The Crookston Blue Line Club has released the Crookston Youth Hockey update for January 27 – February 2. The report and the players of the week are listed below –
MITE WHITE
Mite white traveled to Hallock this past weekend. The team played well together in getting their first win 7 – 2.
Grayson Solberg is our player of the week. Grayson scored 1 goal and tallied 2 assist this weekend. Grayson plays with a heavy heart. His ability to see the ice and make nice passes along with his defensive positioning are his biggest strengths this season. Keep up the great work Grayson!
MITE BLUE
The Mite Blue only had one game this weekend in Hallock and came away with a very well-played game on full ice with a 9-0 victory. The boys came out and played hard and took control of the game right away. We had 6 kids score this game and a lot of the goals were scored off of nice passes or off rebounds. Scoring this week was Hunter Brownsell with 3, Keegan Lessard with 2 and Jacob Biermaier, Bladen Melsa, Blair Johnson, and Kegan Erickson each with 1. Jacob Biermaier, Bladen Melsa and Davin Janek were the three defensemen this game and did a terrific job holding the blue line and carrying the puck up the ice when the opportunity was there. The rest of the forwards made some good plays and won the battles for the puck. Asher Vigness was our goalie and even though he didn’t have a lot of shots, he stopped the ones he did get.
Player of the week for the Blue is Hunter Brownsell. He got three goals against Hallock this week and played a good all-around game. He used his speed well and won the battles for the puck. He has been working really hard in the last couple of weeks and is playing good hockey. Keep up the good work Hunter.
8U
The 8U player of the week is Calianna Donarski. Calianna is in her first year of 8U and scored her first goal a week ago. This past week Calianna played goalie for us against TRF and played great! Keep up the good work Calianna! The 8U will be back on the road this coming Saturday with a game against EGF on Saturday.
SQUIRTS
Crookston Squirts played Detroit Lakes white last Saturday and ended with the 10-3 win. The boys are doing a great job passing, and playing their positions, which is something we have been working on pretty heavy lately, we had 10 goals but, we had 13 assists!!! That’s what it’s all about!!
Crookston played EGF Black on Sunday, they (EGF black) are undefeated and we as coaches are very pleased with the way our kids played!! We ended up with a 7-9 loss, but it was an excellent game, and the boys all played well. They had the game tied at one point, and the game could have gone either direction!! It was an exciting and fast game and all the kids on our team really did well-played position, passing, and getting after the puck!!
Crookston Squirt Player of the Week is Noah Chandler. Noah is a very coachable kid, and is a areally positive and great teammate, both on and off the ice!! He has really shown a different side of his on-ice game of hockey lately, he flies down the ice and chases hard after the puck and plays a heads up game, making many good passes!! Great job Noah! Keep it up!!
10U
Last weekend we played Detroit Lakes on Saturday morning. It was our first game in 2 weeks but our girls came out enthusiastic. We skated hard to a 12-2 victory. As the game went on kids played different positions and moved the puck well. Scoring was Adley Vigness with 5, Kira Daniels with 2, Sydney McDonald with 2, Katie Seaver, Irelyn Trostad, and Aubrey Bartrum each with one. We were scheduled to play Bemidji later that afternoon but they canceled last minute. Keep up the good work girls.
PEEWEE A
Crookston PeeWee A’s have continued to see the benefit of working hard in the weight room during the season. They played two much-improved games on Saturday losing 6-3 to Warroad and then beating the St. Paul Capitals 5-4. The PeeWee A’s will finish up their regular season with 3 games this weekend, Friday at Thief River Falls, home on Saturday vs. Fergus Falls, and Sunday in Eastside vs. the number one team in the state East Grand Forks.
PEEWEE B
We took the ice against East Grand Forks on Friday evening. EGF is once again one of the top teams in the district and the boys knew it would take a clean hockey game to be in a position to come away with the win. EGF got on the board first, but Conner Hanson was able to take advantage of a breakaway to even it up after the first period. The boys were playing hard and fast, frustrating EGF with their puck movement. Crookston started to break down in the second period as they fell behind 3-1 after 2 periods of play. The wheels fell off in the 3rd when EGF notched another 5 goals, Crookston’s losing streak continued with an 8-1 final. Dylan Thode played one of his strongest games of the season, ending with 48 saves.
We were able to enjoy the weekend off as we didn’t take the ice again until Monday evening when we traveled to Red Lake Falls. This was an evenly matched game right from puck drop. RLF scored first and Crookston would answer with the equalizer. It took overtime to find a victor, Evan Shockman was able to create a neutral zone turnover, he pushed the puck up the right side of the ice into RLF’s zone, he actioned left to get the defender off balance and then cut immediately right to fire an absolute laser from the top of the right circle which scorched past the netminder’s left shoulder. Crookston wins in OT 4-3!
Player of the week – Evan Shockman. Evan has been plagued by near misses and “close but no cigar” scoring chances all season. The message has been to “keep pounding the net, and they will go”. On Monday night we needed someone to step up and win the game, Evan rose his level of play and was rewarded with one of our biggest goals of the season. Evan there is no better time to be playing your best hockey, with districts around the corner we look forward to your continued hard work!
12U
The 12U girls had a busy day on Saturday, February 1st. They hosted doubleheaders against Grand Rapids A & B teams, so it was a full day of hockey! The A team started off the day with a noon game. Grand Rapids started off the scoring in the 1st period about 30 seconds into the game. Ashlyn Bailey got the Pirates on the board, with an assist going to Miryah Epema, making it 1-1 after the 1st period. Ashlyn started off the scoring in the 2nd period for the Pirates as well, with Grand Rapids answering, keeping it tied at 2-2. Ashlyn had a breakaway and created a scoring chance that Karena Longoria capitalized on (assist to Ashlyn Bailey) and Addie Fee finished off the period with one more goal, giving the Pirates the lead 4-2 heading into the 3rd period. Addie Fee would score again, with the Pirate’s Miryah Epema (assist to Karena Longoria) scoring the final goal of the game making it 6-2 for the A team’s first game of the day. Pirate goaltender, Natalie Longoria, had 12 saves in the game.
