sports

BEMIDJI HOLDS OFF CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY TO WIN

January 23, 2024

Bemidji’s eighth grader Naomi Johnson scored twice, the second one on a power play, to give the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead early in the third period, and then Bemidji held on and withstood a Crookston barrage that came up short, and the Lumberjacks beat the Pirates for the second time this year by identical 2-1 scores in a girl’s hockey game played at the Bemidji Community Arena.

FIRST PERIOD
Crookston had their senior captain, Reese Swanson, and goalie, Kamebelle Freije, back in the lineup after missing the last two games and were at full strength. Freije, who suffered a broken thumb two games ago in a pre-game warmup at Roseau, was wearing a splint on her thumb that fit into her stick glove. That might have come into play in the first period on Bemidji’s goal. Bemidji got the puck to Johnson, who pushed it up ice, and it drifted toward the Crookston goal. One of the Pirates was riding off, and the puck drifted toward the Crookston net. Freije was not sure she could come out and play it, and she went down and the puck just kept drifting and into the Crookston net for a 1-0 Bemidji lead with seven and a half minutes left in the period. “I’m sure that weighed on Kamebelle’s mind,” said Crookston’s head coach Meyer about the thumb injury. “normally, there would be no doubt she would have been playing that puck, then we had some action in front, and the puck just kept going sliding into the net.” Both teams had power play opportunities in the period but could not put anything past Freije or Payton Weidemann, the goalie for Bemidji. During the period, she ended up with Bemidji leading 1-0, “Other than giving up the goal, I thought we played a good first period,” said Meyer, “we had some good chances, played well defensively and good goaltending. We went into the locker room feeling pretty good.”

SECOND PERIOD
The second period was action-packed but lacked any scoring. Each team had a power play but didn’t score, and then with Crookston on a power play, Bemidji was taking another penalty on a delayed call, and instead of having a five-on-three power play for 38 seconds, the Pirates took a penalty to nullify that chance. Crookston had a couple of odd-man rushes that developed into a two-on-one chance, and Weidemann steered aside the shot; the Bemidji defense broke up the other opportunity. Bemidji’s ‘super’ freshman, Bailey Rupp, made her presence felt a couple of times with some nifty moves but either passed off or Freije stopped her. “The second period was a great battle between two good teams,” said Meyer, “we really had some good chances and toward the end of the period particularly, we started playing some Pirate hockey. We weren’t getting any bounces and had several chances in the slot that we either didn’t get on net or shot it wide.”

THIRD PERIOD
The third period it started with a quick Crookston penalty that Bemidji capitalized on with their top line on the ice with the man advantage! It took the Lumberjacks a minute to score, and it was their top-line converging on the Crookston goal with a lot of traffic in front. It was Johnson again who got a loose puck about five feet out on a rebound and t, smashed a shot hard and quickly past Freije to make it 2-0 just under two minutes into the final period.
“There was a lot of traffic in front. I’m not even sure Kamebelle saw that shot,” said Meyer. Crookston had a couple more power plays in the period, which started an offensive assault by the Pirates that lasted the rest of the period. Time was running out on Crookston, who was now 0-5 on the power play. With under two minutes to go in the game, the Pirates had the puck in Bemidji’s end, and after a scramble in front, the puck came out to about the hash marks to Pirate sophomore defenseman Ashlyn Bailey, who found a spot through the wickets of Weidemann to pull Crookston back within 2-1 with a minute and a half left in the game. “We got people in front and might have screened their goalie,” said Meyer, “we have to keep doing that, create traffic in front of the opposing goalies to get some of those greasy goals.” Crookston pulled their goalie and Bemidji, from deep in their zone, slid a shot down the ice that missed the Pirate net. Crookston would pull their goalie again about the same time the Pirates developed a two-on-zero, as Bailey tried to go the left of Widemann and shot it wide. “I had a good angle, and I know what Ashlyn was trying to do,” said Meyer, “she was going to the goalie’s low glove side and just missed.”
Crookston would continue for the next 58 seconds to gain offensive zone pressure, and Weidemann stood up to the test to preserve the victory. “I think if we had 10 more seconds, we might have tied it,” said Meyer. “We were humming.”

Crookston has lost three games in a row, is 14-8-1 on the year, and has two games next week to end the regular season. On Tuesday, they are at Mayville, N.D., to host Detroit Lakes in a Section game. The Pirates scheduled the game in Mayville in honor of their cooperative with Mayville-Portland and Hatton, N.D., where Parker Strand and Brynley Coleman are from. Then, they will be home on Thursday, February 1, hosting Thief River Falls to end the regular season.

The following week, the Section 8A Tournament will start. “We have been playing some outstanding hockey teams,” said Meyer. “We’ve played them tough despite some injuries. We want to finish off with a couple of Section wins next week and get ready for the tournament, which will be in our rink.”
Bemidji improves to 13-9 on the year.
JV – Bemidji won 2-1