Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey falls to TRF in season-opener

The Thief River Falls Prowlers scored one goal in each period to beat the Crookston Pirates Girl’s Hockey team 3-1 in a Section 8A game at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls. It was the season-opener for Crookston and the second game of the year for Thief River Falls.

FIRST PERIOD
Thief River Falls won the opening face-off and skated into the Pirate zone and fired a shot on goal, but Pirate goalie Madi Abrams made the save. The start of the game was telling of how the rest of the period would go as the Prowlers had the puck in the Pirate zone for most of the period.
Thief River Falls scored the first goal of the game 4:20 into the first period when Ava Seeger got a pass at the point and fired a shot from inside the blue line, keeping it low and found a hole on the lower left side of the net to give Thief River Falls a 1-0 lead.
Crookston got its first shot on goal seven minutes into the game when Emma LaPlante skated into the Prowler zone and rifled a shot from the top of the circle. Prowler goalie McKenna Carr made a kick save, and Thief River Falls scooped up the rebound.
Thief River Falls peppered the net with shots for the rest of the period. Crookston had one more quality scoring chance with 5:37 left when they had a 2-on-1 with Aubrey Bartrum carrying the puck up the ice, let a shot go, and Carr made the save. Thief River Falls didn’t allow a shot the rest of the period and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD
There wasn’t a shot on goal for the first three minutes of the period until Crookston’s Adley Vigness picked up the puck in the Crookston zone and sped through center ice, and then flew past a Prowler defenseman, skated toward the net, and rifled a shot on goal. The puck went off the Prolwer goalie and somehow trickled through, bouncing behind the goalie and then trickling into the net to tie the game at 1-1 just over three minutes into the period.
The first penalty of the game came less than six minutes into the period when Crookston was called for tripping. Things got wild, as far as penalties go, as four penalties were called in the next several minutes. Theif River Falls had a 4-on-3 for 30 seconds and didn’t score. A short later, Crookston had a 4-on-3 and got one shot on goal, but the game remained tied at 1-1 after all four penalties.
Thief River Falls picked up their play in the final six or seven minutes of the period and had control of the puck when Grace Knutson slid a pass to Lila Dalager at the point. The Prowlers had traffic in front of the Pirate goaltender to set up the screen, and the puck went into the net to give Thief River Falls a 2-1 lead with 4:39 remaining in the period. Neither team scored in the final minutes, and the Prowlers took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD
Crookston was called for a penalty two minutes into the period, and Thief River Falls had a power play and mustered two shots on goal.
Thief River Falls had the puck in front of the net and fired a shot on goal, and Crookston’s Madi Abrams made a big glove save to keep the Pirates within one goal. The Prowlers continued to pepper the Pirate goalie with shots throughout the rest of the period until Crookston’s Emma Laplante had a short-handed surge as she skated along the boards into the Prowler zone, got around a defender before getting a shot on goal, but Carr made the save.
A few minutes later, the Prowlers’ Miley Cota got a shot on goal, and the rebound was in front of the net as Charleight Hamre slapped the loose puck into the net to give the Prowlers a 3-1 lead with 4:34 remaining.
Crookston pulled the goalie with 37 seconds left in the game, and the Pirates had a shot on goal. The puck popped up and over the goalie after the original save and landed on top of the net. Crookston wasn’t able to get another shot on goal, and Thief River Falls held on to win the game 3-1.

Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will host Fort Frances (Ontario) on Saturday at Noon. TRF improves to 1-1 on the year.
J.V. – TRF won 8-1