PIRATE BOYS HOCKEY COMES UP SHORT AT LITTLE FALLS

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team fell on the road Saturday to Little Falls 5-1.  The Pirates had eight power plays but struggled to get the puck past Dane Couture who stopped 20 of 21 Pirate shots.  Little Falls meanwhile when two for five on the power play, including the game-winning goal by Robby Kuchinski-Helgeson at 7:50 of the first period giving Little Falls a 2-0 lead.
“I thought we played well for long stretches today and then had times where we looked a little lost, said Pirate Coach Josh Hardy. “We put ourselves behind the 8-ball early with penalties and had plenty of opportunities on the power play in the third but were pressing a little too much and the Little Falls’ goalie played outstanding.”
The Flyers opened the scoring when Mason Dempsey took a pass from Gabe Hirsch and beat Pirate goaltender Jack Ricord just 1:19 into the contest.  The Pirates would cut the lead in half late in the first period when Brock Heppner scored on the power play at 11:26. Heppner was assisted by Ben Andringa and Logan Wardner.
“Our power play was exactly what we’ve been preaching to our guys to do, get the puck up top and suck the defensive out and distribute to the one-time shot on either side,” said Hardy. “Andringa got the shot off and rang it off the post, Brock was hungry out front and buried the rebound.”
Little Falls would extend the lead with an unassisted power-play goal by Matt Filippi at 4:11 of the second period before Dempsey added his second goal of the game at 14:30 to make it 4-1 Flyers.  Dempsey was assisted by Nicholas Stevens and George Moore.  Gunner Gustafson would score the final goal of the game at 14:23 of the third period assisted by Stevens and Kuchinski-Helgeson.
“Overall this was a really good weekend for us despite the losses, we learned a lot about our team and what we need to do to improve,” concluded Hardy.  “I look forward to breaking down the video and getting back to practice before a big game on Tuesday.”
Little Falls improves to 2-2 with the win.  The Pirates fall to 0-2 and will travel to Warroad on Tuesday for a Section 8A game.  KROX will have the game with the RiverView Health pre-gram show at 7:00 and the opening faceoff at 7:30. Listen online by clicking the listen live logo at the top of the page, on the KROX app or Alexa. Say, “Alexa, listen to K-R-O-X in Crookston.”   JV- Crookston won 5-4 in overtime.

1st Period
15:41 – Little Falls – Mason Dempsey (Gabe Hirsch)
9:10 – Little Falls  – Robby Kuchinski-Helgeson (Josh Jennings)   (PP)
5:34 – Crookston – Brock Heppner (Ben Andringa, Logan Wardner)  (PP)

2nd Period
12:49 – Little Falls- Matt Filippi  unassisted   (PP)
2:21 – Little Falls – Mason Dempsey (Nicholas Stevens, George Moore)

3rd Period
2:37 – Little Falls – Gunnar Gustafson (Nicholas Stevens, Robby Kuchinski-Helgeson)