The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team led 3-1 with 8:30 to go, but the Hopkins Royals were able to come back and force a 3-3 draw at the Crookston Sports Center on Friday night.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams getting opportunities to score, but coming up empty handed. Crookston started out strong, getting 7 of the first 9 shot attempts, but Dylan Lindstrom kept the Pirates off the board. Then, after a Tate Hamre trip, Hopkins got 6 shots on goal on the power play, part of 9 in a row, but Teegynn Johnson, making his first start in net for the Pirates, was up to the task, stopping all of them to keep the game scoreless. The final 15 shots of the period were taken by the Pirates, who had 3 complete power plays, but Lindstrom continued to hold down the fort, and the period ended with the game still scoreless.
SECOND PERIOD
The Pirates had 26 seconds left of their fourth power play to start the period, but could not score on it. The first goal of the game came a couple minutes later, when Garrett Fischer beat Lindstrom to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Less than 3 minutes later, Greyson Ecker capitalized off a beautiful pass from Jay Reese, and the Pirates took a 2-0 lead. From there, Hopkins started to increase their aggressiveness, but Teegyn Johnson was up to the task, continuing to stop every shot he faced. After 5 penalties in the 1st period, none were recorded in the 2nd, and the period ended with the Pirates holding on to a 2-0 advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
As the third period got underway, Hopkins came out on fire, forechecking the Pirates and stopping them from moving the puck. This led to a goal from Kirill Udaltsov just 93 seconds into the period, cutting the defecit to 2-1. The Pirates needed a response, and they got one from Garrett Fischer, who scored his second of the night to restore the Pirates’ lead to 3-1. The Pirates held on to the lead for the next few minutes, but at 8:31, in a 4-on-4, William Hoiska broke free for a breakaway, once again allowing the Royals to cut the lead down to 3-2. From there, the game increased in pace, with both teams getting chances, and both goalies standing up to the challenge. With 40 seconds left, Hopkinds pulled the goalie for the extra skater, and William Moseley was that skater, and he put the puck in the net with 10 seconds remaining, tying the game at 3 and sending the game into overtime.
OVERTIME
Although the pace of the first three periods was fast-paced full of many shots, the pace slowed to a crawl in overtime. Both teams were fatigued and the speed of the game slowed down. Though Hopkins got a power play, it was killed off without a shot on goal., The best chance for the Pirates was Jay Reese getting a breakaway shorthanded. However, Lundstrom stopped that shot, andJOhnson stopped all that faced him, causing the game to end in a 3-3 tie.
Crookston’s record is now 3-0-1 on the year, while Hopkins is 1-2-1.
JV- Hopkins won 4-2
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Hopkins | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Crookston | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
1st Period
No scoring.
2nd Period
3:38 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (Jay Reese, Tate Hamre)
6:24 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker (Jay Reese, Tate Hamre)
3rd Period
1:33 – Hopkins – Kirill Udaltsov (Ben Knight)
4:23 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (2, Greyson Ecker and Jay Reese)
8:31 – Hopkins (4 on 4) – William Hoiska (Garrett Lochner)
16:50 – Hopkins – William Moseley (Baylor Paul)
Overtime
No scoring.
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Total |
| Dylan Lindstrom- Hopkins | 22 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 45 |
| Teegyn Johnson- Crox | 11 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 36 |
