The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team led 3-1 going into the third period, but the Lake of the Woods Bears scored three third period goals to come from behind for a 4-3 victory in a Section 8A game played in Baudette.
LOW started the scoring just over six minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead, but Crookston responded 66 seconds later with a Ben Andringa goal to tie the game at 1-1. “Ben picked off the puck in the slot with a nice play and went in backhand top shelf,” said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy. “It was a nice goal.” A little over six minutes went by before Crookston added another goal when Logan Wardner found the back of the net to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. “Lake of the Woods collapsed on the net and we kicked the puck out to Wards,” said Coach Hardy. “He snuck a shot from the point for a goal.” Crookston led 2-1 going into the first intermission, but the Pirate coaches weren’t thrilled with the way they played. “I wasn’t very happy with the first period. We didn’t play very smart hockey, we didn’t work very hard, the puck was bouncing over our sticks. I really thought we got out of their pretty lucky leading 2-1.”
Crookston scored the only goal of the second period when Ben Andringa scored his second goal with 2:33 left in the period for a 3-1 lead. “Logan Wardner made a nice patient play and put a shot on goal,” said Coach Hardy. “Ben was Johnny on the spot when the goalie kicked the save out and put it in the net.” The Crookston coaches were happy to lead 3-1 going into the second intermission. “I thought we played much better and dominated long stretches of the period,” said Coach Hardy. “It was a much better period for the guys.”
Lake of the Woods came out strong and took advantage of some Pirate miscues to score three goals in a six-minute span. “They came down and we didn’t step on a guy and he shoots and scores off the post and it was a preventable goal and we were up 3-2 and feeling okay, but they kept coming,” said Coach Hardy. “On the second goal we didn’t pick up the trailer and skated right by him and he went bar down for the goal and again, it was a preventable goal on our end.” The eventual game-winning goal came with 9:19 left in the game. “I thought we were starting to get some momentum and had a power play and had all kinds of chances to score and couldn’t score,” said Coach Hardy. “We didn’t have the awareness that there was a guy coming out of the penalty box and he fell behind our defenseman, they get the puck to him and he goes in for a breakaway and scores. That was a tough one.” Crookston pulled the goalie with about a minute left and had a couple scoring chances and couldn’t capitalize. Crookston called a time out and had a faceoff play drawn up and had a good look and with about 12 seconds left they had another chance, but came up empty. “We had a lot of good scoring chances and we had a couple after we pulled our goalie,” said Coach Hardy. “We couldn’t find the back of the net and they played the exact way they needed to beat us by executing their game plan.” Lake of the Woods held on for the 4-3 victory. “I am disappointed that we lost,” said Coach Hardy. “I don’t think we played good enough to win and Lake of the Woods did. They are a well-coached team and if you come up here expecting to show up and win you will end up losing.”
Crookston drops to 6-15-1 on the year and will play at International Falls on Saturday. Lake of the Woods improves to 9-14 on the year.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Lake of the Woods | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
1st Period
10:56 – LOW – Tucker Ferrier (McKale Risser)
9:50 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (Unassisted)
3:27 – Crookston – Logan Wardner (Sam Overgaard)
2nd Period
2:33 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (Jack Doda, Logan Wardner)
3rd Period
15:25 – LOW – Reece Chorney (Gunner Ferrier, Aidan Tom)
12:12 – LOW – Reece Chorney (Jackson Arpin)
9:19 – LOW – Jack Wood (Jackson Arpin, Gunner Ferrier)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Jack Ricord-Crox | 7 | 12 | 5 | 24 |
| Aidan Tom-LOW | 17 | 7 | 16 | 40 |
