Although the Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team had a tie and a win back to back last season, they didn’t have two wins in a row during the season. They solved that problem with a couple juniors from Mayville, North Dakota, who co-op in girl’s hockey with Crookston, to defeat the Prairie Centre Blue Devils 1-0 on a Nora Peterson early third period goal and then Pirate goaltender, Grace Koshney, who only had 12 saves, but came up big late in the third period!!
Not only did the Pirates win two games on the weekend, but they also survived a number of things.
1. Yesterday, Crookston’s head coach Tim Moe was 15 minutes late for the bus to leave for Morris because his sub was late showing up! But they still thought they’d have plenty of time except the governor on the bus engine stuck and they couldn’t go the speed they wanted to, so they showed up about 6:35 PM for a 7:00 PM game. Morris-Benson was very understanding, and the Pirates went out for warmups at 6:55 PM and ended staying out and got the game going a little late, and they would go on to a 6-1 win.
2. Today, the Pirates stayed in Glenwood and made it in plenty of time for the game in Long Prairie. But, when they arrived, they found out there was only one referee as the second official had a grandparent pass away overnight and was unable to attend, and they couldn’t get a replacement! So after conferring with the fellow who schedules the referees, he and both coaches agreed to have each coach have a whistle and call any offsides that might happen, and the one referee would call the game, penalties, etc.!! “I was fortunate,” said Tim Moe, Pirate coach, “I had Scott Kleven as our bus driver, and Mr. Kleven took the whistle and would have called any offsides, but he didn’t have any to call. But, he got into it and was coaching as well, so it was all good.”
3. Because the rink at Long Prairie is an older venue, it was very cold, so the Pirates elected not to dress their second goalie, Kailee Magsam. “We thought we were going to get by with one goalie, so we didn’t want Kailee standing in the cold with all that equipment on,” said Moe, “We had some JV players along and I had told Coral Brekken to bring her equipment in case someone gets hurt or something, so we dressed her and she got to play in her first varsity hockey game as an eighth-grader and did very well.”
First Period
Although Crookston outshot the Blue Devils 10-4 in the first period, like last night and all season for that matter, the Pirates have problems putting the puck in the net! “We had chances,” said coach Moe, “Prairie Centre packed it in around their goal, but they left us alone behind their net. The problem was when we’d have someone bring out the put to the left side, it seemed all our players were on the right side, and we couldn’t get the puck to them through all their traffic. The Peterson line continued to get their chances, but was unable to score.” The line, Nora Peterson centering a pair of eighth-graders, Cassie Solheim and another Mayville product, Raina Satrom. Both eighth-graders had two-goal each in last night’s win at Morris-Benson.
Second Period
It was much of the same in the second period as it had been all weekend, outshooting their opponent 13-1 but couldn’t finish! “We did do a lot better defensively in the second period,” said Moe, “we had talked about that at the first-period break, and it was good to see them respond that way.” Crookston did have some scrambles in front of the Blue Devils net but was unable to penetrate their goalie, Kennedy Lemke. “Their goalie was an eighth-grader, and she played well,” said the Pirate coach, “We are playing better every game, and other than for lack of scoring, you have to be happy allowing only one shot on goal.”
Third Period
Like last night, the Pirates were able to play four lines, six defenders, and both goalies played on the weekend, although today, Crookston went to three lines in the heat of a 0-0 game. It was Peterson who gave the Pirates a ‘little’ breathing room, grabbing a puck from the boards at center ice, moved quickly and into the Prairie Centre zone and sniped a shot past Lemke to get Crookston on the board just under five minutes into the final period! “As I said, the Peterson line had a good weekend with five of the seven weekend goals,” said Moe. “Nora is an outstanding hockey player and showed that with the rush and goal. We need her to continue that type of play and continue to guide her two eighth grade wings.”
It did turn into a bit of a nail-biting end because, in the last three minutes of the game, Crookston was skating shorthanded five on three, and most of Koshney’s third period saves came during that period. “We hadn’t worked on the five on three power plays or short-handed yet,” said Moe, “but the girls played it pretty well, and we were able to get out of there with the win and a nice weekend sweep.”
Crookston improves to 3-5 on the season and is only a win away from matching victories last year! Prairie Centre is 1-10 and has lost to Detroit Lakes 2-1 and Crookston 1-0 in their last two games. Crookston will be home to Bemidji on Tuesday and then an important Section 8A game with Detroit Lakes on Thursday.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Prairie Centre | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
4:40 – Crookston – Nora Peterson (2) (Morgan Nelson)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Grace Koshney-Crox | 4 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| Kennedy Lemke – PC | 10 | 13 | 6 | 29 |
