The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team scored two goals in each period and scored two late goals, including an open net goal, to beat the Breckenridge/Wahpeton Blades 6-4 in Wahpeton on Tuesday night.
FIRST PERIOD
Crookston couldn’t have asked for a better start as Jay Reese slapped a rebound into the net to score 15 seconds into the game to give the Pirates a quick 1-0 lead. There was a delay for a few minutes as the Blades’ goalie’s visor/neck protector shattered, and it had to be replaced before the game continued.
Crookston added another goal less than five minutes later as Tate Hamre blasted a shot so hard, it hit the goalie’s glove and still went in to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead five minutes into the game.
The rest of the period was scoreless, even though both teams had several scoring chances, and Crookston’s Brady Chandler made several nice saves to keep the Blades off the scoreboard in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period had a little more action with each team scoring two goals apiece. The first goal didn’t come until about halfway through the period when Crookston’s Garrett Fischer scored a little over seven minutes into the period to give the Pirates a big 3-0 lead. The Blades answered less than two minutes later to get within a 3-1 deficit.
Over five minutes later, Crookston’s Liam Larson slid a beautiful pass over to Reese, who caught the pass and sniped the shot by the goalie for a 4-1 lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the period. The Blades answered with a goal a minute later, and Crookston took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period was by far the craziest period of the game. After having one penalty in each of the first two periods, the third period had five penalties.
There was no scoring for the first half of the period, but that changed quickly as the Blades scored a goal to get within a 4-3 deficit. Crookston was called for a penalty and the Blades added another goal a little over two minutes later to tie the game at 4-4.
Crookston finished the game strong as Isaiah Donarski had a shot from the point and Reese grabbed the rebound and slapped it in to give the Pirates a huge goal for a 5-4 lead. The goal completed Reese’s first hat-trick of the season. Crookston wasn’t done as the Blades pulled their goalie and Fischer scored on the open net with 23 seconds remaining to solidify a 6-4 win for the Pirates.
Crookston only had two penalties for four minutes in the game, while the Blades had 20 minutes of penalties, including a game misconduct.
Crookston improves to 3-0 to start the season and will host Hopkins on Friday night, a game that can be watched on KROX TV. Breckenridge/Wahpeton drops to 0-2 on the year and will travel to Morris on Thursday.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Wahp/Breck | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
1st Period
0:15 – Crookston – Jay Reese (2) – (Garrett Fischer)
5:00 – Crookston – Tate Hamre (1) (Garrett Fischer, Gavin Aakhus)
2nd Period
7:18 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (6) (Jay Reese, Dylan Larson)
8:57 – B/W – Brennan Ritter (Kamden Spinks, Aiden Jacobsen)
14:49 – Crookston – Jay Reese (3) (Liam Larson, Dylan Larson)
15:42 – B/W – Jack Ekren (Josh Hofman, Kai McDonald)
3rd Period
7:18 – B/W – Josh Hofman (Luke Craig, Jaxson Lopez)
9:52 – B/W – Easyon Neppl (Jaxson Lopez) (PP)
14:28 – Crookston – Jay Reese (4) (Isaiah Donarski)
16:37 – Crookston – Garrett Fischer (7)
| Goalie | Total |
| Cale Gilbertson – B/W | 27 |
| Brady Chandler- Crox | 33 |
