The Bemidji Lumberjacks led 2-0 going into the third period and scored a power play and a short handed goal on their way to a 4-0 victory over the Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team in a game played in Bemidji.
Bemidji’s Bjorn Jorgenson scored the game-winner with 14:08 to go in the first when he jetted past the Pirate defense and flicked a back-handed shot top shelf for a 1-0 lead. Neither team would get many quality scoring chances over the next 13 minutes before Bemidji’s Andrew Dondelinger buried a puck with 1:03 to go giving the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead heading into the 1st intermission. “I thought it was a pretty even first period, we had the puck for long stretches, and then they would have possession for a long stretch with a lot of back and forth,” said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy. “When they had opportunities to score they took advantage of them, we had two defensive miscues that led to their goals where we left them sitting by themselves and able to come in and score.”
Neither team would score in the second period, but both teams had plenty of opportunities. “Bemidji came out really strong in the second, and we had to weather the storm for a little bit,” said Hardy. “We were able to do that, and late in the period we were able to take it to them with long stretches in their zone, but their goalie played really well standing up to the task.” Bemidji would get 12 shots on goal in the period, but the Pirates had perhaps the best scoring opportunity of the period on the power play when a puck got behind the Bemidji goaltender. Late in the period, the Pirates went on the power play after Ben Andringa drew a penalty on a big hit at center ice that knocked the wind out of him. Brock Heppner won an offensive zone draw and tried to take the puck on net before losing control. Jack Doda picked up the loose puck and fed it back to Heppner who ripped a shot that got through the Bemidji goaltender and trickled onto the goal line before Bemidji’s Chase Mock dove in behind his goaltender to whisk the puck away and keep Bemidji in front 2-0 after two periods. “I couldn’t believe that puck didn’t go in rolling along the goal line,” said Hardy. “They had a guy make a great playing diving through to save it for them and obviously we would’ve like to be going to the locker room 2-1, but we felt we had a lot of momentum heading into the third.”
In the third period, both teams would spend extensive time on the power play as both sides received for five-minute majors and ten-minute misconducts for checking from behind. Bemidji would get the first five-minute power play and extended their lead to 3-0 with 11:00 minutes to play when Gage Mostad rifled a wrister past Ricord off a pass from Tate Hammitt. During the Pirates’ five-minute power play, Bemidji’s Hunter Olson stole the puck at the Pirate blue line, skated in on net, and lifted one top shelf to make it 4-0 Bemidji with 6:49 to play. “We’re not necessarily set up to play that much time on special teams, and it really got us out of our rhythm,” said Hardy. “I thought that going into the third period we had all the momentum and had them on their heels.”
Crookston falls to 2-11-1 and will host Park Rapids on Thursday in a game that can be heard on KROX at 7:30 p.m. Bemidji improves to 6-8 on the year.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bemidji | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
1st Period
14:08 – Bemidji – Bjorn Jorgenson (Wyatt Halvorson, Andrew Dondelinger)
1:03 – Bemidji – Andrew Dondelinger (Wyatt Halvorson)
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
11:00 – Bemidji – Gage Mostad (Tate Hammitt, Andrew Dondelinger) (PP)
6:49 – Bemidji – Hunter Olson (unassisted) (SH)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Jack Ricord – Crox | 6 | 12 | 8 | 26 |
| Broc Waldhausen – Bem | 8 | 7 | 5 | 20 |
