LINDAMAN SCORES THREE TIMES TO LEAD HILLTOPPERS TO A 5-1 WIN OVER PIRATE GIRLS HOCKEY

The second leading scorer in the State of Minnesota High School Girl’s Hockey, Duluth Marshall’s Ilsa Lindaman, scored three goals and had two assists to lead the Hilltoppers to a 5-1 win over the Crookston Pirates at the Crookston Sports Center on Friday night. Lindaman, who has committed to the University of St. Thomas, came into the game with 41 goals and 22 assists and left Crookston with 44 goals and 24 assists for 68 points, which puts her 15 points behind Northfield’s Ayla Puppe with 83 points. The Pirates saw Puppe and Northfield earlier and lost 3-1, with Puppe being in all the scoring for the Raiders!

First Period
Crookston was playing without junior goalie Kamebelle Freije again with a broken thumb. Freije is being seen by Dr. Fennel at Riverview Health, and they’ve worked on a small cast/splint that will fit into her goalie glove. “They’ve told me it won’t get any worse, and it’ll depend on how much pain I can handle,” said Freije, “but I’m looking at next week something, so we’ll see.” The Pirates were also missing senior captain Reese Swanson for a second game, so the Pirates rotated three defensemen. Duluth Marshall took a penalty almost six minutes into the game. The Pirates would score on the power play with the Marshall zone and a pass back to the point; Field was there with the goalie down and put in the open space to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the game. “It was a nice play by Adley and Morgan to get it on the net,” said Emily Meyer, the Crookston head coach, “Taylor was in the right place to put it in. Coach Fee had them scouted well, and we made some adjustments on the power play, and that was what worked on that.”  Crookston had a lot of momentum going after the goal, had a lot of offensive ice time, and created several scoring chances that they couldn’t capitalize on with fanning on pucks, shooting wide, and things of that nature. Crookston took two penalties in the second half of the period, and although the Hilltoppers didn’t score on the first penalty, they did score a minute later when Lindaman scored on a brilliant play. She was about five feet in front of the Crookston net, with a Pirate defenseman between her and the net. Lindaman had no space to maneuver, or so it seemed, but she deked the defenseman and then the Pirate goalie, Maddie Abrams, to tie the game at 1-1 with five and a half minutes to go in the period. Crookston would take another penalty with 1:16 left in the period, which was costly. Lindaman scored again, this time getting a nice pass from defenseman Avery Lian. Lindaman made a nice move and snapped one off high past Abrams to make it 2-1 with 11.5 seconds to go in the period. “That was a tough one to give up at that time,” said Meyer, “Lindaman has hands, and we knew she was the one we had to contain, and it’s like Puppe from Northfield; we just have to do a better job of not sitting back on our heels and being memorized.”

Second Period
A cardinal rule in hockey is don’t let your opponent score in the last minute or the first minute of a period! Duluth Marshall did it to end the first period, and there was only one goal scored in the second period; it came just 18 seconds into it, and this time, it was Lindaman winning a face-off, getting the puck to Nina Thorson on the back door to make it 3-1. “I think all those mistakes, fanning on shots, missing shots, and things of those nature, “said Meyer, “It’s just the little things; if our girls can connect on these things, we’ll be much better. We want to focus on the positives and continue playing pirate hockey.”  Crookston didn’t capitalize on a Marshall penalty and the Pirates would skate the last 2:24 period shorthanded. Although Marshall didn’t score, it took away the Pirate offense. The Pirates were assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking in front of the Crookston net with 17 seconds to go in the period. A major penalty means the team on the power play can score as many times as possible in those five minutes. The major penalty ran into the third period with Duluth Marshall with a 3-1 lead. “We need to capitalize on our opportunities,” said Meyer.

Third Period
Starting the period with a power play for 4:43, Duluth Marshall would score another power-play goal, and guess who? Lindaman received another nice pass from Lian and quickly shot to beat the sliding Abrams from right to left to make it 4-1 just over two minutes into the period. The two reversed the scoring late when Lindaman found Lian on the blue line, and the tall junior defenseman blew a shot past Abrams to make the final 5-1. Crookston outshot the Hilltoppers 12-10 in the third period and 30-26 in the game. “We have things we have to clean up,” said Meyer, “we put a lot of pressure on them and their goalie. This team has what it takes; they move the puck well, see the ice, cycle, and speed. We must make sure to pick up the little things we can control. We will see Bemidji on Tuesday, and these girls want to get that revenge for when they beat us earlier this year in overtime in our rink.”

Crookston is now 14-7-1 on the season and will be at Bemidji on Tuesday for a rematch with the Lumberjacks. “I’m going to call it,” said Crookston sophomore defenseman Ashlyn Bailey in a postgame interview, “we are going to take Bemidji down!”

Duluth Marshall is 17-1-1 on the season, and after beating the #8 ranked Crookston, the #3 team in Class A will have a big game on Tuesday, hosting #6 ranked Proctor-Hermantown in a Section game for the Hilltoppers.

1st Period
6:00 – Crox – Taylor Field (5) (Morgan Nelson, Adley Vigness) (PP)
11:24 – DM – Ilsa Lindaman (Sarah Stauber, Nina Thorson)
16:49 – DM – Isla Lindaman (Avery Lian) (PP)

2nd Period
0:18 – DM – Nina Thorson (Ilsa Lindaman)

3rd Period
2:38 – DM – Isla Lindaman (Avery Lian) (PP)
14:32 – DM – Avery Lian (Isla Lindaman, Nina Thorson)

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