SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.co— — —
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U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!!!!!!! Two great games in the Women’s and Men’s Hockey Gold medal games as the USA won both in overtime. Detroit has supposedly trademarked Hockeytown USA. But we all know it is a bunch of baloney. Because Warroad is the only Hockeytown USA.
No US men’s hockey team has won gold without a player from Warroad on the team. A population of only 2,000 people. Warroad’s Brock Nelson is a 3rd-generation Olympian and Gold medalist!!! Team USA has won the Gold Medal in men’s ice hockey at the 1960 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games, with both of those teams featuring a member of Nelson’s family. His uncle, Dave Christian, was on the 1980 team, and his grandfather, Bill Christian, along with his great uncle, Roger Christian, played on the 1960 and 1964 squads. Additionally, Nelson’s great-uncle, Gord Christian, was on Team USA’s men’s hockey team at the 1956 Olympic Winter Games, which took home a Silver Medal.
Minnesota led the USA with 13 medals. 10 of those were gold, one silver, and two bronze. Michigan was second with 11, and California and Colorado were tied for third with eight.
NBC says the United States-Canada gold medal game was the most-watched women’s hockey game on record. The game averaged 5.3 million viewers on USA Network and Peacock. The game’s audience peaked at 7.7 million viewers in overtime
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There are a lot of area teams ranked in the latest state basketball, hockey, and wrestling rankings! Check out this weeks rankings by clicking the following link – Minnesota High School Rankings – KROX
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MILESTONES
Fertile-Beltrami’s Drew Gullickson recorded the 1,000th point of his career this week.
Stephen-Argyle’s Caden Pagnac scored the 1,000th point of his career in about the most awesome way possible. He had a huge slam dunk while posterizing a Mahnomen/Waubun player!!!!
SIGNINGS
Ashlynn Omdahl of Roseau signed to run cross country at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa.
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The Section 8A Individual Wrestling Tournament was held last week and the State Tournament is being held this week.
State Qualifiers from Section 8A
107 – 1st Mauricio Arriaga (Crookston) 2nd Kaiden Dykhoff (UNC)
114 – 1st Henry Mayer (UNC) 2nd Chase Hauck (Barnesville)
121 – 1st Ashton Reller (Frazee) 2nd – Kiptyn Thompson (Fos-Bag)
127 – 1st Eli Phrakonkham (Fos-Bag) 2nd – Keegan VonEnde (BGMR)
133 – 1st Ian Phrakonkham (Fos-Bag) 2nd Christian Peichel (Frazee)
139 – 1st Kamryn Thompson (Fos-Bag) 2nd Liam Hamm (Frazee)
145 – 1st Cash Osterman (Frazee) 2nd Carter Ahrendt (UNC)
152 – 1st Gavyn Hlucny (Crookston) 2nd Conrad Koll (UNC)
160 – 1st Blake Sonnenberg (Frazee) 2nd Creed Koll (UNC)
172 – 1st Cameron Halverson (Barnesville) 2nd Cade Walz (MW)
189 – 1st Dylan McMullen (MW) 2nd Reed Koll (UNC)
215 – 1st Blake McMullen (MW) 2nd Tanner Moe (Frazee)
285 – 1st Ryan Peterson (UNC) 2nd Toby Bryan (Roseau)
SECTION 8A AWARDS –
Coach of the Year – Jacob Oyster (UNC)
Asst. Coach of the Year – Kris Koll (UNC)
Sportsmanship Award – Barnesville
Academic All-Star Awards –
Crookston – Gavin Hlucny
Barnesville – Cam Halverson
Fertile-Beltrami – Jack Erickson, Max Ramberg
Fosston/Bagley – Shane Thompson, Ian Phrakonkhom
Frazee – Blake Sonnenberg, Jack Graham, Cash Osterman
Mahnomen/Waubun – Blake McMullen, Brandon Miller
Roseau – Owen Cummings
United North Central – Emmet Skoog, Cooper Rife, Anton Anderson, Fordis Johnson
Section 8A Academic Team Champion – Mahnomen/Waubun (Team GPA of 3.92!!!!!!)
