sports

CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY CLOSES OUT REGULAR-SEASON WITH COMEBACK WIN OVER BEMIDJI

February 4, 2020

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team closed out their regular season with two third-period goals to complete a comeback beating the Bemidji Lumberjacks 2-1 in a game played at the Crookston Sports Center in the regular-season finale.

1st Period –
Bemidji dominated offensive zone time in the opening period. The Lumberjacks kept the puck in Crookston’s zone for nearly twelve minutes of the first period. With Grace Koshney back in net for the Pirates, the junior goaltender stopped all ten shots she faced during the first eighteen minutes of play. “She played outstanding tonight,” said Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “I can’t say enough about her effort. Coming off of illness, you never know how that’s going to go, but she stood in there so well.” Bemidji goalie Nettie Kimble saved four shots in the first period to keep the game scoreless after one period. “In that first period, I thought we did enough positive things but didn’t get rewarded with shots on net. That’s one of our issues. We don’t take shots when they’re available to us. We want to be cute and make that last move to get around somebody, and we don’t end up getting a shot on net.”

2nd Period –
Bemidji went on the game’s first power play with 10:14 to play in the second period after Crookston was charged with a two-minute penalty for slashing. Goaltender Grace Koshney stopped a rolling puck shot in from the point icing the puck for another face-off. A kick-save, through a screen in front of the net, preserved the scoreless game with 40-seconds remaining on the power play. Bemidji managed one last rush of shots in front of the net off a rebound in the crease, but Koshney kept her net clean as the Lumberjacks failed to convert on the power play. Crookston went right back on the penalty kill with 7:00 left in the period, two-minutes for checking to give the visitor another chance to breakthrough. The Pirates’ forecheck pressure killed off the majority of the power play, but Bemidji generated a rush on the net with 15-seconds left on the power play leading to the game’s first goal. Gracie Fisher skated in on Crookston goaltender Grace Koshney, who stopped the initial shot from Fisher. Meray Eichstadt followed up and directed the rebound past Koshney, giving Bemidji a 1-0 lead with 5:57 to play in the second period. Crookston had its best opportunity to even the score on the power play with 2:12 to play in the second period trailing by one goal. The Pirates failed to generate a single shot on goal with the extra skater on the ice and entered the second intermission trailing 1-0. “It’s tough to play when you’re down a person,” noted Moe. “We need to do a better job, not retaliating, and just playing smart. We were out of position on our second penalty, and we had to take somebody down in front of the net because of that. We have to learn from that, and I think we are. We survived, kind of there. We were badly outshot, so to only give up one goal going into the third, we felt pretty good about ourselves.”

3rd Period –
Crookston turned to its leading scorer early in the final period to provide a much-needed spark. Nora Peterson continued her stellar play this season, scoring an unassisted goal with 12:45 to play leveling the score at 1-1. “We really emphasized shooting the puck when we had an opportunity during the intermission,” explained Moe. “Nore did a good job finding the puck in front of the net. With how hard her shot is, I don’t think she beat the goalie clean. I think it went through the goalie. That’s what happens when you shoot the puck hard. That was a big goal for us because it got our bench energized. They could sense we were taking control of the game.” One minute after Crookston tied the game, Bemidji went back on the power play looking to retake the lead. Crookston managed to kill off their second power play of the night, keeping the score even at 1-1. The Pirates continued their strong third period taking the lead with their top line producing its second goal of the night. Nora Peterson cycled the puck to Cassie Solheim, who set up her sister Rylee Solheim for a goal with 3:53 to play, giving Crookston a 2-1 lead. “Rylee has only scored two goals all year,” noted Moe. “Both of her goals have come here in the last two games. We want production from those defensemen. They’re all skilled enough to do it, and the defenseman did a great job today. All four of them that played.” Grace Koshney all seven shots she faced in the final period closing out the Pirates’ 2-1 win. “What a great game to go into playoffs with,” added Moe. “Hopefully, we come in with a high here on Thursday. We’ll come in tomorrow and have a spirited practice to get ready for Detroit Lakes on Thursday.”

Crookston wraps up the regular season with an 11-13 record. The Pirates start the Section 8A Tournament on Thursday when they host Detroit Lakes in the Section 8A Girls Hockey tournament quarterfinals at 7 P.M. You can hear the game on KROX Radio with a pre-game show starting at 6:20 p.m. Bemidji falls to 10-15.