The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team had a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period and a 4-3 lead at the end of the second, but could not hold on as the Thief River Falls Prowlers won by a score of 6-4 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena on Tuesday night in the Section 8A Quarterfinals.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period began very defensively, with the Prowlers getting the only two shots on goal in the first 4 minutes of play. The Pirates had a power play in that span, but were unable to get a shot on goal. However, when he game got back to 5-on-5, the Pirates’ second line delivered a whale of a shift, culminating in a goal by Liam Larson on a rebound, putting the Pirates up 1-0. A couple of minutes later, Garrett Fischer went into the box for a trip. TRF tried to set up a play, but Jay Reese stole the puck and scored on an unassisted breakaway to put the Pirates up 2-0. A couple of minutes after that, the Pirates were on the power play, but Spencer Anderson returned Jay Reese’s favor, scoring shorthanded to cut the lead to 2-1. After the penalties wound down, both teams settled into 5-on-5 play, which worked in the Pirates’ favor. After Cooper Roff made an unbelievable stop on Greyson Ecker, Jay Reese beat him on the very next shift to put Crookston up 3-1. The Pirates committed a roughing penalty with 1 minute left, meaning the Prowlers had 1:01 of power play time to start the 2nd.
SECOND PERIOD
The Prowlers came out of the intermission looking like a completely different team, and they blitzed Brady Chandler in net consistently, outshooting the Pirates 6-1 in the first six minutes. The final one of those got by, as Brody Radniecki pulled off a perfect deflection of a shot by Ryan Flaagan, cutting the score to 3-2. It only took 1:09 before the Prowlers struck again, as Spencer Anderson put away a perfect pass to tie the game at 3-3. The Pirates then began to adjust, started blocking shots to the level they did in the first period, and started firing the puck at the net more often. Then, in the final minutes of the period, Brady Chandler made a fabulous stop on a wraparound attempt, and on the ensuing breakout, Garrett Fischer delivered a gorgeous shot by Cooper Roff, giving the Pirates a 4-3 advantage, which would stick heading into the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, TRF took complete control. In the period, they outshot the Pirates 15-2, recording the first 11 shots on goal in the period, and quickly the game was tied, as Beckum Johnson scored unassisted to tie the game at 4-4. The game stayed tied for a while after that, and neither team could get much offense going. Then, with just over 6 minutes to play, the Pirates got their 6th power play of the game. However, Spencer Anderson blocked a shot and took off, scoring his second shorthanded goal of the game to give TRF their first lead of the game, at 5-4. From there, the wheels fell off for the Pirates. The Prowlers added another goal less than two minutes later to go up 6-4, Garrett Fischer received a game misconduct, and the game ended with the Pirates a man down. This full swing of momentum allowed the Prowlers to win, and take on Warroad on Saturday afternoon.
Crookston ends the season with a record of 15-10-1 and says goodbye to the following seniors: Dexter Janek, Jay Reese, Evan Shockman, Gavin Aakhus, Greyson Ecker, Tate Hamre, Garrett Fischer, Liam Larson, Rylan Hanson, Cody Demerais, Isaiah Donarski, Masen Reitmeier, Wyatt Marsyla, Teegyn Johnson, Tony Elbinger and Brady Chandler.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Thief River Falls | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
1st Period
5:06 – Crookston – Liam Larson (Masen Reitmeier)
7:42 – Crookston – Jay Reese (SH)
10:18 – TRF – Spencer Anderson (Hudson Brouse) (SH)
14:45 – Crookston – Jay Reese (Greyson Ecker, Garrett Fischer)
2nd Period
5:39 – TRF – Brody Radniecki (Ryan Flaagan, Jed Kelly)
6:48 – TRF – Spencer Anderson (Jed Kelly)
14:23 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (Greyson Ecker)
3rd Period
3:39 – TRF – Beckum Johnson
11:40 – TRF – Spencer Anderson (SH)
13:42 – TRF – Jed Kelly (Hudson Brouse, Spencer Anderson)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Cooper Roff – TRF | 7 | 5 | 2 | 14 |
| Brady Chandler – Crox | 6 | 11 | 12 | 29 |
