The Detroit Lakes Lakers scored two goals early in the first period and added two more late with the game in hand to advance to the Section 8A semifinals with a 6-1 win over the Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team Friday in Detroit Lakes.
Just as they did ten days ago in Crookston the Detroit Lakes Lakers opened up a 3-0 lead in the first and never trailed as they ended the Crookston Pirates season. The Lakers came flying out of the gate with the first ten shots of the game. Pirate goaltender Grace Koshney made saves on the first six shots she faced before Adisyn Strand found Ella Hess just inside the left circle and Hess wired a wrister top shelf past Koshney’s glove for a 1-0 lead with 12:40 to play in the first period. Three minutes later the Pirates were still mired in their own when they tried to clear a puck up the left side of the ice. McKenna Burhans held the point and fired a shot into traffic that was deflected and bounced down towards the opposite side of the crease when Karrigan Hallisey beat Koshney while trying to slide into position for a 2-0 9:46 to play in the period. The Pirates were called for a penalty late in the period that would lead to the Lakers third goal of the period. Midway through the penalty, the Pirates Catherine Tiedemann tried to carry the puck out of the defensive end when Payton Carlblom poked checked the puck from her at the blue line maintaining the zone. Carlblom then skated down to the left half-wall before zipping through the slot, drawing the Pirate goaltender from one post towards the other before firing a shot back against the direction Koshney was moving over her stick side shoulder for a powerplay goal and a 3-0 lead with 4:01 to play in the period. “We struggled to get the puck on net, and we still have work to do on the little things,” said Pirate coach Tim Moe. “We struggled to get the puck on net, and we still have work to do on the little things,” said Pirate coach Tim Moe. “We need to work on getting our bodies in front of shots and not trying to block them with sticks. We talk a lot about doing the little things, working to get open when we have the puck, getting good positioning, we are getting better but need to keep improving. It was nice that McKenze Epema was able to get back on the ice after her injury two months ago today. She’s been with the team the whole season, at games, at practices and she played really well for her first game back, she was one of our best players tonight.”
With their backs against the wall, the Pirates came out firing in the second period and outplayed Detroit Lakes in the opening five minutes culminating in their lone goal of the contest. The Pirates had more shots on goal, four, in the opening five minutes of the second period then they mustered in all of the first period, three. Five and a half minutes into the period the Pirates cleared a puck out to the neutral zone. Aleah Bienek was able to pick up the puck behind a Laker defender and scooted into the zone down the right side on a breakaway. Dillynn Wallace seeing Bienek’s play in the neutral zone raced up the left side creating a 2-on-0 breakaway for the Pirates. Bienek took a shot on goal that rebounded off the Laker goaltender onto the waiting stick of Wallace who backhanded it home to the lead to two at 3-1 with 12:46 to play in the period. “At first I was going to be a little upset,” said Moe. “Aleah had Dillynn with her on a breakaway and took a shot from a bad angle. But she told me she knew Wallace was there and figured if she could hit the goaltender and get a rebound out front Dillynn would have a better shot at scoring. It worked out well. Dillynn continues to get better, and her goal was far from her most impressive offensive play of the night.” Wallace would make several moves around Laker defenders during the game giving herself or teammates chances on goal, but the Pirates would be unable to light the lamp again. Detroit Lakes would pick up their play over the final 12 minutes, and both sides remained scoreless the rest of the period, with Detroit Lakes leading 3-1 after two periods.
Detroit Lakes would control the play once again in the third period using a swarming, net crashing presence to widen their lead. Less than two minutes into the period the Lakers took the air out of the Pirates when Carlblom fired a puck towards the goal, a scrum for the loose puck ensued before the puck finally made its way to the right post where Abagail King jammed it into the net for a 4-1 lead with 15:17 to play. The Lakers kept the pressure on the Pirates only allowing three shots in the third period while getting 21 themselves. Their 40th shot of the game would come off another scrum in front and extend their lead to 5-1. Hallisey fired a shot from the left circle into traffic which fell between the skates of two Pirates and a Laker tied up in front of the net bouncing around there for several seconds until King was able to free the puck sliding it over to Madyson Melgard for a powerplay goal. The Lakers would score again with just 3.8 seconds to go when Hallisey sent a pass across the top of the crease to Burhans whose backhanded shot was stopped by the pads of a stretched out Koshney. As Koshney tried to regain her positioning and balance Burhans jabbed the puck under her pads to extend the lead to 6-1. “The third period was tough, we just didn’t get enough shots on goal and they kept coming,” said Moe. “After the game we talked about the girls taking the weekend to decide what they want to do. We are young, we only have one senior Aaliyah Nelson, who we are very thankful for all the work she has put in during her Pirate career. But I can legally be on the ice with the team through the state tournament, so we talked about what do they want to work on between now and then whether it’s full practices or 3-on-3 or something because the 2019-20 season starts now. We were a young team this year and next year we can’t say that. We have to work hard and I think the future is very bright for this group of girls as long as we put in the work during the offseason.”
The Pirates season comes to an end with a record of 4-19-1. Detroit Lakes improves to 7-17-0 and will play the #1 seed and #1 ranked team in the state, the Warroad Warriors, in the Section 8A semifinals on Saturday afternoon in Crookston.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Detroit Lakes | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
1st Period
12:40 – Detroit Lakes – Ella Hess (Adisyn Strand)
9:46 – Detroit Lakes – Karrigan Hallisey (McKenna Burhans)
4:01 – Detroit Lakes – Payton Carlblom (unassisted) PP
2nd Period
12:46 – Crookston – Dillynn Wallace (3) (Aleah Bienek)
3rd Period
15:17 – Detroit Lakes – Abagail King (Emma Coley, Payton Carlblom)
2:04 – Detroit Lakes – Madyson Melgard (Abagail King, Karrigan Hallisey) PP
0:03 – Detroit Lakes – McKenna Burhans (Karrigan Hallisey, Lily Burnside)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Leah Honer – Detroit Lakes | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| Grace Koshney – Crookston | 12 | 10 | 18 | 40 |
