The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Hockey team fell to a very talented Fargo North (N.D.) Spartans team on Wednesday night 8-1 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena Holiday Classic. Scoring the lone goal for the Pirates was Jack Doda.
FIRST PERIOD –
The first period has caused issues for the Pirates at times this year but playing against a quality opponent, Crookston held their own. “Honestly, it was probably our best period of hockey all year,” said Pirates coach Josh Hardy. “Our compete level was high and we played how we need to in games against good competition.” Fargo North is ranked #4 in the State of North Dakota, and most recently beat the #2 team Fargo South last week. At the 6:28 mark, the Spartans would open the scoring on a Power Play goal that was tipped in front of the net and trickled in. Fargo North would add one more goal with under two minutes to play in the period and take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Pirates did manage 7 shots on goal as they were outshot in the first period 15-7.
SECOND PERIOD –
The solid play from Crookston carried over into the second period and Crookston would get a Power Play opportunity. Jack Doda continued his excellent season scoring his 11th goal of the year to pull Crookston within one trailing 2-1 at the 3:32 mark. “I thought it was a great feed from Carter (Trudeau) to set up that play and goal,” said coach Hardy. “After that, however, the Spartans took over the remainder of the game and the wheels started to fall off for Crookston. Fargo North would score four consecutive goals before the period was over and take a 6-1 lead into the final frame. “I thought a problem for us was that we quit moving our feet and playing as aggressively as we did in the first period,” said coach Hardy. “We had some chances but couldn’t find the back of the net, and we gave up some turnovers that led to easy goals for them.” A big issue for Crookston this year has been giving up Power Play goals as their Penalty kill has only been successful 55% of the time. They would give up one in this period and three total in the game. “Against good competition like this we can’t afford to take more than maybe two or three penalties and they made us pay tonight,” said coach Hardy.”
THIRD PERIOD –
The Spartans would score an early goal in the third period that would result in running time for the rest of the game as they held a 6 goal lead. They would add one more goal later in the period to end up winning the game by a score of 8-1. Crookston did gain some momentum in the final period as the Pirates were able to outshoot the Spartans 7-5 in the final 17:00 of ice time. “Overall, I think we have a lot of positive things to build on and i think we will come out tomorrow and have a better result,” said coach Josh Hardy. “I thought the score didn’t indicate how we played for the most part and especially Jaren (Bailey) in net. He was locked in from the start and we didn’t help him enough.”
Crookston drops to 1-7 on the season and will take the ice again tomorrow as they battle Tartan back at the Ralph. We will have tomorrow’s game on KROX starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 11:30 a.m., and the drop of the puck at 12:00 p.m. Fargo North improves to 6-2-1 with the win.
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Scoring
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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Final
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Fargo North (N.D.)
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2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
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CROOKSTON
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0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
1st Period
6:28 – NF – Max Watson (Ray Walen, Connor Holm) (PP)
15:32 – NF – Charlie Kalbrener (Joey Bjorkman, Peter Dorsdier)
2nd Period
3:42 – Crox – Jack Doda (11) (Carter Trudeau) (PP)
5:06 – FN – Ray Walen (unassisted)
9:37 – FN – Peter Dorsdier (Connor Holm) (PP)
14:33 – FN – Colby Hanson (Caleb Briggerman, Brody Fischer)
16:12 – FN – Connor Holm (Owen Branson)
3rd Period
5:40 – FN – Max Watson – (Ray Walen)
8:11 – FN – Connor Holm – (Owen Branson, Peter Dorsdier) (PP)
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Saves
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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Final
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| Peter Dosch – NF | 7 | 1 | 7 | 15 |
| Jaren Bailey – Crox | 13 | 15 | 2 | 30 |
| Parker Kelly – Crox | X | X | 3 | 3 |
