sports

RED LAKE FALLS BEATS THE PIRATES 5-4 IN OT

February 11, 2020

Zak Kennett had a hat trick and Evan Girdler scored the game-winner in overtime as the Red Lake Falls Eagles defeated the Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team 5-4 in a Section 8A game played at Cardin-Hunt Arena in Red Lake Falls.

1st Period
The Pirates and Eagles appeared evenly matched throughout the first period as the entire seventeen minutes consisted of good back and forth action between the two teams. The Eagles would get the first goal more than halfway through the period when a battle for the puck along the wall resulted in the puck popping free to Zak Kennett and Kennett ripped a quick wrist shot past Dragseth before he was even aware the puck was free of the battle on the wall for a 1-0 Red Lake Falls lead. The Pirates would answer with a goal just 90 seconds later when Alex Longoria carried the puck in and put a long-range wrister from the top of the left circle past Eagles goaltender Brenden Johnson for Longoria’s sixth goal of the year to tie the game 1-1 with 4:52 to go in the period. “It was tough to get down 1-0 in a packed house here tonight and let them have some momentum,” said Pirates coach Josh Hardy. “But I was proud of the way we responded. We came back right on away and Alex Longoria gets us on the board with a nice shot. It was a fast game, a lot of back and forth early, physical. It was a fun one to be apart of.” Crookston would get the lone powerplay of the period, late in the frame, but was unable to take advantage of the extra skate. The Pirates outshot the Eagles 12-11 in the first period.

2nd Period
The two teams would trade goals back-and-forth throughout the entire second period. Zak Kennett would start the scoring with his second goal of the game when he turned and fired a shot out of the left circle to make it 2-1. Alex Longoria would answer for the Pirates would his second of the game and seventh of the year when Leyton Salentine flipped the puck up ice and Longoria outhustled the defense to chip the puck five-hole to tie the game 2-2. “Al comes down, hustles through the defenseman and pokes it five-hole,” said Hardy. “He came back to the bench afterward, – coach, I need a shift off – so I knew he was pushing it hard there.” The Pirates would take their first lead of the game with 9:11 to go in the period when Jack Doda came down through the left circle and waited out the goaltender before stuffing the puck into the back of the net for a 3-2 Pirates lead. The Eagles had a chance to tie the game when Ty Kennett stole the puck at the blue line but Noah Dragseth came out high to make the save and then stopped the rebound attempt off the stick of Girdler. However, on the faceoff, the Eagles would score as Logan Klipping beat Dragseth to tie the game 3-3. Zak Kennett would get the hat trick and give the Eagles the lead back with 2:19 to play in the second when he a loose puck from center ice and raced in on the breakaway before beating Dragseth to make it 4-3. The Pirates would answer with 1:06 to go in the period when Leyton Salentine skated in and fired a shot from the top of the right circle across the grain to the far post beating Larson stick side to make it 4-4. “Getting Jack a goal, Leyton a goal was huge,” said Hardy. “That was huge. 4-4 going into the third, it’s anybody’s game.” The Eagles outshot the Pirates 16 to 13 in the second.

3rd Period/Overtime
The Pirates opened the third period shorthanded after being accessed a five-minute major with 14 seconds to go in the third period. The Pirates troubles would worsen with 1:04 to go in the major penalty when another Pirate skate would be sent of creating a 5-on-3 opportunity. “I was disappointed we were in the box for five minutes to start the period but our attitude was good,” said Hardy. “We felt like were going to kill it off. It was not how we drew it up, but we killed it off. Dragseth was our best penalty killer and we did a nice job getting pucks deep and jumping on them on the wall. I felt like it was a nice momentum boost to kill that one.” The Pirates penalty killers were up to the challenge however as they kept the Eagles out of the net. The Pirates were unable to get much offense during a powerplay midway through the period and then with 1:47 to go the Pirates would be given a second five-minute major for checking from behind. With 35 seconds to play the Eagles would be given a minor penalty and the two teams went into overtime skating 4-on-4. The Pirates won the opening faceoff of overtime by Ty Kennett picked off a pass and got the puck to Girdler who made a move cutting across the goalmouth and buried the puck just nine seconds into overtime lifting the Eagles to a 5-4 OT win. “We win the faceoff and we just didn’t really have an outlet for Leyton with the puck as we were trying to create some offense,” said Hardy. “They pick the pass off, and the guy made a great play in front of the net pulling the puck through Joe and putting in the back of the net. It seems like overtime games you either finish them in the first 30 seconds or the last 30 seconds. They made a great play but overtime is a bounce at the end of the game and we came out on the wrong side of this one. Hats off to Red Lake Falls, I thought they did a really great job tonight. It was a classic back and forth game.” Red Lake Falls outshot the Pirates 17-6 in the third period and overtime.

With the loss, the Pirates fall to 4-20 on the year and are likely heading to the play-in games in the first round of the Section 8A tournament. Red Lake Falls improves to 17-8 and likely sealed their status as the six-seed in the Section 8A tournament. The Section 8A coaches have postponed the meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday morning, until 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning due to the weather. “I assuming we’ll be in the play-in as the seven seed playing the ten,” said Hardy. “So, we’ll play Tuesday and the winner likely to East Grand Forks on Thursday.”

Scoring	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Final
Crookston	1	3	0	0	4
Red Lake Falls	1	3	0	1	5

1st Period
6:22 – RLF – Zak Kennett (Ty Kennett, Nathan Hout)
4:52 – Crox – Alex Longoria (6) (Joey Doda)

2nd Period
14:03 – RLF – Zak Kennett (2) (Evan Girdler, Ty Kennett)
12:07 – Crox – Alex Longoria (7) (Leyton Salentine)
9:11 – Crox – Joey Doda (19) (Ty Hamre, Jade Selzler)
6:11 – RLF – Logan Klipping (Ty Kennett)
2:19 – RLF – Zack Kennett (3) (unassisted)
1:06 – Crox – Leyton Salentine (3) (unassisted)

3rd Period
No scoring

Overtime
7:51 – RLF – Evan Girdler (Ty Kennett)