Jack Doda had a hat trick and Quinn Westlake added four points as the 7-seeded Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team defeated the 10-seed Park Rapids Panthers 7-1 in a Section 8A playoff game at the Crookston Sports Center Tuesday night.
1st Period
The Pirates started Tuesday’s night’s play-in game strong with a goal just 2:15 into the game and never looked back when Leyton Salentine blasted a puck off the left point that glanced off the goaltender’s blocker into the back of the net for a 1-0. The Pirates would add to their lead when Blaine Andringa’s shot of the right point was saved creating a big rebound out front that Quinn Westlake backhanded into the net for a 2-0 with 9:20 to play. “The puck came out to me and I had a backhander that went below the pad of the goalie,” said Westlake. “It wasn’t the prettiest goal but it counts.” The Pirates would make it 3-0 just 46 seconds later when Ty Hamre carried in along the left side and sent a pass to Joey Doda as he closed in from the right circle that Doda would flip into the net for his seventh of the year. Things would get more difficult for Park Rapids as they took a penalty and the Pirates would use the extra skater to extend their lead once again. Jack Doda picked up the puck carrying around the net for a wraparound shot that he stuffed home past the right post for his twentieth goal of the season to make it 4-0 with 6:17 left in the first period. Park Rapids would get their lone goal of the game just over a minute later when Nash Mitchell through a puck towards the front out of the left corner that was deflected in the air before bouncing down onto the stick of Quincy Jantz who fired it home cutting the lead to 4-1 with 5:07 to play. The Pirates would regain the four-goal advantage with 1:14 left in the first when Ben Andringa backhanded a centering pass into the slot where Quinn Westlake stretched out to lift the puck into the net for a 5-1 lead. “Ben was coming down and slid the puck over to me back door,” said Westlake. “I had to reach out for it and got it into the back of the net. He pretty much did all the work and I finished it, so credit to him.” The Pirates outshot Park Rapids 12-8 in the first period. “It was a good start,” said Pirates coach Josh Hardy. “I feel like we haven’t really had a good start in a while. The first period has been our kryptonite but we played okay at times. It was nice to score those goals but defensively I didn’t think we were great. We felt okay going in 5-1 but felt like we could play better. I told the boys in the locker room – it was ugly, but that’s what playoff hockey is – you have to find ways to win. We didn’t play our best tonight but found a way to win.”
2nd Period
Park Rapids came out with a vengeance in the second period but despite being the better team were unable to make a dent in the Crookston lead. The Pirates struggled to break out of their own zone for much of the period and even a powerplay couldn’t get the Pirates going offensively. However, a penalty kill would be just what was needed to help the Pirates ice the game. Playing shorthanded the Pirates applied a heavy forecheck and it paid off when Ben Andringa stole the puck as the Panthers tried to leave their defensive zone, made a move down the right side to beat the defenseman, then found Jack Doda coming down the slot and Doda banged home his second of the night and fifth-shorthanded goal of the season for a 6-1 with 9:13 to go. However, after the goal, the Panthers continued to press the Pirates but were unable to beat Pirates goaltender Noah Dragseth. “I thought it was a good period by them,” said Hardy. “I thought we got into a – we’re up 5-1 and can get away with things – mentality. The message in the locker room was we can’t do things tonight that we aren’t able to do on Thursday if we win. I was disappointed with the way we played, especially in the defensive zone during the second period. But we got out of there up 6-1 and there is some good stuff to look at on tape, dissect tomorrow and shore up before Thursday.” Park Rapids outshot the Pirates 15-12 in the second.
3rd Period
With the game seemingly out of reach, the Pirates played a possession game throughout the third period before the Panthers took a penalty midway through the period. The Pirates would use the extra skater to put the game away for good when Joey Doda flipped a pass out front the bounced off the back of Westlake’s breezes and Jack Doda would clean things up burying his third goal of the game and twenty-second of the year to make it 7-1 with 9:27 to play. With the clock running both team’s third lines got valuable ice time for the future of both programs over the final nine minutes of play. “I thought the third period was probably our best period of the night,” said Hardy. “That was the message in the locker room between the second and third that we have things we need to shore up in the third and we need 17 minutes of good hockey. We rolled a bunch of guys and got guys in for shifts that normally don’t play. It was a solid period and a nice way to end our season at the Crookston Sports Center. You know, there’s a lot of guys taking off their equipment for the last time either here or around the state tonight. All of a sudden something that you’ve done for 16-17 years is over just like that and that was the message here tonight that nothing is guaranteed and it can be over quick. I was proud of our effort tonight. I wasn’t really pleased with the way we played but we got it done.” The Pirates outshot Park Rapids 14-4 to in the final period.
With the win, the Pirates improve to 5-21 on the season and advance to the Section 8A Quarterfinals where they will play the 2-seed East Grand Forks at 7:00 p.m. at the East Grand Forks Civic Center in a game that can be heard on KROX. With the loss, Park Rapids season ends with a record of 4-21.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Park Rapids | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CROOKSTON | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
1st Period
14:45 – CROX – Leyton Salentine (4) (Jack Doda)
9:20 – CROX – Quinn Westlake (3) (Blaine Andringa, Jack Doda)
8:34 – CROX – Joey Doda (7) (Ty Hamre, Jack Doda)
6:17 – CROX – Jack Doda (20) (Joey Doda, Quinn Westlake) (PP)
5:07- PR – Quincy Jantz (Nash Mitchell) (PP)
1:14 – CROX – Quinn Westlake (4) (Ben Andringa)
2nd Period
9:13 – CROX – Jack Doda (21) (Ben Andringa) (SH)
3rd Period
9:27 – CROX – Jack Doda (22) (Joey Doda, Quinn Westlake) (PP)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Ben Strandlie – PR | 7 | 11 | 13 | 31 |
| Noah Dragseth – Crox | 7 | 15 | 4 | 26 |
