Talya Hendrickson, a Warroad junior, was the seventh leading scorer in Minnesota Class A Girl’s Hockey. She’s probably advanced in that department when she picked up four goals and three assists to lead the #2 ranked Warriors to a 9-1 win over the Crookston Pirates at the Crookston Sports Center.
The game started with good action on both sides with Warroad dominating offensive zone time. You know when you play teams like #1 Orono, who the Pirates lost to 8-1 on Friday and now Warroad, you have to be focused and stay out of the penalty box. The Pirates took a penalty just about a minute and a half into the game but were able to skate off the man disadvantage without any damage. “We told the girls to come out flying,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “and that is what they did for the most part. The penalties are tough when you are playing a rival and section team and trying to keep the emotions out of it. I know a lot of our girls like to put the emotions into it and penalities just happen.” Crookston had some opportunities in the period on a nice play by Morgan Nelson working low in the Warroad zone and a nice pass to Addie Fee who one-timed it and it went off the pipe. Fee had another point-blank shot that went wide. “We needed something to happen and Morgan did a nice job of getting the puck out and finding Addie and even though it was a pipe,” said Coach Meyer. “It was good for us to see what we can do and turn the momentum a little bit.” Warroad would get another power play and this time with four seconds left in the penalty, Lila Lanctot scored on a rebound in front and a 1-0 lead. Warroad would take the next two penalties in the period and Crookston was unable to penetrate very much and Pirate goaltender, Jacey Larson, held the Warriors off the board the rest of the way and it was 1-0 after a period.
The Pirates were ready for the second period said Meyer, “Our heads were held high. It’s more of a mental game when playing Warroad. It seemed like the last two seasons I was with the team, we were defeated before we even went out on the ice. Now we’ve played some of the top teams in the State we played a pretty good game for a period and a half.”
Three and a half minutes into the second period Hendrickson lit the lamp past Larson for her 14th goal of the year and it was a 2-0 lead for the Warriors. Crookston would answer on the power play when the Pirates Reese Swanson, who was moved back to defense tonight, came right up the middle in the Warroad end, kept walking up the middle, and put a crisp shot on the ice that surprised and beat goaltender Kendra Nordick of Warroad to put the Pirates with a 2-1 score with 12 minutes to go in the second period. “That is what Reese works on shooting the puck fast,” said Meyer, “and she shot it fast and beat the goalie low on the glove side.” Then in a span of just over a minute, Warroad scored two ‘soft’ goals from Maddie Skogman and Hendrickson got her second and it was suddenly 4-1 Warroad. The Pirates made a change of goalie with Kailee Magsam entering, “It was tough to pull Jacey at that point,” said Meyer, “they were goals that Jacey would have had normally. One sneaked past her on the post side and the other rolled up over her. It was tough putting in Kailee cold after getting her back.” Now it was time for the Hendrickson show to continue as the junior scored three goals in 3:25 on some shifty passing, a nice point shot on a power play, and another shot off the crossbar and down and Warroad broke it open with a 6-1 lead after two periods. “It’s like a point our girls know that Hendrickson can go off, her and Kate Johnson. They’ve played against each other a lot of years coming up and know what they can do and it seemed like it was just a matter of time that Hendrickson turned it up a little. She’s a very good player.”
The Hendrickson show didn’t end after two periods, the junior would have three assists on all three Warroad third period goals scored by Abigail Chamernick, Kate Johnson, and Abbey Reule. Chamernick had a shortie and Ruele’s was the third Warroad power play of the game and Warroad run with running time in the third period 9-1. “It’s just the way Warroad controls the game in the offensive zone,” said Meyer, “they always have someone sitting back door and it seems to work for them most of the time. They are very aggressive from the half wall to the slot, which is something we have to work on.”
In the hindsight of all this, Crookston’s program was able to play the #1 and #2 teams in Class A four days apart. “It’s great we can play these caliber teams,” said Meyer, “we were able to play all three lines and four/five defensemen and two goalies to let them see where we have to get to reach that next level.”
Crookston has lost three in a row to go to 4-3 on the year and now will have another weekend trip to the Iron Range where they play Rock Ridge, a new co-op between Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia. The game Friday night will be played in Virginia at 7:00 PM and then Saturday afternoon the Pirates will play a varsity-only game at International Falls starting at 4:00 PM. The Broncos are now in Section 8A, so it’s an important Section contest. Both games will be on KROX RADIO starting a half-hour before game time.
Warroad, who has an 8-3-1 record with 12 games already played, takes an 11-day break and will host Fargo North-South (N.D.) on December 18.
JV – Warroad won 14-1 (Ava Martin had the lone Crookston goal)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total | |
| Warroad | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
1st Period
War – 9:40 – Lila Lanctot (Kate Johnson, Maddie Skogman) (PP)
2nd Period
War – 3:36 – Talya Hendrickson (Kate Johnson)
Crox – 5:01 – Reese Swanson (4) unassisted) (PP)
War – 10:13 – Maddie Skogman (Emerson Hardwick)
War – 11:25 – Talya Hendrickson (Kate Johnson, Katelyn Courteau)
War – 13:25 – Tayla Hendrickson (Madison Lavergne) (PP)
War – 14:50 – Tayla Hendrickson (Abby Reule)
3rd Period
War – 3:02 – Abigail Chamernick (Talya Hendrickson) (SH)
War – 4:41 – Kate Johnson (Abby Reule, Talya Hendrickson)
War – 9:40 – Abby Reule (Abigail Chamernick, Talya Hendrickson) (PP)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Jacey Larson – Crox | 9 | 3 | x | 12 |
| Kailee Magsam – Crox | x | 5 | 13 | 18 |
| Kendra Nordik – Warr | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
