “that is what the girls were saying, they were beating us with shots the whole period, and Kailee was doing a great job of just standing her ground, and there were some that she needed help with. I applauded all our defense getting them out of there. I know Kaylee had one right in the crease, and she whipped it the corner and got it away. In the locker room, we knew that we couldn’t let up on this team, they were going to come out flying next period, and we had to stick with them. If they have it in our zone, we have to play good defense. Defense wins games, and offense sells tickets is the saying, right?”

Fergus Falls took their first penalty about four and a half minutes into the second period. One minute later, Fee stole the puck from a Fergus Falls defenseman in their zone, made one move on a forward, then was point-blank against Jyrkas and found a spot to her left, and the power-play goal gave Crookston a 3-0 lead!!! “Addie really worked hard today,” said Meyer, “she battled well.” The Otters, though, were controlling things, so they didn’t panic, and they would score just over a minute later when defenseman Marilyn Karsnia on a soft slap shot from the point that made its way through and past Magsam to put Fergus Falls on the scoreboard but trailing 3-1 with 10 minutes left the second period. The goal ended the Pirate goalies (Magsam and Jaycee Larson scoreless streak of 209.5 minutes not giving up a go for almost four games total!! “That goal took some of the wind out of our sails,” said Meyer, “We needed to dig deep, lay it all out there, play with our mind because our bodies were beaten and bruised from playing three games in four days.” Nobody scored the rest of the way, and it was 3-1 Crookston after two periods with the Pirates being outshot 23 to 11!

The Otters came out quickly in the third period and would go on the power play in the first two minutes of the period and scored on a shot from the blueline as Gabrielle Brimhall scored on an open look that went all the way through and snuck by Magsam and Fergus Falls cut the lead to 3-2 with 13 and a half minutes left in regulation. The Otters would add the tying score with seven minutes to go as Jadyn Bye, a senior with one goal on the season, went almost coast to coast and scored on a quick and hard shot about 10 feet out to tie it at 3-3. “It was just some breakdowns and the mental part of it,” said Meyer, “we started running, and that’s when they can capitalize. The girls took each goal really hard, and the rest of the team did a good job of getting them back up and not hang their heads.” The rest of the seven minutes went quickly as both teams were satisfied trying to dump the puck in and make something happen. Crookston almost made some things happen, missing a couple of two of one opportunities, and the clock ran down quickly, and at 3-3, they were going to overtime. “Now it was whoever wanted it more,” said Meyer, “I know that we were physically drained, but I knew we had that mental game, and we had to battle in the overtime.”

It didn’t take long in overtime as just over a minute into it, Fergus Falls put on a rush, having all three of their forwards working the puck along the boards, and Madlyn Hulter was in the circle to the right of Magsam, and she quickly fired a crisp pass to the left of Magsam where waiting was the eighth-grader Johnson and a beautiful one-timer that Magsam had no chance on to give Fergus Falls the 4-3 win in overtime. “There wasn’t much you could do on that play, it was a nice pass and a quick shot, and it was a nice clean goal by them,” said Meyer.

Crookston, 11-6-1, will now play their fourth game of the week Friday night at East Grand Forks. It’s a Section 8A game with a lot of meaning as East Grand Forks beat Crookston 4-3 on December 23, also in East Grand Forks with the Pirates outshooting the Green Wave 30 to 15. “This is our fourth game this week, and it’s the biggest one of the week because of the Section importance,” said Meyer, “we have to pick ourselves back up and get ready for it both physically and mentally. I know the girls have been talking about the East Grand Forks game, and we will be ready tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow’s game will be broadcast on KROX RADIO starting at 7:00 PM with the RiverView Health pre-game show and on the internet, where you can listen anywhere.