FEE SCORES 4 TIMES, FREIJE RECORDS HER 4TH SHUTOUT AS PIRATES BEAT TRF IN SECTION SEMI-FINAL

Sophomore Addie Fee scored four goals for the first time in her career, and Sophomore Kambelle Freije had 17 saves for her fourth shutout of the year to lead the Crookston Pirates to a 5-0 win over the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8A Tournament semi-final game to send them to the Section 8A Championship game on Thursday against the #1 ranked Warroad Warriors in Warroad. Warroad defeated the East Grand Forks Green Wave 9-2 in the first game tonight to punch their ticket to the final. “This is a game where the girls did exactly what we wanted to do,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “we came out flying and played with a purpose for all three periods.”

FIRST PERIOD
Crookston did exactly what they wanted to do, score early. It came just after two and a half minutes into the game when Fee scored her first, converting a nice pass from Taylor Field to make it 1-0. “I just remember Taylor and I going into their zone and she passed me the puck and yelled at me to shoot it and I did and it went in,” said Fee. The Pirates could check off one of the goals – score early. “It was a big goal,” said Meyer, “Addie was flying around and getting those shots on net, which is all we could ask for.” The Pirates would also score late in the period when Brekken Tull pounced on a rebound off Morgan Nelson’s shot, and Crookston led 2-0 with two minutes left in the period. “It was good to see Morgan get an assist on the goal,” said Meyer, “she works so hard and hasn’t gotten a goal this year, but not from lack of her play. She made some dandy moves around Thief River Falls to work out of trouble for us.”
The last time Crookston played Thief River Falls in the regular season, the Pirates were three for three on the power play. Tull’s power play, her fifth power-play goal of the year, came on the Pirate’s only extra man advantage in the game. “We worked on it all week in practice,” said Meyer. “Getting those five days of practice paid off as we got to work on the little things and clean up what we needed to clean up. We felt good after the first period with the two-goal lead but didn’t want to take our foot off the gas, get complacent, and let Thief River Falls back into the game.”

SECOND PERIOD
Crookston would dominate the second period outshooting the Prowlers 16-2 and scoring early and late again, with Fee getting both of the goals. The first came 58 seconds into the period when Crookston was skating on a delayed penalty against Thief River Falls. “I was pretty sure I was flying, and Taylor passed the puck, and I used their defenseman as a screen.  I shot, and it went in,” said Fee. She would score with less than three and a half minutes left in the period when Field gave her a pass in the slot, and she wristed a shot past the Prowler goalie for her third goal of the game. Crookston went into the second period enjoying a 4-0 lead. “We did a good job of keeping the puck in their zone,” said Meyer. “That makes it fun and all our lines had good chemistry, moving the puck well and it worked out for us.”

THIRD PERIOD
Crookston drew a couple of early penalties in the third period to give Thief River Falls a five-on-three power play for 1:26. A team’s best penalty killer is usually your goaltender, and Freije stood tall with about five of her nine saves in the period during that stretch. Still, she was perfect with a couple standing on your head type of saves to keep her shutout intact. “Kambelle had several saves during the five on three and many were spectacular,” said Meyer. “I’m not even sure if she saw a couple of them!”
Fee would score her fourth goal of the game when Field slid her a pass to the right of the Thief River Falls goal. Fee spotted a small opening to the right of the Prowler goalie and shot it perfectly for her 13th goal of the year. “I just shot the puck, and I didn’t know it went in initially,” said Fee. It put Crookston up 5-0, and they were minutes away from advancing. “The girl’s made sure they didn’t take their foot off the gas,” said Meyer. “They set a goal for themselves and got where they wanted to be. It was good we finished it out and put three periods together.”

Crookston improved to 17-6-2 on the season and will play Warroad on Thursday in Warroad for the Section 8A title. Losing twice to Warroad already this year, did the Pirates learn some things? “At playoff time, it’s a different story. We need a couple of funky bounces and have Kambelle stand on her head. That’s going to be the focus in practice this week. That is three days, and the girls will be ready,” said Meyer. Crookston has learned you must stay OUT of the penalty box against Warroad. Fee had some thoughts on the third time they play the Warriors, “I think that we have to play good strong defense and not have just offense in our heads all the time. When we do get an opportunity, we have to fire the puck.”
Thief River Falls finishes the year with a 7-20 record.

The Section 8A Championship game will start at 7:00 and be on ALL the KROX RADIO Platforms, radio and audio streaming on the web, and Video Streaming starting at 6:15 PM.

[yotuwp type=”videos” id=”Z1tj5N9puoA” ]

1st Period
2:36 – Crox – Addison Fee (10) (Taylor Field)
14:52 – Crox – Brekken Tull (14) (Morgan Nelson, Reese Swanson) (PP)

2nd Period
0:58 – Crox – Addison Fee (11) (Kaylie Clauson, Taylor Field)
13:40 – Crox – Addison Fee (12) (Taylor Field)

3rd Period
9:36 – Crox – Addison Fee (13) (Taylor Field)