CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY SHUTOUT IN LOSS TO EAST GRAND FORKS          

The Crookston Pirates girl’s hockey team suffered a 10-0 loss to East Grand Forks in a Section 8A game played at East Grand Forks Civic Center.
East Grand Forks wasted little time putting the game out of reach in the first period. 4:15 into the first period the Green Waves’ Madison McDonald netted an assist from Alex Beauchamp giving East Grand Forks a 1-0 lead. With 11:12 remaining in the first period Alex Beauchamp scored a goal of her own with a pass from Aleah Hangsleben giving East Side a 2-0 lead. 1:08 later, Kara Ellis scored off feeds from Kendra Emery to Madison McDonald giving the Green Wave a 3-0 lead. Kendra Emery pushed East Grand Forks’ lead to 4-0 following an assist from Kara Ellis. 21-seconds later Madison McDonald scored her second goal, unassisted, to close out the 5-0 first period which saw Crookston’s Grace Koshney stop 20 of the 25 shots that peppered her in the opening period. “They moved their feet and competed, and we had a tough time doing that,” said Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “We’re just not there yet where we come out flat and expect to hang with a team of that caliber. We need to raise our compete level and raise our skill level. East Grand Forks is extremely good, and we just couldn’t match them all night, particularly in the first period.” 
In the second period, the Green Wave continued to find success in the offensive zone. Kendra Emery scored her second goal of the night with 11:47 remaining in the period with assists from Madison McDonald and Kara Ellis pushing East Grand Forks ahead 6-0. The lead grew to 7-0 with 8:32 left in the period when CJ Mack scored off a feed from Madison McDonald. Just 23-seconds later McKenzie Delisle made it 8-0 thanks to Madison McDonald’s fourth assist of the night with 8:11 remaining in the second period. With 3:52 remaining in the second period, Kendra Emery netted the Green Wave’s ninth goal of the night with assists from Kylie Stauss and Alex Beauchamp giving East Grand Forks a 9-0 lead after two periods. “They broke us down and kept the puck in the zone,” said Moe. “If it wasn’t for Grace (Koshney) they might have had twenty goals. She played as well as we could have asked of her, we just gave them too many chances. I thought we did an okay job for a while, keeping them to the outside, but as soon as we lose contain or over pursue one person, it’s a two-on-one, and we leave our goalie out to dry. (Grace Koshney) has been great for us, but it’s tough to stop two-on-ones all night. I thought we raised the compete level a little bit more in the second period and had a little bit more offensive-zone time, but we were still unable to get shots on net.”
The Green Wave eased up and played their bottom lines throughout the third period allowing Crookston to muster a game-high four shots in the third period, however, East Grand Forks still managed one final goal with 62-seconds remaining when Kara Ellis scored from CJ Mack to close out the Green Wave’s 10-0 win over the Pirates. “They really called off the dogs,” said Moe of the third period. “They were playing mainly their third and fourth lines. It was just a struggle for us all night.” 
Despite the disappointing loss, Moe was optimistic his team could bounce back for what should be a move favorable match-up on Friday night against a Devils Lake team the Pirates swept last season, “East Grand Forks is one of the top teams in the section, and we need to get some confidence. Devils Lake provides an even match-up. It should be a good game and give us a chance to work with some offensive zone time instead of just trying to defend. We’re hopeful that we’ll have a chance to work on some other parts of our game on Friday night.”
The Pirates fall to 2-8-1 this season and return to the ice on Friday when Crookston hosts Devils Lake at 6 p.m. on KROX. East Grand Forks improves 9-3-1.

1st Period
13:45 – East Grand Forks – Madison McDonald (Alex Beauchamp)
11:12 – East Grand Forks –  Alex Beauchamp (Aleah Hangsleben)
10:04 – East Grand Forks  – Kara Ellis (Madison McDonald, Kendra Emery)
4:25 – East Grand Forks  – Kendra Emery (Kara Ellis)
4:04 – East Grand Forks  – Madison McDonald  unassisted

2nd Period
11:47 – East Grand Forks -Kendra Emery (Madison McDonald, Kara Ellis)
8:32 – East Grand Forks -CJ Mack (Madison McDonald)
8:11 – East Grand Forks – McKenzie Delisle (Madison McDonald)
3:52 – East Grand Forks -Kendra Emery (Kylie Stauss, Alex Beauchamp)

3rd Period
1:02 – East Grand Forks  – Kara Ellis (CJ Mack)