CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY IMPROVES TO 6-0 AFTER BEATING FERGUS FALLS

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team’s first line of Cassie Solheim, Brekken Tull, and Taylor Field had four goals and five assists to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 win over the Fergus Falls Otters at the Fergus Falls Ice Arena. The win boosted the Pirates to a 6-0 start on the young season and dropped Fergus Falls to 5-2 on the year, with their only other loss to Alexandria in overtime. 

Crookston knew they had to watch the one line of Fergus Falls that featured senior Maddie Hutler, the second-leading scorer in the State of Minnesota with 10 goals and nine assists in six games. As it turned out, the first period was dominated by the Crookston top line and started with a goal from Tull as she followed up her rebound to pop one in and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead just about seven minutes into the period. “That’s what we want to do,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer. “We feel confident in our play and want to come out and set the tone for the game. I thought we did that again tonight, and Brekken keeps her hot streak going.”  Crookston would score twice in 14 seconds, first, with Solheim getting one in front and slipping it by Alexis Metcalf, the Otters goalie, and then Tull got back in front of the net and scored another in one to make it 3-0, which is how the period ended. “That line played well dominating the first period,” said Meyer. “They’ve got some chemistry going, and we hope they keep it up.”

The second period was a penalty period for the Pirates, taking three infractions in the first 10 minutes. The third one cost them when the Otters leading scorer, Hulter, was in the Crookston zone and smoked a pass through traffic that found Hannah Johnson, who slapped it in for the power play goal, and there wasn’t much that Crookston goalie, Freiji could do. “The pass was a quick one,” said Freiji, ” and I knew they had a player to my right, but I couldn’t get over quick enough,” said the sophomore goalie. The power-play goal was the first one allowed this year after killing off the first 18 penalties Crookston has taken to give the opposition a man advantage. The penalties, including the first three tonight, provide the Pirates with 17 for 18 in killing off a power play. “The team prides itself in the penalty kill,’ said Coach Meyer. “We have two sets of penalty killers, and they are smart, handle the puck well with speed and great goaltending.”

It appeared that nobody was going to score in the final period as the Otters tried to put on some pressure to get within one. Still, Crookston kept Fergus Falls at bay, keeping almost everything to the outside while getting some chances themselves. Each team killed off a penalty, and with a two-goal deficit, the Otters elected not to pull the goalie. Crookston would score anyway with 25 seconds to go when Morgan Nelson’s shot caromed out front to Field, who was quick and made no mistake to bury it and clinch the 4-1 win over Fergus Falls. “It was a good win for us,” said Meyer, “this is a stretch of playing some pretty good hockey teams, and after the two wins at the Thief River Falls Tournament over the weekend and especially the 4-2 win over Northfield has put us in a good place. We are doing things well, moving the puck around better, and scoring over four goals a game, although we should be scoring more with the chances we’ve created.”

Crookston will take their 6-0 record to Blaine on Friday night to play the Class AA Bengals, who are 3-1 on the season and haven’t played for a week after beating Hibbing and Grand Rapids last weekend. “They are going to be an excellent opponent,” said Meyer. “That is what I like about our schedule. We have a tougher schedule this year because of the hard work and excellent play our program has been doing the last few years. We want a good one against Blaine, which will set us up for next Tuesday’s game at Warroad.”
Crookston is 6-0 and at Blaine to play the Bengals in Fogerty Arena. Fergus Falls is 5-2 and will be at Thief River Falls on Friday.
JV –  Fergus Falls won 7-2

1st Period
6:52 –  Crookston – Brekken Tull (6)  (Cassie Solheim, Taylor Field)
14:51  – Crookston- Cassie Solheim (4)  (Ashlyn Bailey)
15:05 – Crookston – Brekken Tull (7)  (Cassie Solheim, Taylor Field)

2nd  Period
9:03 – FF – Hannah Johnson (Maddie Hulter, Tyra Skjeret)   (PP)

3rd Period
16:35 –  Crookston- Taylor Field (4)  (Morgan Nelson, Cassie Solheim)