The Little Falls Flyers used a late second-period goal to help lift them over the Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team 4-1 at Exchange Arena in Little Falls.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period started with nearly seven consecutive minutes of back-and-forth action. Both teams couldn’t generate much offense as play was in the neutral zone for most of that stretch. Later in the period, Garrett Fischer could fire a shot on net, but Little Fall’s netminder, Izaak Kalis, came up with the save. With about four minutes left in the first period, the Flyers fired multiple shots on net, but Parker Kelly came up with the saves, including one where the puck snuck by him, but Teagen Lubinski swooped in and knocked the puck away to keep the game scoreless. With time winding down, Lubinski and Carter Trudeau broke out on a two-on-one, but Ryan Oothoudt dove across and knocked the puck away to end Crookston’s late chance. The game headed to the second tied at 0.
SECOND PERIOD
In the second, Crookston could generate some opportunities as Lubinski, Ryan Street, and Kadin Edwards all fired chances to the net, but Kalis kept the game scoreless. A little later, Lucas Jendro for Little Falls got the puck and fired his shot into the net to break the scoreless tie and give Little Falls a 1-0 lead. Crookston would get called for a penalty, and the Flyers would get the man advantage, but Crookston killed it off. Right after the Pirates killed off the penalty, Jay Reese was out in front of the net and could backhand the puck into the net to tie the game at one apiece. Crookston would head to the power play for the first time in the game as Little Falls was called for a penalty, but the Flyers killed off the penalty. With a couple of minutes left in the period, there was a mad scramble in front of the net, as Crookston had multiple Pirates trying to punch the puck through as players from both sides were by the net, but somehow Kalis kept it out of the net. As time was winding down, Little Falls’ Carter Oothoudt stole the puck and fired his shot into the net with only 17 seconds left in the period to give Little Falls a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third, Crookston got called for a penalty early in the period to send Little Falls to the power play. Crookston killed it off to keep it at 2-1. Crookston’s fourth line of Brandon Colborn, Gavin Aakhus, and Michael Bochow put together a shift to swing momentum to the Pirates side, with the line firing a few shots on goal while keeping the puck in the Crookston offensive zone. Later in the period, Little Falls was called for a penalty, to give Crookston another chance with the man advantage. Crookston could not tie the game as the Flyers killed off the penalty. Later in the period, Little Falls’ Jendro got the puck in the offensive zone and scored his second goal of the game to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead. With about two minutes left, Crookston spent their timeout before an offensive zone faceoff. The Pirates sent six skaters out as the net was empty, and Crookston got a couple of shots, but Kalis stopped the Pirates once again, and Joey Welinski sent the puck into the open net to make it 4-1. Little Falls would get the win at home 4-1.
Crookston drops to 8-7 on the season and will take on Kittson County Central on Tuesday on the KROX YouTube Channel. Little Falls improves to 12-6 on the season and will take on St. Cloud Cathedral on Tuesday.
Click here for Coach Hardy’s post-game interview.
JV – Little Falls wins 5-2.
Scoring
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Final
|
Crookston
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Little Falls
|
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
4:02 – LF – Lucas Jendro (Unassisted)
8:56 – Crox – Jay Reese (5)(Unassisted)
16:43 – LF – Carter Oothoudt (Unassisted)
3rd Period
13:30 – LF – Lucas Jendro (2) (Unassisted)
15:55 – LF – Joey Welinski (Carter Oothoudt)
Saves
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Final
|
Parker Kelly – Crox
|
9 | 8 | 5 | 22 |
Izaak Kalis- LF
|
2 | 6 | 14 | 22 |
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