CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY SCORES BEFORE FALLING TO DELANO

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team scored their first goal of the season but allowed six goals in the final two periods of a 6-1 loss against Delano-Rockford in a non-Section game played at the Crookston Sports Center.

Crookston scored its first goal of the season after Kylee Meier deflected a shot into the goal for giving the Pirates a 1-0 with 8:04 to play in the first period. “It was a power-play goal,” said Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “Kylee kind of tipped it in out in front. It was a nice tip-in by Kylee, and it was a nice way to start the game.” Crookston’s goaltender Grace Koshney stopped all five shots she faced in the first period protecting the Pirates’ lead into the first intermission. “We were working hard, and it was back and forth,” added Moe. “We had other good (scoring) chances, but we couldn’t capitalize. Unfortunately, we couldn’t because that would’ve helped going into the second period if we could’ve gotten a second goal.”

Delano-Rockford came out firing in the second period. The Tigers scored 2:02 into the second period as Chloe Kuechle found the back of the net tying the game at 1-1. After the two teams traded offensive zone time, Delano-Rockford took its first lead with an Ava Reierson goal. Kylee Heinzen scored 1:26, later giving the visitors a 3-1 lead. Mary Beth Kivisto beat the horn with a goal in the final seconds of the second period closing out a dominant four-minute stretch giving Delano-Rockford a 4-1 lead after two periods. “I hope it was our legs,” explained Moe of his team’s second-period struggles. “It just finally caught up with us. Once our legs went, our brains weren’t working either because we made some mental mistakes. We may have gone from the best period we’ve played to our worst.  We were losing people in the defensive zone, throwing pucks to the middle of the ice. We just quit thinking and quit moving our feet.”

Crookston struggled through the final period as the Tigers extended their lead. Taylor Michael scored just 16 seconds into the third period giving Delano-Rockford a 5-1 lead before Chloe Kuechle scored her second goal of the night with 11:11 to play putting the Tigers in front 6-1. “They scored before I even got back to the bench to start the third (period),” said Moe. “I think they started playing everybody, and there was nothing left for us.” Delano-Rockford goaltender Grace Glasrud made five saves in the final period to protect the Tigers’ lead as the visitors secured their first win of the season 6-1. “After the first period, we took a lot of positives away from that,” summarized Moe. “We were able to score a goal which we were kind of hoping would lead to more, but we just couldn’t sustain it for the entire game. We just have to get a good rest here over the rest of the weekend and come back ready to get after it again next week.”

Crookston falls to 0-3. The Pirates return to the ice on Tuesday when Crookston hosts Jamestown in Mayville, ND at 7:00 P.M. Delano-Rockford improves to 1-5. 

1st Period
8:04 – Crookston – Kylee Meier (Aleah Bienek, Catherine Tiedemann) (PP)

2nd Period
14:58 – Delano – Chloe Kuechle (Taylor Michael, Annika Reierson)
3:58 – Delano – Ava Reierson (Brooklyn Gillete, Kylee Heinzen)
2:32 – Delano – Kylee Heinzen (Meredith Duis)
0:03 – Delano – Mary Beth Kivisto (Chloe Kuechle, Grace Daly)

3rd Period
16:44 – Delano – Taylor Michael (Mary Beth Kivisto)
11:11 – Delano – Chloe Kuechle (Mary Beth Kivisto, Taylor Michael)