sports

NICK SCHULZ AND JADE SELZLER SCORE FIRST VARSITY GOALS TO LEAD PIRATE HOCKEY OVER I-FALLS

February 8, 2020

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team is celebrating senior day with four seniors scoring goals with Nick Schulz and Jade Selzler scored their first career varsity goals and they currently lead the International Falls Broncos 8-3 late in the third period. It also keeps Crookston Head Coach Josh Hardy (International Falls High School alum) undefeated against his alma mater with a 5-0 record. The win is also the third straight win for the Pirates, where they have scored 19 goals during the winning streak. “I don’t know what is going on with the scoring,” said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy. “We are starting to click and it was a big day on senior day with Nick Schulz and Jade Selzler getting their first goals was a nice.”

FIRST PERIOD –
The teams came out of the gates flying up and down the ice and each team had a shot on goal. Less than three minutes into the game, Crookston’s Jack Doda got a pass at center ice and broke into the Bronco zone and fired a shot on goal from between the circles. The puck bounced off to the side of the net and Ty Hamre got a shot on goal and it looked like it hit off the pipe or the Bronco goalie’s skate and was next to the goal line and an International Falls player tried to clear the puck, but Joe Doda crashed the net and slapped the puck into the back of the net to give Crookston a 1-0 lead. “Joey was johnny on the spot,” said Coach Hardy. “He was able to put it in the net to get us going.” The rest of the period was entertaining with back-and-forth action and without penalties. Both teams had several quality scoring chances, but both goalies were up to the challenge and Crookston took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. “I was proud of the pressure that we brought. I thought defensively it was our best period and the way they helped out on the rush.”

SECOND PERIOD-
The first penalties of the game came just shy of five minutes into the period when there was a scrum in front of the International Falls net with each team picking up a two minute minor for roughing. Not even 30 seconds later, Crookston’s Jack Doda let a blast go from the top of the circle and it clanged off the pipe. About a minute later, the Broncos were tagged with a penalty giving Crookston a one-man advantage. A few seconds into the power play, Jack Doda received a nice pass back to the top of the circle and Jack blasted it by the goalie for a 2-0 lead with 10:45 left in the period. “Things started to open up for us there,” said Coach Hardy. “Jack had a nice goal on the power play. It was just like we draw it up.” Less than a minute later, Crookston’s Nick Schulz got the puck and was all by himself and fired a shot into the back of the net to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead with 9:51 to go in the period. The goal was the first of Schulz’s varsity career and the crowd went wild. “Nick got his first goal and good things happen when you put it on the net,” said Coach Hardy. “The goalie didn’t see it and it went five-hole and I think he was more surprised than anybody that it went in and I think his teammates were more excited than he was.” Crookston added another goal less than two minutes later when Joe Doda found the back of the net for his second goal of the game, giving the Pirates a commanding 4-0 lead. Right when it looked like the Pirate rout was on, International Falls scored two goals in less than a minute to get within a 4-2 deficit with 3:38 left in the period. “We needed to settle down and stay positive,” said Coach Hardy.

THIRD PERIOD –
Crookston struck first in the third period when Jade Selzer blasted a shot by the Bronco goalie 69 seconds into the period for the first goal of his varsity career and a 5-2 Pirate lead. “Jade came in and made a beautiful shot and I was kind of surprised that he hadn’t scored one before,” said Coach Hardy. “He is what we strive to be as players. He is a great kid and he has grown over the last few years and is having a great senior season.” Crookston’s Ty Hamre added another goal less than two minutes later to take a commanding 6-2 lead. “Jack put a shot on and Ty came in and scored and that was a nice goal,” said Coach Hardy. International Falls slowed the Pirate run with a goal with 12:34 remaining but picked up a five-minute boarding penalty a couple of minutes later. Crookston took advantage of the five-minute power play with a faceoff to the left of the Bronco net and Ben Andringa slid a pass to Noah Kiel who blasted a shot into the net for a 7-3 lead. A little over a minute later, Crookston’s Ben Andringa won the faceoff and got the puck to Alex Longoria who found the back of the net to give the Pirates their season-high eighth goal of the game.
The scoring spree continued, but this time it was International Falls finding the back of the net to get within an 8-4 deficit with less than five minutes to go in the period. Crookston held on the rest of the way for an 8-4 victory. “We have been taking care of business over the last three games and we seem to be clicking,” said Coach Hardy. “We will need to keep it going on Tuesday when we have a tough game at Red Lake Falls on Tuesday.”

Crookston wins their third game in a row and improves to 4-19 on the year and will have a big Section 8A match-up at Red Lake Falls on Tuesday. International Falls drops to 12-11-1 on the year.
J.V. – International Falls won 2-1

Scoring	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
I-Falls	0	2	2	4
CROOKSTON	1	3	4	8

1st Period
14:21 – CROX – Joe Doda (Jack Doda, Ty Hamre)

2nd Period
10:45 – CROX – Jack Doda (Joe Doda, Quinn Westlake) PP
9:51 – CROX – Nick Schulz (unassisted)
8:04 – CROX – Joe Doda (Ty Hamre)
4:32 – IFALLS – Jaxon Germain (Ben Skifstad)
3:38 – IFALLS – Brady Wicklund (Kian Gonzales)

3rd Period
15:51 – CROX – Jade Selzler (Noah Kiel)
13:24 – CROX – Ty Hamre (Jack Doda)
12:34 – IFALLS – Parker Sivonen (Ben Skifstad)
10:26 – CROX – Noal Kiel (Ben Andringa) PP
9:09 – CROX – Alex Longoria (Ben Andringa) PP
4:51 – IFALLS – Justin Besch (Bradyn Dremmel, Tucker Hell)