EGF Shuts Out Pirate Girls Hockey in Season Opener

The East Grand Forks Green Wave Girls Hockey team scored on their first shot and third shot of the game and cruised to a 9-0 victory in a Section 8A victory over the Crookston Pirates in a game played at the Crookston Sports Center.
East Grand Forks (EGF) scored 76 seconds into the game when Kylie Stauss took the first shot of the game and the Green Wave led 1-0. Less than two minutes later, EGF’s Madison McDonald scored a short-handed goal on the Green Wave’s third shot of the game for a 2-0 lead. “Those were both shots from the outside,” said Pirate Coach Tim Moe. “The thing with those shots, we had defenseman backing into the play and Grace (Koshney) said she couldn’t see the puck.” The Green Wave added another goal with four minutes left in the period when Avery Kovar snuck the puck into the net for a 3-0 lead. Crookston’s Koshner made 16 saves in the first period while East Grand Fork’s Megan Birkholz only had to make one save. “We weren’t sure what to expect from East Grand Forks after they graduated 11 seniors from last years team, but they are tough,” said Coach Moe. “They were big and strong and that created problems all game.”
In the second period, EGF’s McDonald scored her second goal of the game when she slid a shot through the five-hole, into the net for a 4-0 lead. McDonald added her third goal of the game a little over six minutes later when East Grand Forks dominated play and had control of the puck for about a four to five-minute span and after a handful of shots McDonald got the puck at the point and fired a wrist shot into the net for a 5-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Stauss added her second goal of the game off a rebound and she had a wide-open left side of the net and she put the puck in the net for a 6-0 lead at the end of the two periods of play. Crookston’s Koshney made 20 saves in the period and the Pirates were able to get five shots on goal with four of them coming on a 5-on-3 power play.
In the third period, EGF’s McDonald scored her second short-handed goal for her fourth goal of the game over a minute into the period for a 7-0 lead. Almost halfway through the period, CJ Mack skated in and rifled a wrist shot into the net for an 8-0 lead and Lainey Pesch finished the scoring with a goal late and the Green Wave cruised to the 9-0 victory. Crookston’s Koshney had 46 saves in the game compared to EGF’s Birkholz’s nine saves. “There are a lot of positives we can take away from the game and the first place is in the net with Grace Koshney (a sophomore from Mayville, ND) and she put on a display of athleticism and good goaltending skills,” said Coach Moe. “We are still young and we didn’t see the sustained good play, but we saw some little things that we can build on. East Grand Forks has a nice team and you had a senior score four goals for them tonight. We need to be patient with this team and keep working hard and we have only had the Mayville girls (four of the six starters for Crookston were Mayville girls) for one practice and now they are playing a game, so it will be nice to have them in practice and be able to work on things.”
Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will play Jamestown on Tuesday, November 20 at Mayville. East Grand Forks improves to 2-0 on the year and hasn’t given up a goal in the first two games.
J.V. – East Grand Forks won 12-0

          Nora Peterson looks to pass      Rylee Solheim brings the puck up the ice

Catherine Tiedemann skates in front of the Pirate bench with the puck

1st Period
15:44 – EGF – Kylie Stauss (Avery Kovar)
13:37 – EGF – Madison McDonald (unassisted) (SH)
4:00 – EGF – Avery Kovar (Kate Johnson, Trinity D’Heilly)

2nd Period
12:42 – EGF – Madison McDonald (Kendra Emery, Lainey Pesch)
6:17 – EGF – Madison McDonald (Aleah Hangsleben)
3:45 – EGF – Kylie Stauss (Avery Kovar, CJ Mack)

3rd Period
15:33 – EGF – Madison McDonald (Kendra Emery) (SH)
9:46 – EGF – CJ Mack (Kendra Emery)
5:32 – EGF – Lainey Pesch (Aleah Hangsleben)