sports

CLAUSON SCORES LATE AS CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY BEATS FERGUS FALLS

November 25, 2023

The Crookston Pirates junior Kaylie Clauson scored on a rebound with just under seven minutes left in the game to give the Pirates, ranked #9 in the Minnesota Class A polls, a 2-1 win over Fergus Falls at the Ralph Engelstad Arena Holiday Classic in Thief River Falls.

The Pirates finished their overtime tie with West Fargo United, got home around 9:30 PM, and had an early bus ride at 7:45 AM back to Thief River Falls to face the Otters for their 10:00 AM game. The Otters got to bed at 10:30 PM last night and were up early. So, how were they going to respond to the early morning game? “We had to make sure that the girls came out strong,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “even at the beginning of warmups. On the ice, which we did in the first period and owned right away.” Crookston would get a five-on-three power play five minutes in the game and would score with the two-person advantage when Brynley Coleman passed the puck in the slot area to defenseman Reese Swanson, who kept skating in and then with the Fergus Falls goalie, Ana Jyrkas gave a lot of room to her glove side, and Swanson blasted a slap shot that was past Jyrkas before she saw it. “Reese is one of those players that has a tough shot to see,” said Meyer, “her going glove side and just going on top in general, and that is what we needed at that time. We hope she continues to shoot the puck.” With about five and a half minutes, Fergus Falls would get a five-on-three power play for over a minute (1:04). Still, they would not score as the Pirates penalty killers continued to be one of their strengths, giving up their first power play last night and have killed off 14 of 15 power play opportunities. “We take a lot of pride with our special teams,” said Coach Meyer, “we work a lot on the power play and not that much on the penalty kill, but all our penalty killers take pride in killing them off. Also, our power play is much improved, with two of them yesterday and Reese scoring one this morning.” The Pirate lead wouldn’t last long as Fergus Falls scored about two and a half minutes later when McKenzie Sjolie snuck a hard shot through the five-hole of Pirate goalie Kambelle Freije to the right side of the net to tie it at 1-1 and that would be how the first period ended. It was a period in which Crookston took it to Fergus Falls early, forcing many icing calls on the Otters. “It was a great first period for us, said Meyer.

In the second period, they differed for Crookston as they needed help getting anything going. Passes were off, and Fergus Falls did a more aggressive forecheck and was a little more physical than they showed in the first period. “I think it came down to being a little bit of confusion,” said Meyer, “they started bringing the intensity, and we sat back on our heels.” Although both teams had seven shots in the period, the Otters controlled play for the most part but were unable to get anything by Freije. “Kambelle played brilliantly in the entire game, but the second period especially to keep the score even,” said Meyer.

For the second game in a row, Crookston played three lines evenly, and also, for the second game in a row, the Pirates came out and dominated again in the third period. Early in the period, though, Fergus Falls had a breakaway with Hannah Johnson, the Otters leading scorer, who deked Freije nicely, but the Pirate goalie kept with it across the crease and doing the splits. At the same time, she spread out to the left of her goal and got her pad on the shot to steer aside to keep it 1-1. Crookston would get the winning goal in just over six minutes. It started with Crookston’s Cassie Solheim making a nice rush from center ice and muscling through a bunch of Otters to get to their blueline at the circle to the left of the Otter’s goal, Solheim took a shot, which was a soft one that floated up in the air and Fergus Falls goalie, Jyrkas, initially caught the puck in her glove but couldn’t hold on to it. It dropped in front of her, and there was Clauson, who tapped the rebound in to score her second goal of the season and give Crookston a 2-1 lead. “All I know is I was crashing in the zone, and then Cassie’s shot on net. I stood before the goal, looking for a greasy goal, which was super fun. I try to find the rebound and hit it as hard as I can, and it went into the net,” said Clauson, who has played her second game of the year at forward after being moved up from defense. “I was pretty shocked when I was moved forward,” said Clauson, “I thought it was a joke at first, and I walked into the locker room and found out it was true. It’s been great with Parker (Strand) and Cassie (Solheim) on my line, and we’re just figuring it out. They’ve been good at teaching me to play the wing position.” Crookston continued the pressure for most of the period and outshot the Otters 13 to 4 in the final period, and it held up to a 2-1 Crookston win. “It’s nice to come out of here with a tie and a win,” said coach Meyer. “We want to be more consistent, so keeping the lines together and trying to get that chemistry will help. Today was two very good periods and a nice win.”

Crookston is 3-1-1 on the year and will be off for another week as they will host Champlin Park/Coon Rapids, who are off to a 4-0 start and will play Anoka on Tuesday before coming up north to play at Warroad on Friday night. On Saturday they will play Crookston at 3:00 PM in Crookston. The Bluebirds have won some close games early with a 2-1 win at Rogers, beat Eden Prairie at home 3-2, blew out Buffalo 9-1, and a week ago beat Gentry Academy 3-2. “That’s why we like to play these ranked teams in Class AA and A,” said Meyer. “We’ve played some tough teams and continue to have those games throughout the season and hope that they build us up to get ready for the Section Tournament.” Champlin Park/Coon Rapids is ranked #12 in Class AA in Minnesota, while Fergus Falls was ranked #12 in Class A and the Pirates 9th in Class A.
JV – Fergus Falls won 7-0