Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey scored three goals in the 5:19 of regulation but were unable to pick up a win thanks to a dazzling move by Aaron Huglen with 4:04 remaining in overtime that gave the Roseau Rams a 4-3 win.
Huglen got the Rams going early on Thursday night when he took a pass at the top of the left circle as a Roseau powerplay expired and rifled a pass to the top of the crease that Hunter McFarlane redirected past Pirate goaltend Jack Ricord to make it 1-0 with 11:46 to play in the first period. The Rams opened with the first five shots on the goal in the game, capped by McFarlane’s goal. The Pirates would make a surge midway through the period but the final 4:38 belonged to the Rams as they recorded eight shots on goal including their second of the period. Jarrett Nelson made a centering pass out of the corner that hit off the skates of a Pirate defender right onto the stick of Jordan Moser who fired a shot off Ricord’s chest and the rebound fell right onto the stick of Josh Olson who flipped it over Ricord’s shoulder for a 2-0 lead with 3:08 to go in the period. “We are a really good team with a lot of talented players,” said Pirate coach Josh Hardy. “We made a little push there towards the end, but they responded well.”
Neither team would score in the second period, but Ricord shook off the two first period goals to pitch a shutout in the period with 15 saves. “Jack played very well for us tonight,” said Hardy. “He made a lot of big saves and helped us weather the storm in the first two periods.” Roseau lead 2-0 after two periods despite outshooting Crookston 30-8.
The Pirates had their best period of the night in the third as they were able to repeatedly sustain offensive pressure before finally breaking through on the powerplay. Joey Doda took a puck in behind the net and came out the other side with a quick flick onto the stick of Brock Heppner who shot five-hole to beat the Rams goaltender and make it a one-goal game at 2-1 with 5:19 to play. “I really thought Joey was going to pass the puck before he went behind the net,” said Hardy. “But he knew what he was looking for and saw the opening he wanted to get it Brock when he came out the other side.” Roseau would get a powerplay moments later when Logan Wardner was called for holding and they would extend their lead back to two. Huglen brought the puck in along the left side sent a pass across the slot to his younger brother Paul, who blasted a one-timer between Ricord and the post to make it 3-1 with 4:19 to play. Trailing by two the Pirates went back on the powerplay with 1:57 to play and would capitalize just 22 seconds later. Ben Andringa fire a shot on goal and Quinn Westlake fought through two defenders to bang home the rebound and cut the Roseau lead in half at 2-1. “We’ve been talking a lot this year about getting second and third scoring opportunities,” said Hardy. “We need to be strong in front of the goal and get those opportunities and we did that in the third period.” The Pirates pulled Ricord with 57 seconds to play giving them the extra skater allowing them to tie the game. Ben Andringa made a pass from the left circle to Eric Delorme at the top of the crease whose backhander was stopped by the Rams goaltender Oliver Lee put the rebound went towards the far post and as Lee slid over to get repositioned Jack Doda jabbed the puck five-hole to tie the game with 30.7 seconds to play. “That was another gritty goal for us, the kind we need to get,” said Hardy. “We fought hard and gave ourselves a chance to win.” The Rams appeared to retake the lead with 18.7 seconds to play when a shot hit the top of Ricord’s glove and went behind him off the crossbar with the referee signaling goal. After a discussion in the corner with the goal judge the goal was waved off and regulation ended in a 3-3 tie.
The Pirates suffered both injury and defeat in overtime. Defensemen Ty Hamre went down with a lower body injury drawing a whistle. Off the faceoff the Rams came into the offense zone and drew a slashing penalty by the Pirates Jacob Anderson with 4:51 to play. The Pirates applied a heavy forecheck early in the ensuing Roseau powerplay and forced a turnover behind the Rams goal but Roseau’s Gavin Gunderson was able to get the puck back and stretch a pass for Huglen who made a nifty move forehand to backhand move to get around a Pirate defender and immediately followed that more quick stickhandling at the top of the crease to go back to his forehand and beat Ricord five-hole. “Huglen is a really good player, there is a reason he’s going to play Division I college hockey,” said Hardy. “Even though we lost we gave ourselves a chance to win against a very good Class AA team. This was the final step in proving we can play with everyone and I think we’re going into the playoffs knowing that if we play our game the right way and limit mistakes, we can play with anybody in our section.”
The Pirates fall to 8-16-1 on the season and are seeded #4 in the Section 8A playoffs. They will host Detroit Lakes next Thursday in the quarterfinals at 7:00 p.m. at the Crookston Sports Center. The Roseau Rams improve to 18-4-2 on the season and enter the playoffs as the #2 seed in Section 8AA.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | FINAL |
| CROOKSTON |
0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Roseau | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1` | 4 |
1st Period
11:46 – Roseau – Hunter McFarlane (Aaron Huglen, Taylor Jacobson)
3:08 – Roseau – Josh Olson (Jordan Moser, Jarrett Nelson)
2nd Period
No scoring
3rd Period
5:19 – Crookston – Brock Heppner (12) (Joey Doda, Jacob Anderson) (PP)
4:19 – Roseau – Paul Huglen (Aaron Huglen, Gavin Gunderson) (PP)
1:35 – Crookston – Quinn Westlake (5) (Ben Andringa, Jack Doda) (PP)
:31 – Crookston – Jack Doda (6) (Ben Andringa, Eric Delorme)
Overtime
4:04 – Roseau – Aaron Huglen (Gavin Gunderson) (PP)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Total |
| Jack Ricord-Crookston | 13 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 42 |
| Oliver Lee – Roseau | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
