CROOKSTON GIRLS HOCKEY SCORES FOUR STRAIGHT GOALS IN WIN OVER MORRIS-BENSON                                                                                                                                         

The Crookston Pirates Girl’s Hockey team scored four straight goals during the second and third periods in a 6-3 win over the Morris-Benson Storm in a non-section game played in Morris.
A sluggish start for Crookston saw the Pirates outshot by the Storm 11-7 in the opening period of play, but Crookston’s goaltender Kailee Magsam made all 11 saves to preserve her shutout keeping the game scoreless after one period of play. “I don’t know if it was bus legs or what, but in that first period we definitely played to the level of competition and we weren’t moving very well and weren’t generating many things,” said Crookston head coach Tim Moe.
Both sides offenses heated up in the second period with Morris-Benson striking first just 51-seconds into the period when Kortney Sanasack found Andrea Walz for the game’s first goal giving the Storm a 1-0 lead with 16:09 still to play in the period. Crookston responded late in the period with a flurry of shots. Kendall Bergquist scored the tying goal for the Pirates with 3:21 left to play in the second period with the unassisted goal evening the score at 1-1. “It was a nice play by Kendall Bergquist on our first goal,” noted Moe. “Right off a face-off to the left-hand side of the goaltender. Kendall won a faceoff, beat her center and grabbed the puck and put it top shelf over the goalie’s shoulder and that kind of got us going.”  In the final minute of the period, Catherine Tiedemann gave Crookston the lead with a high wrist shot and just 0:36 left in the period. Just twelve-seconds later, Crookston’s Nora Peterson finished off a pass from Grace Fischer to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead after two periods of play. “That top line really had a nice last minute of that period,” added Moe. “They scored two goals and had a chance for three maybe even four. Catherine Tiedemann was able to skate into the zone and deke the goalie a little bit. She actually made a really strong move to the net. The defender had her really good position, but Catherine leaned in and was able to sneak a shot in underneath the goalie. On the second goal, we won the face-off and Grace Fischer won a race to the puck in the corner and Nora Peterson found a soft spot in the defense, nobody covered her, and Grace found her. Nora ripped a slap shot, she’s got a hard shot and it snuck through the goalie’s arms.”
Crookston’s strong offensive performance continued in the third period when Rylee Solheim took a pass from Taylor Garrett and shot the puck into the net growing the Pirates lead to 4-1 with 11:56 remaining. “(Riley) showed some really great speed,” said Moe. “She went in all alone and hit the goalie why up high on the shoulder and she was able to tap the rebound in.”  Morris-Benson responded twelve-seconds later with their second goal scored by Danielle Reuss to cut the deficit down to 4-2. Crookston answered with 10:06 remaining when Catherine Tiedemann scored her second goal off an assist from Jacey Larson giving the Pirates a 5-2 edge with 10:06 to play. “She says she, ‘dangled somebody and broke their ankles,’” Moe said with help from Tiedemann. “She shelved it on the goalie though. She found some space in the neutral zone and made a nice move again and was able to beat the goalie up high. Jacey Larson had the assist and she just switched from goalie to defense after Thanksgiving, so it was nice to see her earn her first point.” The Storm scored their third goal with 7:01 left to play when Taryn Picht found the back of the net, but it would prove to be too little too late. Crookston scored the game’s final goal with 2:05 remaining when Samantha Sanders slotted a pass from Breck Fugleberg past Morris-Benson’s goaltender pushing the Pirates lead to 6-3. “(Samantha) got the puck off the side of the net and found a loose puck from a bad angle and just shot it and found a way to get it in.” Crookston would close out the game behind 17 saves from Kailee Magsam to help secure the Pirates’ 6-3 win.  “It wasn’t a great performance by us, but we persevered and weathered the storm despite not playing our best,” summarized Moe. “We were able to find it and throughout the course of the game and that’s probably the biggest thing we can take away and also know we have to play all the time and be aggressive.”
The Pirates improve to 2-3-1 this season and return to the ice on Saturday when Crookston travels to Wadena to take on Prairie Centre at 11 a.m. Morris-Benson falls to 2-8.

1st Period
No Scoring

2nd Period
16:09 – Morris-Benson  – Andrea Walz (Kortney Sanasack)
3:21 – Crookston  – Kendall Bergquist  unassisted
:36 – Crookston  – Catherine Tiedemann  unassisted
:25 – Crookston  – Nora Peterson (Grace Fischer)

3rd Period
11:56 – Crookston  – Rylee Solheim (Taylor Garrett)
11:44 – Morris-Benson –  Danielle Reuss (Kellie Wilts)
10:06 – Crookston -Catherine Tiedemann (Jacey Larson)
7:01 – Morris-Benson – Taryn Picht (Isabella Alsaker)
2:05 – Crookston – Samantha Sanders (Breck Fugleberg)