Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey wins 2-1 in OT on last-second Ashlyn Bailey goal

Crookston junior defenseman, Ashlyn Bailey is a sprinter on the Pirates track team, and she shows that speed on the ice as well, like tonight when she got a loose puck at center ice and took off gaining the Rock Ridge blue line with about five seconds to go and scored with one second left to lead the Pirates to a 2-1 win at the Crookston Sports Center. “I was carrying the puck, and I heard everyone hollering to shoot the puck,” said Bailey, “but I carried it in and shot and it went off the goalie and, in the net and then the horn sounded, and my teammates were rushing toward me, “said Bailey after the game. It was the third win in a row for Crookston.

First Period
Things started well for Crookston as they had the first nine shots on goal in the game and just over two minutes into the game, senior captain, Addie Fee was able to pounce on a puck behind the Rock Ridge goal and brought it in front on her backhand and lifted by the Wolverine goalie, Nola Kwiatkowski for a power play goal to make it 1-0. Crookston dominated the first half of the period, not allowing a shot on goal by Rock Ridge until about seven minutes left in the period. The Pirates have been stressing to get more shots on goal as they’ve been having trouble hitting the net in the three previous games, but they had 16 in the first period, but Kwiatkowski was tough in goal. “We only led 1-0 but I thought we had a pretty good first period,” said Reed Olson. Rock Ridge kept battling the period eventually getting 11 shots on Pirate goalie, Kamebelle Freije. Penalties were a problem for both teams in the period, with Rock Ridge receiving three penalties and the first one led to the Crookston goal. Crookston had two penalties but killed both off to keep it 1-0 after the first period.

Second Period
Crookston started out the second period like the first with a lot of pressure in the offensive zone and had Rock Ridge on their heels. The Pirates had good chances, including Fee ringing one off the pipe that a lot of Crookston fans in that end thought it was a goal, but it was still 1-0 Crookston. “We had another good period,” said coach Olson, “We played hard, got shots on goal and just couldn’t get anything by their goalie, who played a very good game. The Pirates Emma LaPlante continued her strong play by winning faceoffs and getting some good chances with the handling of the puck and getting in scoring positions. “We know that our team would probably not score a lot of goals this year,” said Bailey, “we keep working at it with our coaches, who we really like. Hopefully things will start to click as we have some scorers on this team.” Crookston outshot Rock Ridge 14-8 in the second period but it was still 1-0 after two periods.

Third Period
The Pirates kept the offense going in the third period and for the second period in a row they failed to score. Parker Strand had some very good chances along with Jocelyn Field and Fee. The only goal of the period was scored by Rock Ridge who were outshot 15-4 in the period! Mayme Scott a sophomore with good speed and moves got around the Pirates and let a shot go that Freije got a pad on, but it went off her pad and trickled in to tie the score at 1-2 seven minutes into the third period. Crookston dominated the period without scoring. Both teams went to two lines starting in the second period and the Field line was a scoring threat every time they were on the ice, as were the LaPlante line, but Kwiatkowski was as brilliant at the Pirate goalie, Freije. Crookston took the only penalty of the final period and killed that off. Crookston hasn’t given up a power play goal so far this season and are 2-11 on their own power play. Again, Crookston rang up the shots, outshooting Rock Ridge 15-4 in the third period! “We did everything but score in the period,” said Coach Olson, “now we are hitting the net, but we’d like the girls to shoot lower on the goaltenders.” Time ran out and now the game would go to overtime.

Overtime
Both teams started out cautiously in the extra frame and both had some chances, but again sharp goaltending by both teams kept the game continuing. It looked like it was going to be a draw and time running down, Bailey had picked up a loose puck at center ice area and she was on her way, blazing into the Rock Ridge end, turned a defenseman and was able to get a shot off that Kwiatkowski got a pad on, but not enough and it trickled into the net and then the horn sounded and the Pirates win their third game in a row 2-1. “Yes, I think this is the biggest goal I’ve scored in high school, “said Bailey, “hopefully we can keep getting the number of shots that we have off and get on a roll.” It was Bailey’s second goal of the season, but the biggest so far. Crookston is now 3-1 on the season and will host International Falls on Saturday morning at the Crookston Sports Center starting at 11:00 AM. It will be on KROX RADIO and on KROX TV, both starting with a pre-game at 10:30 AM. International Falls record is 1-5-1 on the year after dropping a 5-0 game at Detroit Lakes tonight.