The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team did everything right and then some as they took down the Detroit Lakes Lakers by a score of 9-2 in the first round of the Section 8A Tournament, in the final CHS game at the Crookston Sports Center for the season.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period started slow until DL’s first shot on goal of the game just over 2 minutes in, which beat Abrams but hit the post. That would set up another opportunity, however, and this time Izzy Mariotti was able to bury a shot by Abrams, and this gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead. However, that momentum would be forcibly ripped away by the Pirates, as they proceeded to dominate the next 13 minutes. First, Catelyn Maruska made a great deflection for her second goal of the year to tie the game at 1. Then, Adley Vigness took over, taking the puck from the defensive zone and breaking free for a goal on two separate occasions, and all of a sudden the Pirates had a 3-1 lead. The Pirates weren’t done yet, though, as Emma LaPlante scored less than 2 minutes later to put the Pirates up 4-1. Then, in case that wasn’t enough the Pirates got on the power play, and 8th grader Christina Hershey buried the final Pirate goal of the period. The Lakers were held to just 5 shots, and the Pirates took that 5-1 lead into the 2nd period.
SECOND PERIOD
As the second period got started, the Pirates did not wait too long to add more to the tally, as the second line started the period, and put together an amazing 2 minute shift in the Dl zone, capped off by a Peyton Demerais goal to put the Pirates up 6-1. From there, the offense began to slow down for both sides, with limited shots on goal for both sides. That began to change at 11:40, when the Lakers got on their first power play of the night. It looked like nothing was going to come of it, but Presley Nelson, in an attempt to ice the puck from right in front of her own goaltender, fired a puck that somehow got past Abrams, and the Lakers in a wild way cut the lead to 6-2. That didn’t last, though, as just 7 seconds later, Jensen Stinar beat Solberg to put the Pirates up 7-2, which is a lead that would stick headed into the 3rd period.
THIRD PERIOD
As the third period began, the Pirates wasted no time putting the game into running time, as Christina Hershey scored her second goal of the game, putting the Pirates up 8-2. Running time caused less action, but the Pirates got another power play in the middle of the period, and they would capitalize with Hershey once again, as she would record her first career hat trick and passed her total regular season goal total, putting the Pirates up 9-2. The Pirates were a perfect 3/3 on the power play, and this combined with doubling the Lakers’ shot output gave the Pirates a dominant 9-2 victory.
Crookston improves to 7-17-1 and will take on Warroad in the Section 8A Semifinals in EGF on Saturday at 1 PM.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Detroit Lakes | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
1st Period
3:11 – DL – Izzy Mariotti (Hadley Songstad)
5:02 – Crookston – Catelyn Maruska (Logan Brekken)
9:22 – Crookston – Adley Vigness
11:09 – Crookston – Adley Vigness
12:49 – Crookston – Emma LaPlante (Logan Brekken)
14:37 – Crookston (PP) – Christina Hershey (Adley Vigness, Keely Garrett)
2nd Period
2:02 – Crookston – Peyton Demerais (Ava Martin, Aubrey Bartrum)
13:12 – DL (PP) – Presley Nelson
13:19 – Crookston – Jensen Stinar (Christina Hershey)
3rd Period
0:53 – Crookston (PP) – Christina Hershey (Logan Brekken)
8:00 – Crookston (PP) – Christina Hershey (Rilynn Aubol, Adley Vigness)
| Goalie | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total |
| Paityn Solberg – DL | 9 | 10 | 9 | 28 |
| Madi Abrams – Crox | 6 | 7 | 5 | 18 |
