Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey got a pair of goals from both Brock Heppner and Ben Andringa, and Quinn Westlake scored his first career goal in a 6-3 win over the Detroit Lakes Lakers on Tuesday night at Kent Freeman Arena in Detroit Lakes.
The Pirates, entering the game in need of a win in the Section 8A standings, were backed into a corner just 1:24 into the game the game when Detroit Lakes’ Will Stowman beat Pirate Goaltender Jack Ricord to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Reed Benson worked the puck behind the net to Drew Schwan who then threw it out front to Stowman standing on the doorstep, and Detroit Lakes was in the driver’s seat. But the Pirates came back punching 30 seconds later when Brock Heppner picked up a puck in the offensive end, got it on net catching the Detroit Lakers goaltenders’ skates before settling in the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 with 15:06 to play in the 1st period. “We talk about being ready to go right from the drop of the puck and if you’re not good teams will jump all over you. We didn’t pick the guy up out front or have a stick on him, and they make a nice play out front, and he tapped home an easy one out front, we call them pizza pies because you just hammer it home,” said Pirates coach Josh Hardy. “We’re down 1-0 early, and we did a nice job building from that mistake, and Brock Heppner throws a puck at the net and it goes off the goalies skate, and that got our momentum back into it.” Brock Heppner said he just got the puck on net as Coach Hardy talks about and it worked out for the Pirates. “I just got the puck in the offensive zone and shot it on net, and it happened to go in,” said Brock Heppner. “Hardy has been telling us all year just get pucks on net; good things will happen.” Ben Andringa would give Crookston the lead for good with a power play goal three minutes later. Kaleb Thingelstad redirected a puck on goal, and a big rebound landed on the stick of Andringa in front of the goal, who shoveled home for a 2-1 lead with 12:03 to play. “There was a penalty coming on them and some controversy on whether there was a whistle before the goal, but Ben was able to bury one out in front,” said Hardy. “If you put a good player like Ben Andringa in front of the net and give him time and space, he’s going to score more times than not.” Checking took center stage after the Pirates took the lead, eventually leading to coincidental minors to the Pirates’ Eric Delorme (cross-checking) and the Lakers’ Benson (roughing) with 7:06 to play in the period. “It was a typical Crookston, Detroit Lakes battle and very physical in the first period both ways,” said Hardy. “It was a physical battle the whole game, we battled for all 51 minutes, and we’ve been waiting to make that step for a while now.”
In the second period, the physicality persisted until the Pirates were whistled for a tripping penalty with 3:52 to go in the period. Short-handed, the Pirates were able to create a turnover when a Laker overskated the puck to the right of his own goal. Eric Delorme tapped the puck to Brock Heppner who was stopped on the doorstep by the Lakers goaltender Blake Itzen. Heppner fell to his knees and was able to get a second shot off on the rebound high off the goaltender, and the puck fell behind him to the far side of the crease. Delorme, who had circled back around the front of the goal, jumped on the puck to bury it into an empty net for a short-handed goal and a 3-1 lead with 2:42 to play in the second. “I was not very pleased with the penalties we were getting without any the other way, but as it worked out it benefited us there,” said Hardy. “The way we penalty kill, we’re aggressive on the puck so it’s surprising we’re just getting our first ones now, but they came in bunches tonight.” The Lakers would have an answer just after the Pirate penalty expired. Reed Benson skated up the wall out of the left corner while the power play was ending, and seeing the Pirates Joey Doda coming out of the box turned to carry the puck back to the corner before seeing a shooting lane open in front of him and delivering a wrist shot towards the goal. Pirate defenseman Jacob Anderson attempted to use his stick in a chopping motion to block the puck but instead caught the puck at the right angle to redirect it nearly vertical over the shoulder of Ricord cutting the Pirate lead to 3-2 with 1:51 to go in the second period. A minute later with :42 seconds to go in the period Ty Hamre would be called for interference setting up another short-handed goal for the Pirates. Off the ensuing faceoff, Ricord made a blocker save directing the puck to the right wall. Anderson would fire the puck down the ice in an attempt to kill time, but the puck took an awkward bounce off the wall past a Laker defender onto the stick of Delorme who drove in on net, made a move to cut left and then was stonewalled by Itzen. The result, however, was a big rebound out front that Heppner would knock home for his second of the night and the Pirates second short-handed goal in two minutes giving the Pirates a 4-2 with :31 seconds left in the second period. “We got a fortunate bounce off the glass there, and it popped out to the middle. I thought Eric was going to bury it on the deke move, but Itzen made a nice shot and Brock was there for the rebound when it popped out,” said Hardy. On the Lakers quick answer after the Pirates first short-handed goal, Hardy said, “Sometimes we get fired up after that goal and forget about our responsibilities in the defensive end. It’s a game of momentum, and we had some big swings and gave up some goals, but we were resilient and able to build on our lead.” With back-to-back goals, the Pirates were able to knock Itzen from the game after two periods.
