JACK DODA SCORES TWO GOALS TO LEAD PIRATE BOYS HOCKEY PAST LOW

Jack Doda scored two goals, and Blaine Andringa had his first career goal as the Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team won their first game of the season 4-2 over Lake of the Woods in a Section 8A game played at Lake of the Woods International Arena in Baudette. 

1st Period
The first period was full of back and forth action between the Pirates and the Bears, with the Bears outshooting the Pirates 14-12 in the first period. However, the Pirates would get on the board first when Nathan Kelly played the puck out in front of Blaine Andringa’s goal, who chipped it over the goaltender’s blocker for his first career goal with 7:34 to play and a 1-0 lead. “I couldn’t believe that was Blaine’s first goal,” said Pirates Coach Josh Hardy. “The kid plays a ton of ice time for us. It was fun to see him get on the board and it was a great play by Nate Kelly. For them to create some offense like that was awesome.” The Bears would tie it when Stephen Harris was given time and space in the slot to fire a shot toward the goal that was deflected by the stick of the Pirates Gavin Anderson into the top left side of the goal as he tried to block the shot tying the game 1-1 with 3:49 to play. The Pirates would reclaim the lead just over a minute later, winning an offensive zone faceoff, and Jack Doda carried the puck around the net for a wrap-around shot at the right post the beat the goaltender for a 2-1 with 2:49 to play. “Credit to Lake of the Woods, I thought they played really hard,” said Hardy. “They were in our face all night and got that goal. Then Jack came in with a wrap-around goal out of the faceoff play. That was really a big difference in the game tonight. We really struggled in the faceoff circle. I’d bet that when we get the video back we were right around 10 percent in win percentage. But it was nice to see Jack pick one up off the circle and get us to the locker room up 2-1.” The Pirates killed off 35 seconds of penalty to end the period sending the game to the intermission, with the Pirates still having 1:25 of penalty time to kill off but leading 2-1. 

2nd Period
The back and forth action continued in the second period before the Pirates would get their first powerplay. However, the Pirates should give up a shorthanded opportunity to Anson Haack, and when he was checked into the wall for a 5-minute major and game misconduct for boarding. After the 4-on-4 ended, the Pirates were able to kill off 3:13 seconds of the powerplay to keep the score 2-1. The Bears would get the tying goal midway through the period when Ethan Paschke carried the puck up ice and fired a shot from the right circle that was saved, but the rebound came back in on goal with the puck sneaking under the leg of Dragseth to make it 2-2 with 7:47 to go. “I thought they really took it to us in that second period,” said Hardy. “They drove a guy wide and were able to jam it in on the short side.” The Pirates would get a late power play and had several chances to score, including a shot that rang off the right post but could not reclaim the lead. The Pirates outshot Lake of the Woods 14-12 in the second. 

3rd Period
The Pirates would reclaim the lead early in the third period when Jack Doda fired a shot from the left circle that hit the goaltender’s glove and fluttered into the back of the net for a 3-2 lead with 15:16 to play. “The message between the second and third period was we have to get shots on net,” said Hardy. “We were being a little too cute through the first two periods but when we were getting shots we were getting rebounds and having opportunities to score. Jack went glove side and kind of shot it through his glove and it flopped into the net for the lead.” Following the Pirates’ goal, the hitting picked up and the Bears began pressing play into the Crookston end. The Pirates staved off two penalties as well over the final two minutes before playing their best hockey of the period over the final two minutes. Following a clear of the puck with just over two minutes to go, the Pirates kept the Bears bottled up in their own end for more than a minute before Lake of Woods finally worked the puck deep and was able to pull the goalie. “We did a nice job keeping everything to the outside,” said Hardy. “It started with our defensemen and our goalie. Our defensemen did a nice job finding smart areas to get the puck out and I thought our forwards did a nice job blocking shots.” Then with 15 secs to play, Jack Doda made a hustle play against the wall to get the puck out to center ice and onto the stick of Kaleb Thingelstad who beat the defender and skated in for an easy empty-net goal to seal the 4-2 victory with 3 seconds to play. The Bears outshot the Pirates 17-9 in the final period. 

The Pirates improved to 1-5 with the win and will host Kittson County Central in a Section 8A game next Thursday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be streamed on KROXAM.com. The Bears fall to 0-5 and will host Warroad in a Section 8A game on Tuesday. 

1st Period
7:34 – CROX – Blaine Andringa (1) (Nathan Kelly)
3:49 – LOW – Stephen Harris (Gabe Krause)
2:47 – CROX – Jack Doda (3) (Kaleb Thingelstad) 

2nd Period
7:47 – LOW- Evan Paschke (unassisted)

3rd Period
15:16 – CROX – Jack Doda (4) (Alex Longoria)
:03 – CROX – Kaleb Thingelstad (Jack Doda) (empty net)