The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Hockey team jumped out to a 1-0 and had a late game-tying goal waved off as they fell to the Eveleth-Gilbert Golden Bears Saturday by a score of 3-1.
The Pirates would get the lone goal of the first period on the powerplay thanks to a positive bounce and being in the right spot. The Pirates won an offensive zone faceoff giving Alex Longoria a wide-open look at the net, however, his shot missed. Unlike Friday night though, the Pirates were able to benefit from a friendly bounce as the puck came back out in front to Jack Doda who buried it for his team-leading seventh goal of the season to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead with 11:41 to play in the first. “Ben was able to win the faceoff and gave Alex a good look at the net right off the face-off,” said Pirates coach Josh Hardy. “This time we were able to get the bounce in our favor and Jack was there to get the goal.” The Pirates took a lead into the first intermission for the first time since November 29 outshooting the Golden Bears 11-5.
The Pirates struggled to open the second period despite opening the period on the powerplay. The Golden Bears would tie the game when Gage Everson found Nick Beaudette and he was able to beat Pirate goaltender Noah Dragseth to make it 1-1 with 14:36 to play in the period. “We played our best game of the season today,” said Hardy. “But the first five minutes or so of the second period was our worst stretch of the game. We didn’t play that well and then took a penalty of our own. We were able to kill that but then they got loose a goal for just inside the blue line to take the lead.” The Golden Bears would take the lead when Will Troutwine came across the blue line and fired a shot over the blocker side of Noah Dragseth with 8:31 to go in the period. “We were playing good hockey at that point, they were just able to get a goal I think Noah would like back,” said Hardy. “The guy came across the blue line and hammered one home high over the blocker side. That’s a tough save to make, but one Noah probably felt like he’d have liked to make and they have a 2-1 lead.” Trailing 2-1 the Pirates found themselves unable to gain momentum having to kill over two penalties over the last six and a half minutes. The two teams both finished the period with 15 shots on goal.
The Pirates continued to have to kill off the Golden Bear powerplay as they took two more penalties in the first five and a half minutes of the third period. “We killed off two penalties in the second,” said Hardy. “I don’t want to say it was our kryptonite but we’re down going into the third period. We took a bunch of penalties. You’re behind the eight ball, to begin with, and you take some of these lazy penalties where you’re not moving your feet and you grab a guy as he goes by or trying to stick check a guy and you trip him. They just weren’t great penalties and having a short bench it’s not a great spot to be in there.” The Pirates appeared to have pulled even with late in the period when Ben Andringa appeared to put the puck in the back of the net, but the official didn’t see it and the score remains 2-1 Golden Bears. “We took a timeout with about six minutes left and then really started to push,” said Hardy. “Ben Andringa carried the puck down the ice, we get a scrum in front of the net and bang it home into the back of the net. The ref doesn’t see it and it ends up coming out across the line and when the ref sees it, it is under the goalie’s pad. Just one of those plays that don’t go your way. We really pushed after that.” The Pirates continued to apply pressure to the Golden Bears but a blocked shot at the blue line sent Elliot Van Orsdel on a breakaway and he would tally the Golden Bears’ third goal of the game making it 3-1 with 6:06 to play. “I thought we had a lot of good opportunities to score late in the game,” said Hardy. “A puck came out to Leyton Salentine and he takes a big slap shot that barely gets blocked. Of course, his momentum is carrying him forward and the puck ends up behind him creating a breakaway.” The Pirates would pull the goaltender late, and nearly got a goal as a shot rang off the post but the Golden Bears held on to win 3-1. “We pulled the goalie and almost buried another one,” said Hardy. “It was a good game we just didn’t get the bounces we needed too. I thought we played our best 51 minutes of the year today, so that was nice.” The Golden Bears outshot the Pirates 10-5 in the final period.
Eveleth-Gilbert improves to 7-6 on the year. The Pirates fall to 0-10 and will return to action Friday, January 3 when they travel to Detroit Lakes for Section 8A game that can be heard on KROX.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Eveleth-Gilbert | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| CROOKSTON | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
1st Period
11:41 – Crookston – Jack Doda (7) (Alex Longoria, Ben Andringa) PP
2nd Period
14:36 – Eveleth-Gilbert – Nick Beaudette (Gage Everson, Bryce Kopp)
8:32 – Eveleth-Gilbert – Will Troutwine (Gage Everson)
3rd Period
6:06 – Eveleth-Gilbert – Elliot Van Orsdel (Bryce Kopp)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Andrew Torrell – Eveleth-Gilbert | 10 | 15 | 5 | 30 |
| Noah Dragseth – Crookston | 5 | 13 | 9 | 27 |
