The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team scored three unanswered goals, including one 51 seconds into overtime to beat the Red Lake Falls Eagles 5-4 in a Section 8A matchup at the Crookston Sports Center.
FIRST PERIOD
Red Lake Falls started the game strong and dominated play right away. They peppered the Crookston goal with shots, and 4:43 into the game, Oliver Melin got a rebound and slapped it into the net to give Red Lake Falls a 1-0 lead. Red Lake Falls had eight of the first nine shots on goal and were controlling play. Crookston started to settle about halfway through the period and turned the tables as they started to control play and outshot the Eagles 11-5 the rest of the period. Red Lake Falls, behind the stellar play of the senior goaltender Draven Wirth and the Eagles, to a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Crookston took a penalty as the period ended, giving Red Lake Falls a power play to start the second period.
SECOND PERIOD
Red Lake Falls took advantage of the power play to start the period, as Xavier Payment had a shot on goal from the point. The puck bounced out in front of the net, and Kegan Schmitz got his stick on the puck, and the Pirate goalie spun around looking for the puck as it deflected to Boe Nelson, who wristed a shot into the goal for a 2-0 Red Lake Falls lead 33 seconds into the period. 33 seconds later, Red Lake Falls’ Payment had another shot from the points, and the rebound bounced out in front again, and Colby Knott got his stick on the puck before Riley Broden got the loose puck and blasted a shot into the net for a 3-0 lead 66 seconds into the period.
A little over three minutes later, Red Lake Falls dumped a shot on goal from the other end of the ice, and Pirate goalie Brady Chandler stopped the puck and slid it over to Garrett Fischer. Garrett skated along the boards and, as he hit the neutral zone, cut to the middle. He flew into the Eagle zone and blew by an Eagle defenseman and whistled a wrist shot into the goal to get Crookston within a 3-1 deficit less than five minutes into the period.
The teams would exchange several high-quality scoring chances the rest of the period, and nobody scored for over 10 minutes. The final two minutes of the period proved to be frantic. Crookston’s Fischer poked the puck away from an Eagle, and Greyson Ecker picked up the loose puck. Ecker flew up the ice and as he skated into the Eagle zone, he cut in between the top of the circles and let a missile fly and it went into the net to bring the Pirates within a 3-2 deficit. Red Lake Falls said not so fast, as they answered 61 seconds later, with 44 seconds left in the period, as Denny Lanctot got the puck along the boards, spun, and put a shot on goal, and the rebound bounced in front of the net. Boe Nelson was there to snap a shot into the net to give Red Lake Falls a 4-2 going into the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period, as expected, offered non-stop excitement and fantastic hockey played by both sides for the third straight period. Each team had several scoring opportunities, and Crookston took a penalty, leaving them short-handed. Red Lake Falls had the puck in the Pirate zone and tried a centering pass when Jay Reese picked off the pass and took off up the ice. As he skated into the Eagle zone, he whistled a wrist shot from the top of the circle, and it snuck by the goalie into the net to bring the Pirates within a 4-3 deficit with 9:42 left in regulation. Less than two minutes later, Crookston tied the game when Gavin Aakhus picked off the puck in the neutral zone and got the puck over Masen Reitmeier, who sniped a shot top shelf from right in front of the net on a pretty goal, and the game was tied at 4-4 with 7:48 to go in regulation. Both teams had some quality scoring chances, but both goalies were up to the task, making big-time save after big-time save and the teams were tied at 4-4 at the end of the regulation.
OVERTIME-
Crookston had a shot on goal, but a save was made before Red Lake Falls brought the puck into the Pirate zone and worked the puck around and tried to take a shot from the point, and Crookston’s Fischer blocked the shot, and it deflected to the neutral zone, and Fischer won the race to the puck along the boards by the red line. Fischer took off along the near boards, and as he crossed the blue line into the Eagle zone, he cut the middle at the top of the circle and waited for the defenseman to make a move. The defenseman kept going back, so Fischer twisted his body and sniped a left-handed shot while using the defenseman as a screen and snuck it into the net for the game winner, 51 seconds into overtime, for the 5-4 victory. The 78th shot on goal in the game was the game-winner.
Crookston improves to 2-0 on the year and 2-0 in Section 8A play and will travel to Breckenridge/Wahpeton in Wahpeton on Tuesday. Red Lake Falls drops to 1-1 on the year and 1-1 in Section 8A play.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Red Lake Falls | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Crookston | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
1st Period
4:43 – RLF – Oliver Melin (Boe Nelson, Gunnar Broden)
2nd Period
0:33 – RLF – Boe Nelson (Kegan Schmitz, Xavier Payment) PP
1:06 – RLF – Riley Broden (Coby Knott, Xavier Payment)
4:24 – Crookston – Garret Fischer (4) (Brady Chandler)
15:15 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker (1) (Garrett Fischer)
16:16 – RLF – Boe Nelson (Denny Lanctot)
3rd Period
7:18 – Crookston – Jay Reese (1) (SH)
9:12 – Crookston – Masen Reitmeier (2) (Liam Larson, Gavin Aakhus)
Overtime-
0:51 – Crookston – Garett Fischer (5)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Total |
| Draven Wirth – RLF | 12 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 33 |
| Brady Chandler- Crox | 13 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 36 |
