Crookston Girls Hockey skates to a 0-0 tie against Sartell/Sauk Rapids in regular-season finale

The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team couldn’t score on the Sartell/Sauk Rapids Sabres, but the Sabres couldn’t score either as the teams skated to a 0-0 tie in the regular season finale for each team at the Crookston Sports Center on Friday night.

FIRST PERIOD
As the first period began, the pace was slow to start, with neither team getting a shot on goal for the first 2:06 of the period. That changed when the Pirates had two good looks, one from Logan Brekken and one from Peyton Demerais, but Sabres captain goaltender Abby Massmann stopped them both. The Pirates then got 4 of the next 5 shots on goal, taking a 6-2 lead in shots halfway through the period, but Massmann stopped everything that came her way. The Sabres could only get a few shots on goal, and none were particularly challenging to Madi Abrams in net for the Pirates. Then, with 3:24 to go in the period, the Pirates went on the power play. However, they could only get one shot on goal, which was stopped by Massmann. In the final seconds, Catelyn Maruska had a great look, but it hit the side of the net, and the game stayed scoreless at the end of the period.

SECOND PERIOD
In the second period, the momentum began to shift in the opposite direction. It didn’t initially start this way, as the Pirates recorded the first 3 shots on goal, but Massmann was there to stop them all. Then the Pirates got on their second power play of the game, but were unable to get a shot on goal in that stretch. The tide turned at 7:44, when Adley Vigness went into the box for a cross check, immediately followed by Christina Hershey in the box for a trip, and the Sabres had a 5-on-3 for 1:19 The Sabres got 4 shots on goal during this stretch, but Madi Abrams stopped them all. Immediately after Vigness came out of the box, she went right back in for a hook, and Abrams stopped another shot on goal in another successful kill. From the first penalty until under a minute to go in the period, the Pirates did not record any shots on goal, while SSR recorded 8 in that span. Then, with 10 seconds to go in the period, Vigness recorded her third penalty of the period, and that gave the Sabres 1:50 of power play time to start the 3rd period.

THIRD PERIOD
The third period began with the Sabres getting a near full power play, but as the story of the game has gone so far, were completely unable to get anything off of it. This period had the least amount of shots on goal out of any of them, with neither team reaching 10 shots on goal in the period. The best chance for the Pirates came in the middle of the period, when they got a power play, their 4th of the game. The only shot they got on the power play was a missile from Adley Vigness, but Massmann rose to the occasion and made the stop. The Sabres and Pirates were both unable to get anything going for the rest of the period, so the game went to overtime in a scoreless game.

OVERTIME
In overtime, the Pirates absolutely dominated the entire 8 minutes, maintaining the puck for the vast majority of the time and preventing the Sabres from getting any shots on goal in the period. However, the wall of Abby Massmann was still impenetrable, as she stood on her head in this period. In the middle of the period, the Pirates began throwing everything at the net, hoping for deflections. Aubrey Bartrum and Shyuh Burnette had the best looks, but Massmann stopped them both with great stickhandling. The Pirates were unable to get another solid look for the rest of the period, and that allowed the game to end in a 0-0 tie.
The Pirates and Sabres agreed to play an exhibition shootout after the game ended, which the Pirates won 2-1 in 4 rounds. Scoring for the Pirates were Emma LaPlante and Jensen Stinar.

Crookston ends the regular season at 6-17-1 and will await their seed in the Section 8A tournament.
JV – SSR won 8-2