CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY EDGED BY LAKEVILLE NORTH 3-2

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team came into this afternoon’s game against Lakeville North wanting to start faster, as a slow start last night probably cost them a chance at a win over Proctor-Hermantown. The Pirates didn’t fall behind 2-0 after a period and ended up losing to the Panthers 3-2 on the second day of the Warroad Girl’s Hockey Classic at the Gardens in Warroad.

FIRST PERIOD
The two teams went almost 10 and a half minutes before Lakeville North’s junior, Ashley Wagenbach, snapped off a shot that went top shelf to beat Pirate goalie Kambelle Freiji and the Panthers were up 1-0. Last night the Pirates gave up two goals in the last 33 seconds of the first period against Proctor-Hermantown. The second goal for Lakeville North came with 1:04 left in the period when an eighth grader, Mali Carlson, tapped in a loose puck in front of the Pirate net, and Lakeville North went into the locker room with a 2-0 lead. “With them scoring two goals, it’s always so tough for us to dig ourselves out of that,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “I know it knocked the wind out of our sails at the beginning, but the girls knew that they had to rally and try to put things together in the second period.”

SECOND PERIOD
Crookston would answer just under three minutes into the period when Brekken Tull continued her scoring rampage as she got a nice pass from Cassie Solheim in front of the Lakeville North goal and made a nice shot to beat the goalie. The Pirates cut the deficit in half at 2-1. “I thought we did a nice job collectively as a group in the period trying to dig ourselves out. Brekken has a nose for the net, sees the ice well, and uses that to get in position to score goals or get some nice rebounds.”  About halfway through the period, the Panthers scored on a power play as their leading scorer Addie Bowlby scored a huge goal and put Lakeville North up by two goals and a 3-1 lead. “I know the girls were really upset at that power-play goal,” said Meyer, but we were playing solid hockey in the period.” Crookston and Lakeville North both had nine shots on goal in the period.

THIRD PERIOD
Crookston would cut the cap to one goal just three minutes into the period when Brynley Coleman’s pass through the crease ended on teammate Addie Fee’s stick and the sophomore put a backhander past the Lakeville North’seighth-gradee goalie, Kaia Weilan. It was now 3-2 with 14 minutes to go in the game. “That is where Addie does her best work,” said Meyer, “she has a little more room when she’s on that penalty kill. Brynley did an amazing job of getting the puck to the net, Addie kept her composure and put it home, and that was good to see Addie getting on that score sheet.” Fee’s shorthanded goal was the Pirate’s fifth of the year and Fee’s second. The rest of the period saw several penalties, with Crookston taking three, and although they didn’t score, Lakeville North moved the puck around and had a lot of shots. Pirate goalie, Freiji was spot on with several tremendous saves and kept Crookston in the game. “It killed our momentum when they went to the power play,” said Meyer, “Our penalty kill is good, but when we overcommit and start running around. It was hard for us to recover from and certainly took away from our offense.” The Panthers drew a penalty with just over a minute to go in the game to give Crookston a chance to tie it up on a power play and the faceoff in the Lakeville North zone. Lakeville North won the draw and the Panthers never seemed to give up the puck the rest of the way and Crookston was unable to get any offense and they were unable to pull their goalie because of the aggressiveness of Lakeville North, “It was hard for us to recover from,” said Meyer, but hopefully we can learn from these games in Warroad and know that we have to play Pirate hockey for all three periods.”

Crookston is now 10-3-1 on the season and will face the #1 ranked Warroad Warriors, who beat Lakeville North last night 10-0!! The Warriors defeated the Pirates earlier this year in Warroad 8-1. What do the Pirates have to do tomorrow? “We have to come out flying the first period instead of playing on our heels and watching them set the tone. I think if we can go out there and play defense and not give them time and space, hopefully, we can try to contain them a little bit. The last time we played, it took until the third period to keep them scoreless. It’s a tough challenge as they are a very good hockey team,” said Meyer. Lakeville North is ranked #10 in the Minnesota State Class AA polls and improved to 11-3 on the season. They will play Proctor-Hermantown tomorrow at 11:00 AM, while the Pirates, ranked #8 in the Class A polls, will face off after that game at 1:00 PM, which will be on KROX RADIO starting at 12:30 PM.
JV –  Lakeville North won 4-2

1st Period
10:27 – LN – Ashley Wagenbach unassisted
15:56 – LN – Mali Carlson  (Kate Swierczek, Greta Smith)

2nd Period
2:40 – Crookston – Brekken Tull (9) (Cassie Solheim)
7:13 – LN – Addison Bowlby (Gracie Hanson)  (PP)

3rd Period
3:02 – Crookston – Addie Fee  (5) (Brynley Coleman)  (SH)