Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey shut out by #8 Moorhead

The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team was only able to muster three shots on goal as the defending Section 8AA champion and #8 ranked Moorhead Spuds cruised to a 4-0 victory at the Crookston Sports Center.

FIRST PERIOD
Moorhead started the game strong and had three quick shots on goal. A little over three and a half minutes into the game, Moorhead’s Samantha Stage slid the puck in front of the net, and Shay Benson got the puck and slapped it into the net to give the Spuds a 1-0 lead 3:37 into the game. Moorhead dominated play and continued to get shots on goal while not allowing the Pirates to get a shot on goal. Moorhead had 15 shots on goal going into the final minute of the period before Kinsley Summers got a shot on goal. The puck deflected off the side of the net, where Samantha Stage put the rebound on net and Shay Benson came in and slapped the puck into the net for a 2-0 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the first period.

SECOND PERIOD
Moorhead won the opening faceoff and got a shot on goal 12 seconds into the period, and it was a sign of more things to come the rest of the period. Less than three minutes into the period, the Spuds blasted a shot off the crossbar that deflected up and into the netting behind the net. Six minutes into the period, Moorhead was shorthanded and had a shot on goal, but Crookston’s Abrams made the save again. The Spuds continued to pepper the Pirate goal with shots.
Moorhead was short-handed once again, but they continued to get shots on goal, and with 2:10 left in the period, Shay Benson used some outstanding stickhandling and went around a Pirate defenseman and wristed a shot into the net for a 3-0 lead.
Crookston didn’t have a shot on goal in the game until Emma LaPlante dumped the puck in from the blue line and Alyssa Jacobson made the easy save, the first of the game, with 61 seconds left in the period. Moorhead took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD
Crookston got their second shot on goal, and first shot on goal in the period for either team, a little over three minutes into the period, but Jacobson made the save. Crookston was called for their first penalty of the game midway through the period, and Moorhead got their first shot on goal in the period, but Abrams made the save. Crookston was only able to get one more shot on goal the rest of the game as the strong Moorhead Spuds didn’t allow Crookston to do much of anything on the offensive end. Moorhead added an insurance goal with under two minutes remaining when Anna Bjorklund skated into the zone and made a nice move and scored on a backhand shot to give the Spuds a 4-0 lead, which was also the final score.

Crookston drops to 0-4 on the year and will host the defending North Dakota state champion Bismarck Legacy at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Moorhead improves to 3-2 on the season.
J.V. – Moorhead won 12