The 12UB team played at 1:45, and the Pirates started off quick, with a goal by Adelia Weiland (assist to Alexa Bartrum) and another goal by Logan Brekken (assist to Paige Abrahamson) in the 1st period, taking the lead 2-0. Paige Abrahamson started the 2nd period with a goal of her own (assist to Hattie Weiland & Logan Brekken), and this goal went unanswered in the period, to make the score 3-0 heading into the 3rd period. Grand Rapids scored early in the 3rd to make it 3-1, and Paige Abrahamson (assist to Logan Brekken) would score again, giving her 3 points in the game. Final scoring was done by Grand Rapids to make the final score 4-2. Pirate goaltender, Julia Buhler, had 18 saves on the game.
The 12UA team played their 2nd game at 3:45 that day. Grand Rapids started off scoring the 1st goal of the game again in their 2nd facing. Georgia Sanders (assist to Kaylie Clauson) scored the Pirate’s first goal of the game. Grand Rapids answered back, and Pirate Ashlyn Bailey (assist to Emma LaPlante) scored the final goal of the 1st to tie it up 2-2. The Pirates came out strong in the 2nd period and scored the only 3 goals – Addie Fee (assist to Miryah Epema), Emma LaPlante (assists to Ashlyn Bailey & Karena Longoria), and Ashlyn Bailey (unassisted). This gave the Pirates the lead, with a score of 5-2 going into the 3rd. Ashlyn Bailey scored a power-play goal in the 3rd (unassisted) and Grand Rapids came back to score their own power-play goal to end the game with a score of 6-3. The Pirate 12UA team was able to secure both wins on the day. Pirate goaltender, Natalie Longoria, had 16 saves on the game.
The 12UB team played the final game of the day at 5:00. Grand Rapids again started off with the first goal of the game just 30 seconds into play. There was a lot of back and forth play the remainder of the period, but no scoring either way – so the Pirates were down 0-1 going into the 2nd period. Grand Rapids would score quickly again in the 2nd period, but Crookston answered back less than a minute later with Jojo Wallace scoring (unassisted). Grand Rapids scored again, to move the score to 1-3. Pirate’s Logan Brekken scored with a few minutes left in the period (assist to Hattie Weiland), making it 2-3 going into the 3rd. Grand Rapids, Maisie Bader, scored their final goal of the game. Kaylie Clauson scored the final goal of the game for the Pirates, and the final score was 3-4, with the Pirates 12UB team splitting their games on the day. Pirate goaltenders, Julia Buhler and Natalie Longoria split this game and had a total of 15 saves on the game.
The 12UA team traveled to Warroad on Sunday, just one week after facing them at home. That game was a close one, ending with a score of 4-5, with the Pirates having a lot of scoring opportunities. They were ready to play and hadn’t forgotten their competition from the week before. The Pirates started off the scoring, with a breakaway goal by Addie Fee just a few minutes into the game. Warroad would score about ½ way into the period to tie up the game and leave it at 1-1 after the 1st period with a lot of back and forth play. The 2nd period was much of the same, back and forth, including penalty kills, power plays, coincidental roughing penalties, but the Pirate’s Ashlyn Bailey was able to capitalize on a breakaway with only 25 seconds left in the 2nd period to take the lead heading into the 3rd period. Due to injury, the Pirates had to change things up a little in the 3rd period, and Warroad came back after the ice resurfacing with a vengeance. The Warriors scored 4 goals in the 3rd period, answered by one more breakaway goal by Ashlyn Bailey, with about 2 minutes left in the game. Pirate goaltender, Natalie Longoria, had a fantastic game for the Pirates, with 38 saves on the game. The final score of the game was 3-5, with the Warriors taking the win.
12UB Player of the Week is Adelia Weiland. Adelia has been playing great and was rewarded with a big go-ahead goal in a hard-fought win over Grand Rapids. Adelia has a lot of fun out there and rarely is without a smile. Adelia is a forward with Alexa B. and Emmi T.
12UA Player of the Week is Karena Longoria. Approaching playoffs Karena is playing her best hockey. She is difficult and frustrating to play against all while putting up points with three big ones last weekend. Karena is a forward with Miryah E. and JoJo W.
BANTAMS
On January 24 Crookston headed southeast to play in the Mora tournament placing 7th. Crookston lost two games 8-5 against Mora on Friday, and 9-3 against Coon Rapids on Saturday. Crookston bounced back defeating Cambridge 7-3 in the 7th place game on Sunday.
Friday, January 31 – Crookston won a close one over Grand Forks 3-2. Saturday, February 1st, Crookston headed west for a doubleheader with Bemidji and Bagley. Crookston dropped the first game 9-0 to Bemidji and the second game 4-1 to Bagley. Monday the 3rd, Crookston beat Bemidji White 6-3 at home. Crookston has two regular-season games left against TRF and Bemidji White before they head into the district tournament.
Players of the Week – Ty Larson & Koda Donarski. Ty and Koda play defense for the bantam team this season. Each of them has stepped up their offensive efforts this second half of the season resulting in multiple goals and assists for each of them. Koda and Ty come to practice each week and lead by example with their hard work ethic and their desire to get better each and every practice. Ty and Koda have a bright hockey future ahead of them. Keep up the great work!
