Crookston Boys Hockey shuts out Breckenridge/Wahpeton in final home game of the year

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team had five different goal scorers and used both goaltenders to shut out the Breckenridge/Wahpeton Blades by a score of 5-0 at the Crookston Sports Center on Tuesday afternoon in the team’s final home game of the season.

FIRST PERIOD
As the game got underway, the Pirates did a great job of establishing puck control, preventing the Blades from getting a shot on goal for the first 5 minutes of the period. The Pirates got 4 in this span, but junior goaltender Cale Gilbertson stopped everything for the Blades. As the period reached the midway point, the Blades began turning the puck over in their own zone, and that led to Gavin Aakhus scoring unassisted off a turnover, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. The Pirates had two pucks hit the post in the next few minutes; one from Masen Reitmeier and the other from Garrett Fischer, but by some miracle the pucks stayed out of the net. It took until the final minutes of the period, but the Pirates were able to add another one on, as Greyson Ecker stole the puck and scored unassisted, giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.

SECOND PERIOD
The second period got off to a dream start for Crookston, as Garrett Fischer scored 20 seconds in off a wonderful pass from Greyson Ecker, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead. The Pirates weren’t done yet, as after killing the first power play of the game, Jay Reese went for a slapshot on a breakaway and beat Cale Gilbertson, and that gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead. From there, the Blades began to find a bit more scoring opportunities. Brady Chandler got the start in net for the Pirates, and after making 11 saves, was pulled for Teegyn Johnson. Johnson had to make 3 saves in his first minute on the ice, but he did so, including a beauty with his glove on a short hop. With 3 minutes to go in the period, the Blades got on their second power play of the game. However, the team with a PP percentage of nearly 66% over their last 7 games was held to one shot on goal, and a successful kill allowed the Pirates to take their 4-0 lead into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, the pace began to slow down for the Pirate offense, but after a few minutes, the Blades committed their first penalty of the game, and the Pirates capitalized, as Tate Hamre sniped a shot from the blue line, giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead. From there, the Pirates got a few more shots on goal, but nothing else got past Gilbertson in net. The Pirates then put their focus on keeping the shutout, and Teegyn Johnson more than played his part. Out of his 9 saves in the period, he made 5 in the final minute, including two amazing glove saves diving to his right, and this allowed the Pirates to hold on for a 5-0 shutout victory in their final home game of the year.

Crookston is now 14-9-1 on the year, while Breckenridge/Wahpeton is 9-10-1 on the season.