Kaleb Thingelstad scored his second goal of the night with under two minutes to play in overtime to lift the Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team to their second win of the season by a 4-3 score over the Park Rapids Panthers in a Section 8A game played a Ted O. Johnson Arena in Park Rapids.
1st Period
As has been the case most of the season, the Pirates would fall behind early in this one. The Pirates would take a penalty just 1:21 into the game and the Panthers would make them pay 21 seconds later when Jaxson Lund fired a shot top shelf to make it 1-0. “We had a good opportunity to score shorthanded and they came back with it and we didn’t step up on the skater,” said Pirates Coach Josh Hardy. “I don’t think Carter was even able to see it because he was screened by our own guy and it went top shelf.” Despite the early deficit, the Pirates controlled the play for much of the first period, aided by two power-play opportunities they were unable to cash in on. “That was kind of a wakeup call for us it felt like and I thought we were in control most of the period after that,” said Hardy. “We had tons of opportunities and kept missing the net. We moved the puck, moved the puck, and had lots of offensive zone time, would have a wide-open shot and miss the net. Then, you don’t have that rebound opportunity and I thought their only opportunities were on quick rushes.” Alex Longoria would score a unique goal for his sixth of the year, from behind the goal line to tie the game with 1:32 left in the period. “We had a rebound opportunity and again missed the next,” said Hardy. “Al got the puck behind the net and then shot it off the back of the goalie into the net. We got rewarded because we were working so hard down there but it was a weird goal, to say the least.” Just 42 seconds later Longoria found Kaleb Thingelstad in the slot and he fired a shot under the crossbar to make it 2-1. “We were talking about how it seemed like they were leaving a third forward open up high,” said Hardy. “We won a battle along the wall and slid it out to Kaleb in the high slot. He went top shelf hitting the water bottle and knocking it off with a big-time shot to get us up.” The Pirates outshot the Panthers 15-9 in the first period.
2nd Period
The Pirates again controlled play throughout the early minutes of the second period, even as they killed off a Park Rapids power play. The Pirates would get a little help with a five-minute power play for a boarding penalty for a hit on Drake Lord. Midway through the power play, the Pirates would enter the zone with a three-on-one and Jack Doda took the puck to the front of the net himself burying his sixth goal of the season to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead. “It was a tough hit on Drake Lord there along the boards,” said Hardy. “We continued to have opportunities and credit to their goalie, he stopped some point-blank shots tonight. Then, there Jack came down three-on-one, held onto the puck, and walked in front of the goalie to slam it home.” Shortly after killing off the rest of the major, the Panthers would get an offensive zone faceoff won, which they won. Lund then found Sam Meier at the blue line and his shot pulled the Panthers within one at 3-2 with 3:20 left in the period. “We were dominating, and they got the puck down in our end,” said Hardy. “The puck squirted out to a defenseman and he threw it on into the net. After we went up 3-1, we started to get away from what makes us successful. Trying to get too cute, trying behind the back passes, playing with the puck on the blue line when we shouldn’t, and credit to Park Rapids for making us pay there.”
3rd Period
The Pirates had opportunities to extend their lead in the third period but struggled to get the puck on net. The Pirates missed several more shots wide and clanged a couple of the pipe as well. Then with 1:01 to play the Pirates would be whistled for a penalty and the Panthers would capitalize when Nash Mitchell beat Nelson with just 34 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 3-3. “We hit two or three pipes in the period and couldn’t solve Torkelson,” said Hardy. “A young freshman, he played really, really well. And then, we had an unfortunate penalty called against us late in the game. We didn’t get out to block the shot on defense and they snuck it in.”
OT
The Pirates came back much stronger in overtime, looking more like the team that started the game. The Pirates had the advantage on puck possession again in overtime, but the Panthers would also get some opportunities on rushes up ice. “It was almost to the point we were controlling the play so much that we’d get sucked down into the zone,” said Hardy. “They’d block a shot, and they have numbers come back the other way against our defensemen. Or we’d mishandle a puck, and they’d have an opportunity. I thought we got back to our game. Our effort was good, our compete level was high.” The Pirates would win an offensive zone faceoff with 1:55 left in the game and Thingelstad walked the puck out front before zipping it to the back of the net for his second of the game to give the Pirates a 4-3 win. “They really took it to us in the third period and we were lucky to get out of there with a win in overtime,” said Hardy. “We had some success on faceoff plays all night and just weren’t able to find the net. Kaleb was able to take the draw and score it to get us a big win. That was really needed for us. That’s a huge momentum boost for us going into the second half of the season.” Carter Nelson picked up his first career win for the Pirates.
The Pirates improve to 2-8 on the season and will have another big Section 8A test coming up on Tuesday when they host the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a game that will be live-streamed at KROXAM.com. Park Rapids falls to 4-8 and will play Kittson County Central in a Section 8A game on Monday.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Park Rapids | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
1st Period
15:18 – PR – Jaxson Lund (Alec Nordin, Brody Hagen) PP
1:32 – CROX – Alex Longoria (6) (Kaleb Thingelstad, Noah Kiel)
:50 – CROX – Kaleb Thingelstad (6) (Alex Longoria, Gavin Anderson)
2nd Period
5:49 – CROX – Jack Doda (6) (Kaleb Thingelstad, Kadin Edwards) PP
3:20 – PR – Sam Meier (Jaxson Lund, Josh Hillukka)
3rd Period
:34 – PR – Nash Mitchell (Brody Hagen) PP
OT
1:55 – CROX – Kaleb Thingelstad (7)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Carter Nelson – CROX | 8 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 28 |
| Sawyer Torkelson – PR | 13 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 31 |
