The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team had a 4-2 lead in the third period before the Grafton/Park River Spoilers scored the final three goals of the game for a 5-4 come-from-behind victory in Grafton.
FIRST PERIOD
Grafton got a shot on goal, and Teegyn Johnson made the save before Crookston got the puck in the Spoiler zone, and Gavin Aakhus slid a pass back to the point, and Grant Funk let a shot go. The puck deflected off a Grafton player into the net to give Crookston a 1-0 lead 1:39 into the game.
Grafton tied the game nine minutes later on a pass from behind the net in front, and Noah Suda slapped it in to tie the game at 1-1. Neither team scored the rest of the way, and the game was tied 1-1 going into the first intermission.
SECOND PERIOD
It was a defensive battle for the first nine minutes until Crookston’s Grant Funk brought the puck into the Grafton zone, skating along the boards and fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle and into the net for a 2-1 lead.
Three minutes later, Crookston struck again when Greyson Ecker got the puck behind the net and got a pass to Garrett Fischer on the side of the net. Fischer dumped a pass to Jay Reese in the slot, and he whistled a shot past the Spoiler goalie for a goal and a 3-1 lead. The goal was the 100th career point for Reese. “Incredibly proud of Jay Reese. Getting to the 100 point milestone is an incredible accomplishment, and it’s a testament to the hard work he’s put in over the years,” said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy. “Just a great kid and couldn’t be happier for him and his family.” It looked like Crookston had a 4-1 lead when Jay Reese tapped the puck in the net, but the Pirates were called for being in the crease and the score remained 3-1. “I thought that really swung the momentum,” said Coach Hardy. “A player was pushed into the crease and in no way was hindering the goalie’s ability to move and never came in contact with him, really was nowhere near the goalie. It was waved off though and we had to keep playing.”
A little over a minute later, Grafton answered with a goal to get within a 3-2 deficit, and that was the score going into the second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
Crookston didn’t take long to regain a two-goal lead as Fischer got a pass to Reese, who skated into the Grafton zone, blowing by the defensemen, and he whistled a shot from the near side and found the opening along the right side of the net for a 4-2 lead.
Grafton answered with a goal four minutes later to get within a 4-3 deficit. Grafton tied the game with 2:56 left when Noah Troftgruben got a pass in front and found the net for a 4-4 tie.
Crookston had a shot on goal in the final minutes, but the Grafton goalie made the save.
Grafton took the lead when Noah Troftgruben made a terrific move by a sliding Pirate player and fired the puck top shelf for a 5-4 lead with 22 seconds left in the game. “I thought overall we played well tonight and ended up on the wrong side of luck,” said Coach Hardy. “We did a good job of bouncing back and continued to dominate for long stretches throughout the game. Late in the third, though, momentum swung their way, and we had a tough time clawing back. They had a beauty of a power play goal to tie, and made a fantastic skill play on the game-winner.”
Crookston falls to 8-5-1 on the year and will host Bagley/Fosston on Thursday. “One of those games where it just wasn’t our night. Their goalie played great, we threw everything at him and just couldn’t score. Teegyn was great in net for us and had some big saves to keep us in it, especially in transition,” said Coach Hardy. “I’m excited to get back to work at practice tomorrow. We have two days to correct some things and be ready to roll for Thursday.”
JV – Grafton won 8-2
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Grafton/Park River | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
1st Period
1:39 – Crookston – Grant Funk (Gavin Aakhus, Liam Larson)
10:56 – Grafton – Noah Suda (Trace Anderson, CT Lee)
2nd Period
9:15 – Crookston – Grant Funk (Masen Reitmeier)
12:19 – Crookston – Jay Reese (Garrett Fischer, Greyson Ecker)
13:39 – Grafton – Jonathan Presteng
3rd Period
2:52 – Crookston – Jay Reese (Garrett Fischer)
6:52 – Grafton – Augie Miller (Trace Anderson)
14:06 – Grafton – Noah Troftgruben (Thomas Aasand, David Jelinek) PP
16:38 – Grafton – Noah Troftgruben (Jonathan Presteng)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Kaisin Twamley – GPR | 7 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| Teegyn Johnson – Crox | 8 | 6 | 4 | 18 |