Class A State Academic Champion – Mahnomen/Waubun
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Boys Basketball – thru 2/23/26
| Class | Current TM | Projected TM | Projected 2xTM |
| A | 4.3 | 4.5 | 9.0 |
| AA | 6.0 | 6.2 | 12.5 |
| AAA | 7.9 | 8.2 | 16.5 |
| AAAA | 10.8 | 11.3 | 22.7 |
Section 8AA Boys Basketball Standings
QRF Seeded – February 28
East Grand Forks looks like they will get the top seed in the tournament. Staples-Motley looks like it has a leg up for the second seed and then things get very hard to predict! You have five teams (Osakis, Perham, DGF, Barnesville, and Thief River Falls all within 8.7 points. Perham has the tie-breaker with DGF and TRF, and split with Barnesville and didn’t play Osakis. DGF has the tie-breaker with Barnesville and TRF. Thursday and Friday are big days for those teams. Warroad looks to be an eighth seed. There will be many tie-breakers used to determine the seeding.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Grand Forks | 12-0 | 20-5 | 114.1 | 25 |
| Staples-Motley | 8-2 | 15-8 | 100.9 | 40 |
| Osakis | 0-1 | 15-10 | 92.7 | 51 |
| Perham | 8-3 | 13-12 | 90.9 | 54 |
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 8-5 | 14-12 | 88.6 | 55 |
| Barnesville | 7-4 | 12-12 | 85.8 | 62 |
| Thief River Falls | 7-7 | 14-10 | 84.0 | 65 |
| Warroad | 5-5 | 14-12 | 74.6 | 76 |
| Park Rapids Area | 5-8 | 10-15 | 61.6 | 99 |
| Hawley | 2-10 | 6-19 | 55.3 | 106 |
| Roseau | 4-6 | 7-18 | 50.1 | 112 |
| Crookston | 3-10 | 5-18 | 45.7 | 116 |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 2-6 | 4-20 | 42.0 | 119 |
| Menahga | 1-5 | 6-19 | 39.8 | 124 |
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Section 8A – West Boys Basketball Standings
QRF Seeded – February 28
As of Wednesday evening, Red Lake County would be the top seed as the tie-breaker margin is projected to be 9 points. Red Lake County leads Fertile-Beltrami by 10 points. So we know it will be one of those two teams depending on what happens Thursday and Friday. Fertile-Beltrami has the tie-breaker.
Stephen-Argyle and Sacred Heart are fighting for the third seed and the teams split their two meetings so the tie-breaker will go deeper! The Northern Freeze and KCC are fighting for the fifth seed. They split their two meetings this year and are tied in the conference standings. The tie-breakers are going to be a big factor in the section standings!!
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Lake County | 18-2 | 23-3 | 113.1 | 6 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 14-1 | 23-3 | 103.1 | 13 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 16-5 | 20-6 | 93.3 | 21 |
| Sacred Heart | 10-6 | 17-8 | 92.8 | 22 |
| Northern Freeze | 10-8 | 14-9 | 83.7 | 31 |
| Kittson County Central | 10-7 | 13-9 | 80.5 | 38 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 8-11 | 11-14 | 68.0 | 58 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 11-11 | 13-13 | 67.7 | 60 |
| Badger/Greenbush-Middle River | 6-14 | 9-16 | 57.5 | 79 |
| Climax/Fisher | 6-12 | 9-17 | 46.9 | 105 |
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Section 8A – East Boys Basketball Standings
QRF Seeded – February 28
Mahnomen/Waubun is leading the way. If they were in the West Subsection, they would be in seventh place!!!!!!
That is all I got on the east!
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 8-4 | 14-11 | 75.6 | 48 |
| Red Lake | 5-6 | 15-11 | 66.6 | 61 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 5-6 | 15-11 | 58.1 | 77 |
| Win-E-Mac | 11-7 | 11-15 | 57.8 | 78 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 6-16 | 7-17 | 52.0 | 88 |
| Bagley | 6-8 | 11-14 | 51.2 | 92 |
| Fosston | 4-12 | 5-18 | 42.1 | 120 |
| Lake of the Woods | 1-10 | 7-18 | 33.1 | 140 |
| Blackduck | 2-11 | 4-21 | 29.0 | 147 |
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JOKES
How do you get country girls?
A tractor!
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I took a job as the head of Old McDonald’s Farm.
I’m the C-I-E-I-O
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I grilled a chicken for two hours.
It still wouldn’t tell me why it crossed the road.
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Two men, sentenced to die on the same day, were led down to the room where the electric chair was. The priest had given them last rites, the formal speech had been given by the warden, and a final prayer had been said among the participants. The warden, turning to the first man, solemnly asked, “Son, do you have a last request?”The man replied, “Yes sir, I do. I love dance music. Could you please play the Macarena for me one last time?” “Certainly,” replied the warden.He turned to the other man and asked, “Well, what about you, son? What is your final request?” “Please,” said the condemned man, “Kill me first.”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica
Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech
Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com..
