CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY CAN’T STOP WARROAD’S BIG LINE IN A 6 -1 LOSS

The #1 ranked Warroad Warriors first line scored five of their six goals, and they didn’t give up a shot on the net in the second period as they beat the Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team 6-1 on the final day of the Warroad Holiday Classic.

Right off the opening faceoff, the Pirates won the draw and got it into the Warroad end, and Crookston looked like a team ready to challenge the Warriors. “I thought the girls came out flying, setting the tone and showing that we can compete with them,” said Emily Meyer, head coach for the Crookston squad.
In what could be the best line in Minnesota High School hockey, Warroad’s group would have nothing to do with that notion and combined to score the first goal of the game four and a half minutes into when Rylee Bartz scored on a rebound from Talya Hendrickson and Kate Johnson! All three are going to Division I schools, Bartz, who led North Dakota High School, scoring playing for Fargo North-South last year, is going to St. Thomas, while Hendrickson and Johnson are going to Bemidji State. “I can’t get into that,” said Warroad head coach David “Izzy” Marvin, “We’ve had a lot of very good lines, but I will say this group is at or near the top of the list. They are very good hockey players.” Kate Johnson, by the way, is the granddaughter of Shirley Reitmeier and daughter of former Crookston Pirates Eric Johnson, and the former Kristin Coauette.
Crookston scored when sophomore Addie Fee scored her second goal in two games by stealing a puck in the Warroad zone and smacking a shot that beat Warroad goalie Kate Stephens to tie it at 1-1 over eight minutes into the game. “I was able to steal the puck in their end, and I was looking to pass to Jenna (Seaver), and I didn’t have a passing lane, so I shot, and it went in,” said Fee. It sparked the team and gave them some more momentum. “Even when Addie came back into the box, she knew it would fuel her teammates. She did an amazing job intercepting that play and getting the shot off. I thought she was going to get a couple more because she is doing a good job anticipating where the puck was going,” said Meyer. It’s surprising how often Warroad power play opens it up for them. Many teams get caught reaching, getting tired, and taking penalties, which is when the Warriors strike. With about four and a half minutes left in the period, Bartz scored with the man advantage and was on the end of a great pass from Johnson to make it 2-1, which is how the period ended. “We talked about what we’ll need to do in the second period,” said Meyer, “we knew they were going to come out strong period after period, and we had to make sure we played solid defense first.”

SECOND PERIOD
Warroad came out strong to start the second period in just over a minute. Lila Lanctot (Both parents are former Crookston Pirates) received a nice pass from Abbey Reule and was in the circle to the left of Pirate goalie Kambelle Freiji. She had an open shot, slipped a shot to the short side, and beat Freiji, who appeared to think that Lanctot was going to the far side. 58 seconds later, Hendrickson snared a puck in the corner of the Crookston end and, seeing no one, spun around above the circle and down the slot and snapped a top-shelf shot that put Warroad up 4-1 with a lot of time left in the period. Warroad appeared to be wearing down Crookston as the period went on, and only Freiji’s work kept it 4-1 as she had nine saves, many from Warroad Grade A chances. “We gave up those early goals in the period, and it dug us a hole,” said Meyer, “I think that is when the nerves started kicking in. We didn’t want it to get out of hand. We started running around doing other people’s jobs. After the period, we regrouped as we understood that playing defense in our zone, taking care of the puck, and keeping the heat off Kambelle, who played outstanding, making saves on quality chances. Some I’m not sure she seemed to see them coming. She kept us in it for sure.” The official scorer had Freiji making nine saves, with the Pirates not getting a shot on goal and no saves for Stephens! “I know we struggled to get into the offensive zone, but I’m not sure about no shots. We had a couple, I thought,” said Meyer.

THIRD PERIOD
Hendrickson scored both third-period goals for Warroad, her second and third goals. Both came the same way, beautiful passes from Kate Johnson, the first was another power-play goal, and then the final goal was 11 and a half minutes into the period, and the way the game would end, Warroad winning 6-1.
“We wanted to finish the game out strong,” said Meyer, “the girls know that even if they left it all out there, we have a big break and don’t play until next Thursday. They wanted to leave it all out, finish strong, and show we can play with them.”

Crookston drops to 14-4-1 on the year, and their next game will be in 2023 when they travel to Devils Lake (N.D.). “I’ve told the girls that games are like practices, just getting ready for the playoffs,” said Meyer, “we want to get in position to play Warroad for the third time maybe, which would be in the Section championship here at their rink.” What would the Pirates have to do if the Pirates played Warroad again? “I think our defensive zone needs to be disciplined when they get the power play we need to play a good PK (penalty kill) because that is where they capitalize,” said Fee, “and we need to put pressure on because when we did they kind of fumbled it.” That’s the strategy. We’ll see if it works IF they meet in February!
Warroad improves to 13-1 on the season and will be at Hill-Murray and Edina next week.
JV –  Warroad won 13-2

1st Period
4:38 – Warroad – Rylee Bartz  (Talya Hendrickson, Kate Johnson)
8:03 – Crookston- Addie Fee (6)  unassisted
12:38 –  Warroad – Rylee Bartz  (Kate Johnson)  (PP)

2nd Period
1:15 –  Warroad – Lila Lanctot (Abbey Reule)
2:13 –  Warroad – Talya Hendrickson unassisted

3rd Period
4:58 –  Warroad – Talya Hendrickson (Kate Johnson)  (PP)
11:30 – Warroad – Talya Hendrickson (Kate Johnson)

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