Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey plays well, but falls to TRF in first loss of the season

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team played a solid game, but the Thief River Falls Prowlers won a 19 penalty battle 3-1 in a big Section 8A game at the Crookston Sports Center in Crookston.

FIRST PERIOD
The first period was fast and furious, with a lot of up-and-down action. There weren’t a lot of shots as both defenses were solid.
Thief River Falls put some pressure on Crookston in the first couple of minutes, but they couldn’t get a shot on goal. That changed when there was a faceoff to the right of the Crookston net. The Prowlers won the faceoff, and the puck slid in between the circles as Spencer Anderson got the puck and sniped a shot through traffic and into the net to give Thief River Falls a 1-0 lead 4:31 into the game.
Crookston tried to answer seven seconds later as the Pirates won the faceoff, and Garrett Fischer got the puck and skated into the TRF zone and slid a pass to Jay Reese, who knocked the puck into the net. The goal was called off because the net was knocked off the morings, and the score remained 1-0.
The teams played even the rest of the period, and Thief River Falls took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD
Crookston had several shots on goal in the first four-plus minutes, and they won a faceoff, and Jay Reese fired a shot from the circle that hit the pipe, and the game remained a 1-0 Prowler lead.d The period was choppy to say the least, with a lot of penalties and stoppages. Seven minutes into the period, Beckum Johnson had a shot on goal, and it was stopped, but he picked up the rebound and skated up to the middle of the circles and wristed a shot through traffic and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
With three minutes left in the period, a TRF player was called for a 10-minute misconduct and had to sit for all 10 minutes, but the Prowlers remained at full strength. Crookston got into penalty problems, and TRF had a 5-on-3 power play late in the period. Crookston killed the penalties and Theif River Falls took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD
The third period was similar to the first period with a lot of exciting action. Penalties continued, and Thief River Falls was called for a penalty, and Ryan Flaagan got the puck and flipped a pass down the ice to Jed Kelly, who snuck behind the Pirate defensemen and scored a goal on a breakaway and a shorthanded goal for a 3-0 lead 7:23 into the period. Thief River Falls picked up a penalty five minutes later, and this time, Jay Reese got a pass to Garrett Fischer, who navigated his way through three Prowler defenders with a beautiful move and scored to bring the Pirates within a 3-1 deficit with 4:44 left in the game. Crookston had several scoring chances in the final minutes of the game, but couldn’t get another goal and Thief River Falls won 3-1.

Crookston drops to 6-1-1 on the year and 3-1 in Section 8A play and will take on Grafton on Friday, December 26 at 5:00 p.m. in Thief River Falls’ Ralph Englestad Arena. KROX will have the game on the radio. Thief River Falls improves to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in section play.