The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team were down 4 goals early and were able to cut the lead down to 1, but the East Grand Forks Green Wave were able to pull away with a 3-goal third, winning 7-3 on Saturday at the East Grand Forks Civic Center.
FIRST PERIOD –
The first period could not have started any better for EGF, and any worse for the Pirates, as Cole Bies deposited the first shot of the game 11 seconds in to put the Green Wave up 1-0. The same was said for the second shot of the game, as Cole Schmiedeberg created a perfect deflection off of a shot by Jace Van Eps to put EGF up 2-0 just 1:18 into the game. Crookston was reeling, and EGF added even more fuel to that fire, as Van Eps scored for the second time less than two minutes later, putting the Green Wave up 3-0. The pace slowed down a bit from there, but EGF got yet another opportunity, and Jake Chupka was able to put the puck away to put the Pirates in a massive hole, down 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the game. The defense for the Pirates began to lock down for the remainder of the period, and they continued to wait for the offense to make something happen. They finally got a goal with Garrett Fischer with 1:04 remaining to put the Pirates on the board. Then, the Pirates went on the power play, and Fischer cashed in again with 4 seconds left, cutting the lead to 4-2 at the first intermission
SECOND PERIOD –
The second period was completely different than the first. EGF was still able to get shots on goal, but this time Parker Kelly was up to the task, stopping every shot in front of him. This time, Crookston’s first shot of the period proved fruitful, as Jay Reese went coast to coast to cut the lead down to 1. It seemed like momentum would finally be on the side of the Pirates fully, but the Green Wave defens eupped their level to an extreme height. After holding the Bagley-Fosston Flyers to only 4 shots on goal in the first round, the Pirates were held to just 1 shot on goal for the remainder of the period, coming with 7.3 seconds remaining, and it was saved by Noah Schindele. However, the Green Wave couldn’t get anything going either, and the game stayed at 4-3 as the period came to an end.
THIRD PERIOD –
With two periods done that were completely different for each other, the third period continued that trend. This time, penalties continued to spark up, including multiple coincidental minors and multiple power plays for both teams. However, the Green Wave defense continued to stuff the Pirates, only allowing 1 shot on goal in the first 11 minutes, and none on the power play. EGF, however, found success peppering Kelly. A turnover right in front of Kelly allowed Tucker Lovejoy to make it 5-3, and then Judd Pesch sniped a shot from the blue line to make it 6-3. The game then slowed down until there was 5:38 left, when Jay Reese committed a slashing minor penalty, and was then sent to the box for a 10-minute misconduct penalty. EGF scored seconds after that penalty, as Lovejoy added the final goal of the game. Crookston was only held to 3 shots on goal in the third period, and 13 for the game, as EGF pulled away to a 7-3 win.
Crookston’s season comes to an end with a record of 18-8-1. EGF improves to 12-13-2 on the year and will play Warroad for the section championship on Thursday.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Crookston | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| East Grand Forks | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
1st Period
0:11 – EGF – Cole Bies (Cooper Hills assist)
1:18 – EGF – Cole Schmiedeberg (Jace Van Eps assist)
3:06 – EGF – Jace Van Eps (Noah Frize assist)
9:47 – EGF – Jake Chupka (Judd Pesch assist)
15:54 – CROX – Garrett Fischer (Greyson Ecker assist)
16:56 – CROX (PP) – Garrett Fischer (Jay Reese assist)
2nd Period
2:45 – CROX – Jay Reese (unassisted)
3rd Period
3:48 – EGF – Tucker Lovejoy (unassisted)
7:02 – EGF – Judd Pesch (Cole Bies, Cooper Hills assist)
11:55 – EGF (PP) – Tucker Lovejoy (Judd Pesch assist)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Parker Kelly – Crox | 14 | 12 | 13 | 39 |
| Noah Schindele – EGF | 6 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
