DEVILS LAKE SCORES EARLY AND LATE TO BEAT CROOKSTON GIRL’S HOCKEY 4-2

The Devils Lake Firebirds had a two-week layoff since their last game, and it didn’t seem to matter as they scored on the first shot of the game and held on the rest of the way for 4-2 victory over the Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team in an exciting game played at the Crookston Sports Center.

FIRST PERIOD –
The game had an ominous start with Devils Lake scoring on their first shot of the game just over a minute into the contest when Hannah Houle scored in front of the Pirate net for a 1-0 lead. “We came out slow and weren’t moving our feet,” said Pirate Coach Tim Moe. “It didn’t look like were ready to go at the start of the game.”  Three minutes later, Devils Lake had a shot with an open left side of the net, but the shot was wide left, and the Firebird lead was still 1-0.  
Crookston didn’t get their first shot on goal until midway through the period with a shot from center ice.  Devils Lake dominated for the first two-thirds of the period, partly because of two Crookston penalties.  The Firebirds didn’t score on their one-person advantage, but with 3:48 left in the period, Elle Black tried to score on a wrap-around from behind the net.  Black’s shot slid off the side of the net and bounced in front of the goal, and Madisyn White one-timed a shot in to give Devils Lake a 2-0 lead.  Neither team scored in the final minutes, and Devils Lake took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.  “It looked like we didn’t practice yesterday.  We were a step slow the entire period and we couldn’t get on the defensive side and bad things ended up happening,” said Coach Moe. “We had most of our shots on net in the final five minutes of the period but we weren’t quick enough to start the game and that hurt us.”

SECOND PERIOD – 
Devils Lake started the second period just like they started the game by scoring on their first shot of the period.  The Firebirds slid a pass back to the point, and Haylee Carlson blasted a shot from the point for a goal to take a 3-0 lead over a minute into the period.  “That wasn’t the way we wanted to start the period,” said Coach Moe. “We think it might have been tipped in front of the net, but there was some traffic in front of the net.”
Crookston started to dominate play over the next three minutes and peppered the net with several shots.  The Pirate’s persistence paid off just shy of five minutes into the period when Raina Satrom scored on a rebound to get Crookston on the board and within a 3-1 deficit.  “We had good pressure and we had about three shifts in their zone and we were able to piece something together,” said Coach Moe. “Raina was finally able to get it in the net after a couple of shots and that was nice to get on the board.”
Halfway through the period, Devils Lake had two semi-breakaways, but the Pirate’s Grace Koshney came up with two big saves to keep the deficit at two goals (3-1). The teams played even the rest of the period, but it was Crookston that took advantage of their opportunities.  Catherine Tiedemann scored the second Pirate goal of the game with 3:37 left in the second period to bring Crookston within a 3-2 deficit.  “The defenseman never took Catherine and she was able to get open,” said Coach Moe. “Catherine was able to pick the corner that she likes and if she can keep doing that, it will be good for us because it is only her second goal of the year so far.” A little over a minute later, Crookston had a shot on goal, and the puck slid behind the Devils Lake goalie to the side of the net before the Firebirds covered up the puck to get a stoppage of play.  Neither team scored the rest of the period, and Crookston was within a 3-2 deficit going into the second intermission with momentum on their side.  “It was a much better period for us,” said Coach Moe. “We did a lot of great things and moved a lot better.”

THIRD PERIOD – 
Crookston almost tied the game four minutes into the third period when Aleah Bienek had a mini-break away, but her shot was stopped, and Devils Lake still led 3-2.  The period was fast-paced back and forth action with both teams getting several high-quality scoring chances, but both goaltenders came up with several big saves.
With 5:15 left in the game, Crookston’s Morgan Nelson had a shot from the point that fluttered through traffic, but the Devils Lake goalie made the glove save.  Crookston’s Grace Koshney made a big save with four minutes left in the game to keep the Pirates within a one-goal deficit.  Crookston came back, and with 2:26 left in the game, Crookston’s Cassie Solheim had a shot from the point, but the Firebird goalie made another save.  With less than a minute left in the game, Crookston’s Nora Peterson broke into the Firebird zone but didn’t get a shot off while Crookston pulled the goalie.  Devils Lake tried to score on a shot from their zone and missed the net, forcing an icing call.  Crookston had to put their goalie back in the net with the faceoff in their zone, and with six seconds left in the game, Devils Lake scored on a shot that trickled past the goalie and into the net for a 4-2 victory. “We ended up taking a penalty at the end with a player being too aggressive and we couldn’t get the puck out of our zone in the last 30 seconds,” said Coach Moe. “We have to find a way to win.  We have been competitive, but we have another huge game coming up on Monday against Thief River Falls.  I think we can compete with Thief River Falls, but we have to play better than we have been playing.”

Crookston drops their third straight game (all to North Dakota teams) and falls to 6-10 on the year and will host Thief River Falls on Monday.  Devils Lake improves to 6-4 on the year.

1st Period
15:44 – DL – Hannah Houle (Madisyn White)
3:48 – DL – Madisyn White (Elle Black)

2nd Period
15:41 – DL – Haylee Carlson (Hannah Houle, Madisyn White)
12:06 – Crox – Raina Satrom (Cassie Solheim, Nora Peterson)
3:37 – Crox – Catherine Tiedemann (Cassie Solheim, Dillynn Wallace)

3rd Period
0:06 – DL – Elle Black (Kaylie Klemetsrud, Abby Reule)  PP