The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team found an answer after the Bagley/Fosston Flyers scored four consecutive goals to tie the game by scoring two goals in the third, holding on to win 7-5 at the Crookston Sports Center on Thursday night.
FIRST PERIOD
The story of the first period was the Crookston offensive attack, constantly providing pressure on the Flyer defense and goaltender. After the Flyers recorded the first shot on goal of the game, the Pirates responded with six of the next seven shots, killing a penalty in the process. However, all of them were stopped by Brookston Hildebrant. That all changed, however, at 9:03 when Tate Hamre broke through, sniping one from the blue line to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. That seemed to open up the floodgates. Just nine seconds later, Greyson Ecker took the puck away from the Flyers and also scored unassisted, increasing the lead to 2-0. The Pirates outshot the Flyers 17-10 in the period, and the penultimate shot came from Garrett Fischer, who scored on a great pass from Jay Reese to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
As the second period began, it looked like things would turn into a near blowout, as Jay Reese scored at 3:13 off a wonderful pass from Fischer to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. However, Bagley/Fosston would snap back in a big way. The Pirates had issues staying out of the box in this period, and Logan Dillich capitalized at 5:17 to get the Flyers on the board. Then, the Flyers got a 5-on-3 opportunity, but as soon as the first penalty ended, Garrett Fischer took off, scoring an incredibly athletic shorthanded goal to give the Pirates a 5-1 lead. The gap would stay at 4 for the next few minutes, but then the Flyers went on their best spurt of the night, scoring three times in 1:42. They got a second power play goal from Dillich, and then Wyatt Gerbracht proceeded to score 2 goals on 2 rebounds to cut the lead to 5-4, which would stand heading into the 3rd.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers came into the third period with all the momentum, and for the first 5 minutes, they played like it, continuing to pepper Brady Chandler in net for the Pirates. This all culminated in another power play goal, the 3rd for the Flyers, as Reid Gerbracht scored from a tight angle to tie the game at 5.
The Pirates needed a response, and they got one exactly 10 minutes later, when Garrett Fischer completed another hat trick to give the Pirates a 6-5 advantage. From there, both teams continued to get golden looks, but both goalies made phenomenal stops. Finally, the Pirates were able to put the nail in the coffin by scoring with less than three minutes to go on a Jay Reese breakaway, and this allowed the Pirates to hold on for a 7-5 win.
Crookston improves to 9-5-1, 5-3 in the section, and will take on Warroad on Tuesday. Bagley/Fosston is now 12-4 on the season, 4-3 in the section.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Bagley/Fosston | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Crookston | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
1st Period
9:03 – Crookston – Tate Hamre
9:12 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker
13:07 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (Jay Reese, Tate Hamre)
2nd Period
3:13 – Crookston – Jay Reese (Garrett Fischer)
5:17 – B/F – Logan Dillich (PP)
9:32 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (SH)
12:49 – B/F – Logan Dillich (Grant Merschman) (PP)
13:37 – B/F – Wyatt Gerbracht (Reid Gerbracht, Logan Dillich)
14:31 – B/F – Wyatt Gerbracht (Logan Dillich, James Palmer)
3rd Period
4:48 – B/F – Reid Gerbracht (James Palmer, Logan Dillich) (PP)
6:48 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (Jay Reese)
14:19 – Crookston – Jay Reese
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Brookston Hildebrant – Bagley | 14 | 10 | 9 | 33 |
| Brady Chandler – Crox | 10 | 14 | 9 | 33 |
