CROOKSTON BOYS HOCKEY OPENS SEASON WITH BIG WIN AT KITTSON COUNTY CENTRAL

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team had five different Pirate players score a goal while firing 48 shots on goal as they cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Kittson County Central Bearcats in a Section 8A game played in Hallock.

FIRST PERIOD
The game started off with even play between the two teams. Crookston’s Michael Bochow had a shot saved three minutes in. The teams continued with even play before Crookston started to gain the edge in possession. Carter Trudeau had a shot deflected out of play, and on the ensuing faceoff, Kadin Edwards had a shot, but it was saved.
The Pirates continued to put pressure on the Kittson County Central net, with Greyson Ecker getting a shot nine minutes in and Masen Reitmeier getting a shot ten minutes in. The Pirates finally broke through with a goal when Blake Melsa got the puck in the Crookston zone, took it all the way to the Kittson County Central net, and buried it for an unassisted goal.
Crookston continued to put pressure on the Bearcat goal when Teagen Lubinski had back-to-back shots twelve minutes into the period. Jackson Reese took a nice shot from the blue line two minutes later, but the keeper made a great save.
Kittson County Central was only able to get four shots on net in the period, but they went on the first power play with under a minute left in the period after the Pirates were called for tripping. Crookston was able to survive the rest of the period without surrendering a goal, and the teams went into the first intermission with the Pirates ahead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD
Crookston began the second period short-handed but was able to keep the Bearcats out of the net for the rest of the power play. The Pirates continued to have the edge in possession. Ty Larson had a shot six minutes in that was saved, and Lubinski had a big slap shot saved one minute later. At 10:45, the Pirates went on their first power play. Garrett Fischer had shot towards the end of the power play, but that’s the only shot Crookston was able to get off, and Kittson County Central killed the penalty.
It didn’t take long for the Pirates to bounce back after coming up empty-handed in the power play, as Jackson Reese received a centering pass from Brandon Colborn right in front of the Bearcat net, and he one-timed it past the keeper to give Crookston a 2-0 lead.
It wasn’t long before the Pirates got on the board again, as Kadin Edwards gave a pass to Ryan Street, he took it end to end and sent a beautiful shot past the glove of the keeper to give Crookston a 3-0 lead.
Kittson Country Central didn’t want to be left out of the scoring boom, as with 45 seconds left in the second period, Wyatt Samuelson got the puck right in front of the Crookston nets, and he slipped it right past Parker Kelly for the goal. The two teams went into the second intermission with Crookston still ahead 3-1.

THIRD PERIOD
The Pirates got off to a great start in the third period, as just a minute and a half into the period, Garrett Fischer received a pass from Jay Reese and Greyson Ecker, and he scored, furthering the Crookston lead to 4-1.
The Pirates continued to put pressure on the Bearcat net as Jackson Reese had a shot deflected. Five minutes into the period, Kadin Edwards had a shot hit the post, and at first, there was no call, but a second later, the ref determined that the puck went into the net, and Crookston took a 5-1 lead. Riley Benson got the assist.
Crookston continued to dominate possession, as Lucas Miller had a shot on goal eight minutes into the period. 45 seconds later, Kittson County Central went on the power play after Crookston was called for interference. Parker Kelly did see a few shots in the power play, but he saved them all, and Crookston killed the penalty.
The last half of the third period saw Crookston continue to dominate possession and pepper the Kittson County Central net with shots. The Pirates cruised the rest of the way and went home with a 5-1 victory.

Crookston improves to 1-0 on the season and hosts Red Lake Falls on Friday. Kittson County Central falls to 0-3 on the season and takes on May-Port on Thursday.

TO LISTEN TO COACH JOSH HARDY’S POST-GAME COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW:

1st Period
10:45 – Crox – Blake Melsa (1) (Unassisted)

2nd Period
13:14 – Crox – Jackson Reese (1) (Brandon Colborn)
14:50 – Crox – Ryan Street (1) (Kadin Edwards)
16:15 – KCC – Wyatt Samuelson (Unassisted)

3rd Period
1:35 – Crox – Garrett Fischer (1) (Jay Reese, Greyson Ecker)
5:18 – Crox – Kadin Edwards (1) (Riley Benson)