CROOKSTON PIRATE GIRL’S HOCKEY SHUT OUT BY WARROAD, FINISH RUNNER-UP IN SECTION 8A

Crookston would play Warroad scoreless for over 24 minutes to start the Section 8A Girl’s Hockey Championship. In the next eight and a half minutes, the Warriors would score five goals to take a 5-0 lead after two periods and add two more in the third period to defeat the Pirates 7-0, and Warroad claims their seventh straight Section 8A title in front of a nice, big and raucous Crookston crowd at the East Grand Forks Civic Center.

Coming into the game, Crookston, who lost 9-1 to Warroad in early December during the regular season, knew they had to do a lot of things in their defensive zone to keep Warroad off the scoreboard with their high potent offense. Probably the biggest thing was getting great goaltending which is what they got from junior Kailee Magsam, who was peppered early and throughout the first period. Still, she managed to turn away all 13 shots the Warriors threw at her. “Kailee played  very well,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “she was zoned in, controlled her rebounds, and was conscious of her surroundings and where Warroad was at all times.” Crookston didn’t have a shot until there were seven minutes to go in the first period, and it was an easy dump in, and it was a few minutes later the Pirates managed their first good shot on goal that was one of two saves the Kendra Nordick, the Warriors goaltender made. “We had problems getting the puck out of our end in the period,” said Meyer, “we did have a couple of opportunities that never played out for us, but we were happy to have held them scoreless in the period.”

The second period saw the Pirates pick up their play offensively, getting some more zone time with a couple of outstanding chances to score. But, again, it was fleeting. The Warriors had no problems breaking out of their zone and putting constant pressure on Crookston and their defensemen. Seven minutes into the period, Warroad struck with their first goal, and Lila Lanctot had a juicy rebound laying in front of the Pirate net after Magsam made the initial save, but Lanctot snapped it in for a 1-0 lead. Like a shark smelling blood in the ocean, Warroad started swarming and striking often like Kate Johnson, the seventh leading scorer in the state was in the seven or eight-foot area to the right of the Pirate goal, and the junior snapped a top shelf to the left of Magsam, who didn’t stand a chance and Warroad led 2-0. Thirty-six seconds later, it was a well-executed two on one with Madison Lavergne making a nice deke move to make it 3-0. “They really get going at another level once they get scoring,” said Meyer, “we were really on our heels at this point.” Three minutes later, the State Class leader in assists, junior Tayla Hendrickson, who had her 51st assist earlier on Johnson’s goal, scored her 31st goal of the season on a nice pass from Abbey Reule and the third leading overall scorer in the state made it 4-0. To put the icing on the period with one minute and four seconds left, Reule would pot another one that snuck through the five-hole and the blitz was over with Warroad leading 5-0 after two periods. “We didn’t handle their pressure well during that last nine minutes,” said Meyer, “in some cases, we gave them the puck in our zone instead of clearing our zone. We did have a couple of flurries and if we could have scored on the earlier ones, it could have changed our play or held them back a little more than we did.”

The game went to running time six and a half minutes into the third period when on her first shift of the game, Emily Lorenson scored to make it 6-0, and then Hendrickson would score her second goal of the game with the Pirates on the power play. A Crookston defenseman took a slap shot, and it hit Hendrickson directly, caromed out to center ice and the winger was on it immediately and in alone on Magsam and made a nice deke move to score with just under seven minutes to go in the game, and it was a 7-0 lead for Warroad. Crookston had better chances at scoring a couple of times, but Nordick was strong. About nine minutes into the period, Crookston was able to get the puck in front of the Warriors goal, and Brekken Tull had a chance that was stopped. Tull, Addie Fee, and Aleah Bienek were all trying to jam the puck past Nordick, but could not do it, and then there was some swinging and pushing with Warroad taking two penalties and Crookston one. It was on that power play for Crookston that Hendrickson scored the shortie.
“I was hoping we could have scored on those chances,” said coach Meyer, “just to get on the scoreboard would have been nice. I’m so proud of these girls for the entire season. They played hard every game and learned so much. The improvement was significant, and we will use these types of games to find out where we have to get to be at this level.” It was the first time this year that Crookston had been shut out in a game.
Crookston had six seniors playing their last game as a Pirate. Aleah Bienek, Jocelyn Brekken, Jaycee Larson, Samantha Sanders, Rylee Solheim, and Dillyn Wallace. “These girls sacrificed so much during their time playing hockey for the Pirates. They were there when things didn’t go so well, but it was great to see them get rewarded with the seasons we’ve had the last two years,” said Meyer, “they will be missed, and we wish them the best in their futures. We are sad to see them go, but we are excited as we have coming back, with some JV players who will have to step in and see what the youth system has to bring. I’m looking forward to it.”   

Crookston will have 14 of their 20 girl tournament roster returning next year. The Pirates finished 15-9-1 in the first season under Meyer.
Warroad, who should be the number one seed for the Minnesota State Class A Tournament that starts on Wednesday next week at the St. Paul Xcel Energy Center, is now 23-3-1.

Before they handed out the plaques and individual medals to the two teams after the game, they announced the All-Section 8A Girl’s Hockey teams. The first team was dominated by Warroad players, with the Pirates Reese Swanson, the only non-Warroad player on the team. The Pirates were well represented on the second team with four players named.

All Section 8A Girl’s Hockey First Team
Forwards
Talya Hendrickson (Jr) – Warroad
Kate Johnson (Jr) – Warroad
Reese Swanson (Soph) – Crookston

Defense
Abby Chamernick (Jr) –  Warroad
Cal Lindquist  (Jr)  –   Warroad
Katy Comstock (Fresh) –  Warroad

Goalie
Kendra Nordick (Sr) – Warroad

All Section 8A –  Second Team
Forwards
Addie Fee  (Fresh) – Crookston
Madison Lavergne  (Sr) – Warroad
Aleah Bienek  (Sr) – Crookston

Defense
Rylee Solheim  (Sr) – Crookston
Morgan Nelson  (Soph) – Crookston

Goalie
Bell Hamre  (Jr) – Thief River Falls

Coach of the Year –  Brett Johnson – Thief River Falls
Assistant Coach of the Year –  Bob Huot – Thief River Falls

1st Period
No Scoring

2nd Period
7:20 – War – Lila Lanctot (Kaiya Sandy, Madison Lavergne)
8:00 – War – Kate Johnson (Talya Hendrickson)
8:36 – War – Madison Lavergne (Kaiya Sandy, Abby Chamernick)
13:41 – War – Talya Hendrickson (Abbey Reule)
15:56 – War – Abbey Reule (Katierie Sandy)

3rd Period
6:27 – War –   Emily Lorenson  (Sophie Johnson, Maddie Skogman)
10:51 – War – Talya Hendrickson  unassisted    (SH)

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