Hamre’s penalty carried over into the third period and the Lakers used the power play and a two-goal deficit to ignite a furious opening three minutes. Less than a minute into the period Nick Lund found Roland Cormier off the left circle who cut the Pirate lead to 4-3 by beating Ricord inside the post with 16:03 to play. Detroit Lakes tested Ricord early in the period firing seven shots on goal, of which Ricord made six saves before the Pirates were able to find a get the puck out from behind their own blue line. “At the beginning of each period they came out with a ton of jump and put the pressure on us early in the period,” said Hardy. “They obviously have a deeper bench and better legs coming in, but we can’t give up that much momentum at the beginning of the period. We withstood the storms, dug ourselves out of a hole and came back.” Ben Andringa would give the Pirates an insurance goal with 10:37 to go in the game. Detroit Lakes attempted to clear the puck and Joey Doda held the blue line and fired a pass to Andringa standing along at the top of the crease. Using the time and space he was afforded, Andringa faked right, moving the new goaltender Jack Hines before stepping left and pushing the puck into an open net. Down two goals, Detroit Lakes attempted to step up their aggressive play but ended up taking three minor penalties over the final 10 minutes. Between penalties, Thingelstad started the Pirates out of his own end by chipping a puck up the wall for Westlake, who made a move on a defender at his own blue line, worked the puck into the offensive zone and then fed the puck back to Delorme at the blue line. Westlake rotated back out in front of the goal and when Delorme’s shot bounced off the Lakers’ goalie onto Westlake’s stick he was able to slide a puck five-hole past the goaltender as attempted to regain position. “Westlake gets his first one there sneaking it through five-hole and excited for Quinn,” said Hardy. “Quinn has really made a step in his game the last few weeks here and more offense will come but more he’s really tightened up defensively. He’s a smart kid, he asks questions, wants to be good, wants to be successful and that’s been huge for us as we’ve continued into January.”
The Pirates improve to 4-12-1 and picked up their third win in Section 8A play. They will return to the ice at home on Saturday at the Crookston Sports Center with a 3:00 p.m. tilt vs. Northern Lakes. Detroit Lakes falls to 10-3-1.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Detroit Lakes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
1st Period
15:36- Detroit Lakes – Will Stowman (Drew Schwan, Reed Benson)
15:06 – Crookston – Brock Heppner (unassisted)
12:03 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (Kaleb Thingelstad) (PP)
2nd Period
2:42 – Crookston – Eric Delorme (13) (Brock Heppner) (SH)
1:51 – Detroit Lakes – Reed Benson (Roland Cormier, Alex Bren)
:32 – Crookston -Brock Heppner (Eric Delorme, Jacob Anderson) (SH)
3rd Period
16:07 – Detroit Lakes – Roland Cormier (Nick Lund, Will Green) (PP)
10:37- Crookston – Ben Andringa (11)(Eric Delorme, Joey Doda)
4:33- Crookston – Quinn Westlake (Eric Delorme, Kaleb Thinglestad)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Jack Ricord – Crookston | 9 | 7 | 12 | 28 |
| Blake Itzen – Detroit Lakes | 3 | 8 | X | 11 |
| Jack Hines – Detroit Lakes | X | X | 10 | 10 |
