sports

CROOKSTON BOY’S HOCKEY SEASON COMES TO AN END WITH LOSS TO LAKE OF THE WOODS

February 22, 2022

The Crookston Pirates Boy’s Hockey team started their Section 8A Playoffs on Tuesday night when they hosted Lake of The Woods in a play-in game inside the Crookston Sports Center. Crookston came into the matchup as the #7 seed while Lake of the Woods was the #10 seed. The winner would advance to the quarterfinals with the right to play #2 seed Thief River Falls on Thursday night, while the loser would see their season come to an end. The two teams met just over a week ago with Crookston coming away with a 5-3 victory, but it was Lake of The Woods who came out ready to play and dominated the scoreboard from start to finish for a 6-0 victory, ending the Pirates season. “They killed us tonight,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “They had a great game plan and did a great job slowing us down. We weren’t able to adjust and that’s on me.”

FIRST-PERIOD –

The game started at a slow pace with only a few shots on goal. Crookston would eventually get a Power Play opportunity but would come up empty with one shot on goal. Shortly after the Power Play, Alex Longoria would have a breakaway for Crookston, make a nice move, but hit the post to leave the score tied at 0-0. “We’ve talked about how we are such a momentum team and if we don’t get a bounce or a goal early we’re in trouble,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “We need to build that confidence early and that was a tough bounce. I know Alex (Longoria) was frustrated with that one and he also had a couple of other good chances tonight but just couldn’t find the back of the net.” With just under seven minutes remaining in the period, all the momentum flipped to Lake of The Woods, and they started controlling the puck consistently and getting good shots on net. They finally broke through with just over three minutes remaining in the period and took a 1-0 lead on a wristshot from the middle of the ice. It took no more than two minutes after that for the Bears to strike again on a transition opportunity, and just like that, Crookston was facing a 2-0 deficit late in the first period. Neither team would get a shot opportunity the rest of the period, and the teams would skate to the locker rooms with the Bears in front 2-0. Crookston was outshot in the first period 12-9.

SECOND-PERIOD –

The second period started similarly to the first, with both teams getting a few looks, but both goaltenders making the saves to keep the game at 2-0 in favor of Lake of The Woods. Things started to fall apart for Crookston from there, and they never seemed to recover. The Bears would score two goals in the span of 1:18 of ice time, and a few minutes after that they would add a fifth goal making it 5-0 with just under three minutes remaining in the middle frame. “We have to be able to get pucks out of the zone when we have the chance,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “We can’t mishandle the puck near the net and when we do it can be tough on a goaltender at times.” Crookston would have their second Power Play opportunity of the game at the end of the period, but Lake of The Woods continued to pressure and force the Pirates into tough shots. The Bears would kill the Power Play and the teams would head to the locker room for the second intermission with the score of 5-0 Lake of The Woods. The Bears led in shots on goal after two periods 25-20

THIRD-PERIOD –

Crookston would once again have a few opportunities in the final period, but Lake of The Woods turned aside from anything that the Pirates threw at them. The Bears would add one more goal for good measure and secure a 6-0 victory to advance to the Section 8A quarterfinals on Friday night. Lake of the Woods outshot the Pirates 33-32 in the contest and Crookston was stopped on all three Power Play opportunities that they had.

Jaren Bailey suffered the loss for Crookston allowing 6 goals and making 27 saves. Riley Stromlund earned the win for Lake of the Woods making 32 saves and picking up a shutout in the winning effort.

Crookston finishes their season with a final record of 6-18-1. They will lose five seniors from their team in Landon Walker, Blaine Andringa, Isaac Telle, Zach Johnson, and Samuel Stewart. “There was a lot of emotion in the locker room after the game,” said Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy. “They will always be a part of our family but it will be tough getting used to not having them around.” Lake of The Woods improves to 9-12-1 and will play the #2 seed in the Section 8A tournament Thief River Falls in the Quarterfinals on Thursday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.