sports

CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY COMES BACK TO BEAT DETROIT LAKES IN SECTION TOURNAMENT

February 6, 2020

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team won their first section tournament game since 2015 with a 3-2 comeback win over Detroit Lakes in the Section 8A Tournament first-round matchup played at the Crookston Sports Center

1st Period –
In a frantic opening period, Detroit Lakes capitalized on its early opportunities to set the tone in the first 17 minutes. With 11:37 to play in the first period, Detroit Lakes center Sara Freeman won a faceoff in the right-wing circle, playing the puck to Hadlee Justesen. Justesen fired a shot from the slot off Crookston goaltender Grace Koshney’s stick, over the netminder’s head, and into the net, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Detroit Lakes doubled its lead with 8:22 to play in the period. Ella Hess skated towards Crookston’s goal on a breakaway. Hess fired a wrist shot that was saved by Grace Koshney’s left pad, but the rebound sat perfectly for Hess to fire it into the net, doubling the visitor’s lead to 2-0. “It was two goals on the first four shots,” noted Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “It’s not what you want, and the first goal was just a tough bounce. I can’t blame the kids at all because we were trying something new on the faceoff, and if we won that draw, we’re probably skating with a breakaway the other way with the play we were running. We ended up losing the faceoff, and a quick shot on net is a tough one to stop.” Crookston scraped one goal back before intermission to shift the momentum. The Pirates’ top line skated forward with a three-on-two advantage as Rylee Solheim centered the puck to Raina Satrom. Satrom sent the puck to the right-wing for Nora Peterson, allowing Peterson to deposit the puck into an open net trimming Crookston’s deficit down to 2-1 after one period. “It was extremely important to get a goal back in that first period,” added Moe. “We didn’t want to have to look at a two-goal deficit after one period. It was just a nice play by Rylee Solheim. Rylee was playing with a lot of confidence handling the puck tonight. She sent a nice pass across the ice that went through Raina (Satrom) to Nora Peterson’s stick. Nora is the player you want with the puck on her stick shooting at an empty net.”

2nd Period –
Crookston looked to be the better side rather convincingly in the second period of play. The Pirates tied the game early in the middle period with a fortuitous deflection. Catherine Tiedemann fired a searching pass up the ice for Kylee Meier. Meier managed to track down the puck along the goal line and fired a shot from the side of the net that deflected off a Detroit Lakes defender’s skate into the net leveling the score at 2-2 with 15:22 to play in the period. “Kylee (Meier) came over to the bench and asked how did that go in,” said Moe. “She did the right thing. She threw the puck at the net, and hockey is such a game of bounces. Kylee was in the position to handle a long pass, hustled to the puck. She centered the puck and was rewarded for making the right play. The worst thing that could’ve happened was the puck not going in. The best thing that could’ve happened was the puck going in, and that’s what happened tonight.” Crookston failed to convert on their first power play of the evening, but wouldn’t squander their second opportunity with the extra skater. With 7:20 to play in the period, MacKenze Epema fired a centering pass to Aleah Bienek, who sent the puck through the five-hole of Detroit Lakes goaltender giving Crookston a 3-2 lead. “That was a beautiful play by Kenze (Epema),” explained Moe. “She skated along the boards there and took what the defense gave her. Aleah Bienek was camped out wide-open in front of the net. Kenze did a nice job finding her, and Aleah buried it, which was great to see. She works just about as hard as anyone on this team and has been close so often this year. For her to end up with the game-winner, tonight was fantastic.” Grace Koshney stopped the three shots she faced in the second period protecting the Pirates’ 3-2 lead heading into the final period. “Grace can be streaky at times,” said Moe. “I’m pleased with how she persevered after the first period.”

3rd Period –
In the third period, Crookston’s defense clamped down and ensured they would extend their season one more game. Detroit Lakes was unable to capitalize on two power plays during the final period. Grace Koshney stopped all seven shots she faced during the final period finishing the game 20 saves as the Pirates closed out a 3-2 win. “From the time I came back, we’ve been talking about how everything was for the future,” explained Moe. “We took our lumps. We took our lumps the past couple of years. That was all knowing that there was hope here in the future. Now that we’ve gotten bigger, faster, and stronger, and brought in more talented younger kids, we’re starting to get to where we want this program to be. This win was significant not just for our team but for the younger kids. The 12u and 10u teams practiced earlier today so they could be here to cheer us on. We had the young Pirate sisters behind our bench cheering on their older Pirate sister. That’s what this is all about. To build a winning culture. It starts with all of our seniors. We had two seniors in Taylor Garrett and Breck Fugleberg who didn’t see the ice tonight. I feel so bad about that, but they’re such selfless kids. They’re the epitome of the kids that we’re trying to have in this program. It’s not just them, but their parents who are here all the time and driving us here. I’m so proud of this win for our whole team and program, but especially the seniors. They may not see the ultimate rewards of their efforts this year, but they’ve down so much to lay the foundation for this program’s future success, and tonight was a big step in that process.”

Crookston improves to 12-13. The Pirates advance to the Section 8A Tournament semifinal, where they’ll play Warroad at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls Saturday at 4:00 P.M. with the Riverview Health Pregame show beginning at 3:20 P.M. on KROX. Detroit Lakes wraps up their season with a 4-20 record.