The Crookston Pirates Girl’s Hockey team was forced to try and kill five penalties and allowed two powerplay goals in a 3-1 loss against the Northern Lakes Lightning (Pine River-Backus, Crosby-Ironton, and Pequot Lakes co-op) in a non-section game played in Pequot Lakes.
Tired legs led to a slow start for the Pirates allowing Northern Lakes to outshoot Crookston 17-3 in the first period. The offensive pressure resulted in a breakthrough goal during a power play when Caitlyn Gutzman scored a goal with assists from Alexa Holm and Ari LeMieur 6:12 into the first period giving the Lightning a 1-0 lead. 43-seconds later Gutzman scored her second goal, this time from the slot with an assist from LeMieur doubling Northern Lakes’ lead to 2-0 before the first period concluded. “In order to make JV and varsity work we had to go down to two lines in that first period so that we could have kids for the second and third,” explained Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “They got worn down just a little bit, doing that. I didn’t think it was overall terrible, but a couple lapses and it ends up in the back of our net. Territorially, I didn’t think it was that bad, but our inability to hit the net or sustain pressure in front of their net would be a good way to explain (the shooting advantage for Northern Lakes).”
In the second period, Crookston hung tough with the Lightning, but once again Northern Lakes generated the majority of the offense. Late in the period, Crookston was again trying to kill off a penalty, but Savannah Abear managed to find some space on the right wing and rifled a shot into the back of the net giving the hosts a 3-0 lead with 2:48 left in the period. The Lightning offensive pressure persisted throughout the second frame as Northern Lakes outshot the Pirates 16-2 in the second period. “They say that a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey,” explained Moe. “Because if you give up one, now the other team has momentum coming your way. We had a power play and a great opportunity, a great look on the net. Aleah Bienek had a fantastic tip in front and we weren’t able to get that one through. They ended up coming back down and scoring on us, taking away any momentum we might have had.”
Both sides appeared gassed by the start of the third period with exhaustion dominating both sides. The Lightning managed just 11 shots in the period while Crookston was held to 4 shots in the period and just 9 total shots in the entire game. Both goaltenders managed to preserve clean sheets in the final period with Kate Stephens making 9 saves for the shutout victory in net for Northern Lakes while Grace Koshney made 41 saves for Crookston in the 3-0 Northern Lakes win. “I was talking to the penalty box guys and they were so impressed with (Koshney),” noted Moe. “They couldn’t believe that she hadn’t played in a couple of years. She’s getting better every time out and we all are. It doesn’t happen as soon as any of us want it to happen, but I thought we all took steps again today.”
The physical nature of this game produced six total penalties and prevented a flow from shaping the game, but the Pirates were fortunate to exit the game unscathed by any further injuries according to Moe, “we were lucky everyone was able to finish the game because we can’t afford to lose anyone else.”
Although Crookston failed to pick up its second win of the season, Moe was pleased with his team’s performance, “we’re still young and we’re not strong enough to finish some of those plays, but that will come with time and experience. I’d like to play them again later in the year because I think we can compete well with them.”
The Pirates fall to 1-3-1 this season and will return to the ice next Friday, December 7, when they travel to Morris to take on Morris-Benson at 7 p.m. Northern Lakes, improves to 3-1-0.
Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Northern Lakes | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
1st Period
6:12 – NL – Caitlyn Gutzman (Alexa Holm, Ari LeMieur) (PP)
5:39 – NL – Caitlyn Gutzman (Ari LeMieur)
2nd Period
2:48 – NL – Savannah Abear (PP)
3rd Period
No Scoring
Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
Kate Stephens – Northern Lakes | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
Grace Koshney – Crookston | 15 | 15 | 11 | 41 |