The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team broke a five-game losing streak tonight on the road in Bemidji 3-1 with Jocelyn Field scoring twice, including an empty netter, Emma LaPlante scored on a rebound and Pirate goalie was near perfect with 19 saves to lead the Pirates to the victory at the Bemidji Community Arena on Tuesday Night.
FIRST PERIOD
10 days made a world of difference for the Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team as unlike at home when they lost 5-0, the Pirates came out flying with an aggressive forecheck all over the ice. Bemidji found their passing lanes clogged up by Crookston forwards and defense. “That’s how we want them to play all the time,” said Crookston head coach Reed Olson, “we work every practice to bring that energy all the time, all over the ice. We started out well and got that first goal, which we have been doing in several of our games.” Crookston did score almost six minutes into the game when the Pirates’ leading scorer, freshman Jocelyn Field, snapped off a quick shot to the left of the Lumberjacks goalie, Ava Myhre, going top shelf and the Pirates backed up some of that strong play to take a lead 1-0. Neither team would have many chances in the period, but the Pirates did come close a few times that didn’t register on goal. “We started out well, the girls were excited, and we wanted to carry that momentum into the second,” said Olson. The two teams combined only registered nine shots on goal.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period was penalty-filled, with Bemidji taking five penalties and the Pirates two. Crookston would take a 2-0 lead just over two and a half minutes into the period when junior Emma LaPlante was able to get to a rebound off an Ashlyn Bailey shot, and LaPlante was able to squeeze the rebound through the Bemidji goalie on a power play to give the Pirates some breathing room. “It was nice to get the power play goal early and boosted our confidence some more,” said Coach Olson, “we have to keep getting people in front of the net, whether it’s for rebounds, screening, and putting pressure on their goalie.” Crookston kept Bemidji off stride and did a good job setting up an offense in Bemidji’s zone and one time dominated for almost two minutes in the offensive zone, missing a number of shots from the blue line and kept the Lumberjacks goalie, Myhre, moving from side to side, rolling over in the crease to make a save. “We have to get more shots on goal,” said Olson. Crookston had a five-on-three power play for about a minute after Bemidji took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty but were unable to put any more distance between them and the Lumberjacks. Bemidji hit a pipe square on a shot with just under two minutes to go in the period but the distance was shortened by Bemidji when they scored a power play goal from Millie Knott who beat the Pirates goalie, Kambelle Freije, above her blocker with 35 seconds left in the period to give the Lumberjacks some momentum going into the third period on their own ice trailing 2-1.
THIRD PERIOD
The final period was a carbon copy of the first two periods for Crookston as they kept doing what they’d been doing, limiting Bemidji’s chances, taking the center ice away from the Lumberjack’s top scorers, playing solid defense around the Pirate net, and let Freije see the shot and she will stop the shot! With about six minutes left in the game, Crookston had about a minute of another five-on-three power play after Bemidji took their second too- many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Crookston has some chances, but Myhre played a tough game in goal as well, keeping what shots the Pirates did get on the net from scoring, but Crookston did have a few chances that they could have possibly scored. “We could have put it away a lot sooner,” said Coach Olson, “we have to get more shots on goal, which we preach to the team.” With 1:35 left in the game, Bemidji called a time-out with a face-off in the offensive zone and pulled their goalie. Crookston had several long shots that missed from their own end, resulting in icing calls. Addison Fee missed to the right of the goal, Ashlyn Bailey to the left, and with 17 seconds left, Field intercepted a pass in Bemidji’s end and put a shot right in the middle for her second goal and put it away for a 3-1 win for the Pirates. “We played a great game tonight,” said Olson, “A lot different than in Crookston a week ago. Although we lost to Roseau last week, we played this way for most of that game as well, so we have one more game in the regular season on Friday, and we will see how the team reacts, seeing how hard work and energy can carry a team.”
Crookston broke a five-game losing streak with the win, and because they are unable to reschedule the Detroit Lakes game that was postponed Saturday, the Pirates will wrap up the regular season on Friday night, hosting Fort Frances, Ontario. It will be a 7:00 PM start as part of a boys/girl’s hockey doubleheader with the Pirate boy’s hockey team playing Greenway of Coleraine at 5:00 PM. Both Crookston hockey games will be on KROX RADIO AND VIDEO STREAMED ON KROX TV starting at 4:30 PM. Crookston is 12-10-1 on the season.
The Section 8A Seeding meeting will be on Monday, February 3rd. One opinion would have Warroad #1 seed, Crookston as the number two seed, followed by East Grand Forks, Thief River Falls, Detroit Lakes, and International Falls.
Bemidji is 14-9-1 on the season and will complete their regular season on Saturday afternoon when they host Cloquet. It appears Bemidji will be the number three seed for the Section 8AA Tournament behind Moorhead and Roseau.
JV – Bemidji won 3-1
Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
Crookston | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Bemidji | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
1st Period
5:58 – Crookston – Jocelyn Field (15) (Adley Vigness)
2nd Period
2:30 – Crookston – Emma LaPlante (10) (Ashlyn Bailey, Jocelyn Field) (PP)
15:35 – Bemidji – Millie Knott (unassisted)
3rd Period
16:43 – Crookston – Jocelyn Field (16) unassisted (empty net)
Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
Kambelle Freije-Crox | 3 | 6 | 10 | 19 |
Ava Myhre-Bem | 5 | 6 | 8 | 19 |





