TRF SCORES 3 UNANSWERED TO BEAT CROOKSTON GIRLS HOCKEY

In a facsimile of the first time they met to open the season, Thief River Falls scored late in the game to take a lead and then in the last seconds scored an empty-net goal to defeat the visiting Crookston Pirates by an identical 3-1 score in a Section 8A Girl’s Hockey game at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls. “It was a good high school hockey game,” said Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a way to get the puck past their goalie, Gabby Steele.”

First Period
Although nobody scored in the first period and not many shots found their way on net, there were a number of grade A scoring chances for both teams. Crookston had more whiffs than shots on goal. Nora Peterson, Catherine Tiedemann and Cassie Solheim either fanned on a shot, shot a great chance wide or into a Prowler player. “We just couldn’t corral it onto our sticks and get a good shot on net,” said Moe. “That’s the way things have been going for us lately, and we have to keep working, adjusting, and eventually, those goals will go in for us.” Both teams played a tight defensive game in the first period as well and was a concern for Crookston who was missing senior captain defenseman Mackenzie Epema who was homesick. “I have to give a lot of credit to Jenna Seaver,” said Moe, “we were practicing her as a forward yesterday, thinking she would fill in for Reese Swanson (Pirates leading scorer had to sit out one game due to a major penalty) and on the bus ride up she found out she would be playing a top-four defensive spot and every other shift, and I thought she stepped up fantastically to that challenge.”

Second Period
Like, the first game of the season between the two teams, the Pirates goal scorer was freshman Brekken Tull who got the first goal of the game tonight taking a pass near the slot from Cassie Solheim and blasted a quick shot past Steele, and Crookston was up 1-0, 49 seconds into the period. “It’s something we preach to in the locker room during games and in practice,” said Moe. “It was nice to see that happen getting a quick hard shot on net and Brekken was rewarded as it’s been a while since she scored her first goal. She’s scored a lot of goals coming up, and I think she was feeling a little snake bit about that.”
The Crookston lead lasted for less than two minutes when the Prowlers leading scorer Shelby Breiland doing some dangling with the puck in the Crookston zone, fired a hard shot on goal and Gretchen Cota was in the right spot to tuck in the rebound for her first varsity goal to tie the game at 1-1. “It was a little unfortunate on that one that the initial shot hit Kailee (Magsum) in the face and might of stunned her a little bit,” said Moe, “then a big scrum in front, and I thought our kids did a good job for the most part of covering that up and knocking the puck in the corner, but we couldn’t get to that one, and they were able to score.” Crookston would have another Grade A chance when Addie Fee fed Aleah Bienek in the low slot in front of the Prowler goal, and Aleah could get control of the puck and eventually shot it wide.
“It’s the same thing where we can’t corral the puck and get a little anxious and miss the net.”

Third Period
Crookston started the third period with 3:52 left on a major penalty that was called toward the end of the second period. Crookston really started taking the play to the Prowlers, having some great chances again, putting nine shots on the goal for the period, but some of the best chances were ones that were missed!! It was a period and a game where the Pirates shots would almost automatically go right into a Thief River Falls player. “You know we work on that in practice, moving a little to the right or left to get your shot off without being blocked,” said Moe. “But we had a lot tonight and we weren’t moving to get an open shot.” Thief River Falls would score with just under four minutes to go in the game when Cota, who scored her first ever varsity goal, scored her second, again on a rebound from Shelby Breiland’s shot. “It seemed the puck was laying there for about a second and a half with nobody clearing it,” said Moe, “it was too bad as I thought Kailee played a heck of a game in goal. It was nice to see her bounce back after the Grand Forks games on Tuesday where I know Kailee would have liked to play better, but she played very well tonight and gave us a chance to win.”
Crookston put some pressure on late, pulled their goalie with a minute to goal and after sailing a couple shots wide, Jenae Johnson scored in the empty net with 20 second to go and Thief River Falls claimed a 3-1 win. “We had opportunites, during the power play to start the period and throughout the period,” said Moe, “Missing a couple of players, I thought we played as well as we could, and it just wasn’t to be.”
Crookston has lost two in a row and are 4-6 on the season and will travel to East Grand Forks on Tuesday. “That will be a big game for us,” said Moe. “We’ve played twice, and each has won a game, so this is the rubber match, and the winner will have a leg up in the seeds at the end of the year.
Thief River Falls is 4-3 on the season and will host Detroit Lakes in a Section game on Monday.
JV – Thief River Falls won 9-1