CROOKSTON BOY’S HOCKEY SCORES SEVEN IN WIN OVER NORTHERN LAKES

The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Hockey team continued their solid play with a 7-1 victory over the Northern Lakes Lightning (a cooperative of Pequot Lakes, Crosby-Ironton and Pine River-Backus) in a game played at the Crookston Sports Center.  Crookston had two firsts in the game with Noah Kiel scoring his first varsity goal and Gavin Anderson had his first varsity point.
The game started over an hour later than scheduled after Northern Lakes had bus troubles earlier in the day.  

Crookston started a little slow offensively and only had a couple shots on goal in the first five minutes of the game.  It was about the halfway point of the first period that the boys started to gel and attack the Northern Lakes zone and it paid off with 7:28 left in the first period when Noah Kiel scored the first goal of the game to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.  The goal was Kiel’s first of his varsity career.  “The first few minutes of the game it seemed like it was a feeling out time and we weren’t getting many opportunities,” said Pirate Coach Hardy. “Noah gets his first varsity goal and he came off the wall and Jack Doda had a nice screen in front of the net.”   64 seconds later Crookston added another goal when Jack Doda got a rebound and stuffed the puck in the net to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.  “Jake Anderson had a nice shot on net and it actually went off the pipe,” said Coach Hardy. “Jack was in front of the net and banged it home.”  The Pirates added their third goal of the period when Eric Delorme scored with 2:37 left in the period and Crookston took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.  “Eric continues to play well for use.  We were able to get on the board three times in the period which was nice,” said Coach Hardy. “It was hard to be too upset, but I thought we didn’t play very well on the defensive end.”

Crookston continued their dominating play in the second period and outshot Northern Lakes 10-3 and they added another goal just shy of seven minutes into the period when Brock Heppner scored to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.  “Brock was there to clean up a rebound and that is what we want to see, that tough hard-nosed gritty hockey,” said Coach Hardy. Crookston had several quality scoring chances, but couldn’t get the puck past the Northern Lakes goalie and they took a 4-0 lead into the second intermission.  “We played some pretty good shutdown hockey on the defensive end,” said Coach Hardy. 

Crookston continued to control play in the third period and Northern Lakes was called for too many men on the ice and a few seconds into the one-man advantage, the Pirates scored on a shot from Ben Andringa at the top of the circle and Crookston led 5-0.  “That was a nice power play look for us and I think all five guys touched the puck,” said Coach Hardy. “Ben was on the backside and he was able to get the goal.  Our power play seems to be playing better lately and that is good to see.” Three minutes later, Northern Lakes scored their first goal of the game on a scrum in front of the net.  Crookston didn’t give Northern Lakes much of a chance to enjoy the goal because they scored 23 seconds later when Eric Delorme scored his second goal of the game for a 6-1 Pirate lead.  Gavin Anderson had an assist on Delorme’s goal, which was Gavin’s first career varsity point.  Crookston added another goal with under three minutes left in the game when Quinn Westlake found the back of the net for a 7-1 lead and that was the final score.  “13 goals in the last two games is nice and we have strung two games together,” said Coach Hardy. “We have to get ready for Kittson County Central on Tuesday.  Going to Hallock is always tough and they have a nice team again this year.”
Crookston improves to 5-12-1 on the year and will travel to Kittson County Central on Tuesday for a Section 8A game.  Northern Lakes drops to 3-12-1 on the year.
J.V. – Crookston won 4-3 in Overtime

1st Period
7:42 – Crookston – Noah Kiel (unassisted)
6:38 – Crookston – Jack Doda (Jake Anderson)
2:37 – Crookston – Eric Delorme (Jack Doda, Ben Andringa)

2nd Period
10:13 – Crookston – Brock Heppner (Eric Delorme)

3rd Period
9:36 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (Eric Delorme, Jake Anderson)  PP
6:07 – Northern Lakes – Hunter Nybakken (Shane Donovan)
5:44 – Crookston – Eric Delorme (Jake Anderson, Gavin Anderson)
2:57 – Crookston – Quinn Westlake (Jack Doda)

Pirate Boys Hockey vs Northern Lakes

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