The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team used a 4-goal first period to pull away from the Bagley/Fosston Flyers, winning 6-4 in Bagley on Monday night.
FIRST PERIOD
As the game started, the Flyers looked to be on point early, as their top line created space for shots. However, only one of the shots made it through, and it was blocked. Crookston’s first shot of the game came from Cody Demerais, and his shot from the blue line beat Brookston Hildebrandt, putting the Pirates up 1-0. That lead lasted until the halfway point of the period, when the Pirates went down a man for a tripping penalty, and Reid Gerbracht cashed in to tie the game at 1. That lead only lasted 32 seconds, however, as Greyson Ecker scored one to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Then, with under a minute left, Ecker scored his second of the day, and the Pirates went up 3-1. It seemed that the period would end like that, but Rowan Benoit made an unbelievable individual effort, scoring his first varsity goal, and that gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead at the end of the period.
SECOND PERIOD
As the second period got underway, the Flyers wasted no time, as Jackson Wiess scored just 74 seconds in, cutting the lead down to 4-2. From there, the game slowed down in pace, and shots on goal became few and far between. After a poor first period, Hildebrandt was much improved in the second, holding the Pirates scoreless. That is, until an interference call put the Pirates on the power play, and that was followed swiftly by a five-minute major penalty for boarding, giving the Pirates over 6 minutes of power play time. They were able to cash in for a goal, as Liam Larson put away a rebound to put the Pirates up 5-2. The period had very little action in the remainder of it, so the lead stayed at 5-2 at the second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period started with the same slow pace as the second period, where both teams had very few shots on goal. The Pirates committed an early penalty, but were able to kill it with relative ease. The key play of the period came at the halfway point, where Jay Reese intercepted a pass and scored top shelf on Hildebrandt to give the Pirates a 6-2 lead. It seemed like the Pirates would cruise to a victory, but the Flyers got a goal with under 3 minutes remaining to cut the lead to 6-3, followed up by another one just 17 seconds later to all of a sudden cut the Pirate lead in half to 6-4. The Flyers would then choose to empty the net, but the magic ran out on them, and the Pirates were able to hold on for a 6-4 victory.
Crookston improves to 4-0-1 on the season, 3-0 in the section and will take on Detroit Lakes on Tuesday. Bagley/Fosston falls to 5-1, 2-1 in the section.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Bagley/Fosston | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
1st Period
3:34 – Crookston – Cody Demarais (1) (Dylan Larson)
9:11 – Bagley/Fosston – Reid Gerbracht (PP)
9:43 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker (3) (Garrett Fischer, Jay Reese)
16:19 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker (4) (Garrett Fischer)
16:49 – Crookston – Rowan Benoit (1) (Evan Shockman)
2nd Period
1:14 – Bagley/Fosston – Trenton Weise (Isaac Decoteau)
12:50 – Crookston – Liam Larson (1) (Garrett Fischer) (PP)
3rd Period
9:45 – Crookston – Jay Reese (5)
13:25 – Bagley/Fosston – Logan Dillick (James Palmer)
13:42 – Bagley/Fosston – James Palmer (Wyatt Gerbracht, Camron Benson)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Brookston Hildebrandt–FB | 5 | 7 | 8 | 20 |
| Brady Chandler- Crox | 9 | 6 | 2 | 17 |
