Tate Hamre scores in final seconds, Pirate Boys Hockey takes down Bagley-Fosston

The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team needed last-second heroics and were able to get them from Tate Hamre as the Pirates defeated the Bagley-Fosston Flyers by a score of 2-1 at the Crookston Sports Center.

FIRST PERIOD
Both teams got off to slow starts in the beginning of the period, but after about two minutes, Crookston began to control the puck. The first line of Garrett Fischer, Jay Reese and Greyson Ecker spent extended time on the ice, but one of the main stories of the game was Kyle Johnson, the fantastic senior goaltender for the Flyers who was stopping everything that game his way. Even though Crookston had 13 shots on goal, very few of them were extremely high-quality. However, towards the end of the first period, Reese had an opportunity in front of the net and Johnson was able to shut it down, keeping the score at 0-0 through one period.

SECOND PERIOD
A big story of this game were penalties; 11 in total, and 7 of them by Bagley-Fosston. However, the Flyers started the second period on the power play, but the Pirate defense did a wonderful job shutting down the Flyer offense and providing little work for Parker Kelly in net. After the Pirates got back to full strength, they began to really up the ante on offense, continually testing Johnson. However, he was incredibly sharp and made two ridiculous saves in the span of 55 seconds; one on a breakaway from Riley Benson, and another on a shot in front by Reese that hit the knob of his stick and off the crossbar. Those heroics, along with the Flyer penalty kill stopping 5 Pirate power plays in the first two periods, kept the game scoreless headed into the third frame.

THIRD PERIOD
The third period could not have been any different from the first two. Immediately, Crookston was finally able to get by Johnson, as Greyson Ecker sent a slapshot over Johnson’s shoulder 22 seconds into the period to make it 1-0 Pirates. The Flyers would respond in kind, however, and less than two minutes later, second-line defensemen sent one from the blue line on net and it confused Kelly, making its way into the net to tie the game at 1. Bagley-Fosston began to really improve defensively, prohibiting the Pirates from peppering the net as often as they did. The Flyers also killed another penalty, causing the Pirates to go 0-for-6 on the power play. The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play, however, and as the period came winding down, it seemed as if the game was headed into overtime. After the Flyers dumped the puck deep, Tate Hamre gathered behind net with 14.7 seconds to go, flew all the way down the ice in 9 seconds and flicked one top shelf on Johnson with 5.7 seconds to go to end the game in heroic fashion, giving Crookston the win 2-1.

Crookston improves to 4-1 on the year and will take on Detroit Lakes on Tuesday at the Crookston Sports Center. Bagley-Fosston drops to 3-3 on the season.

1st Period
No scoring

2nd Period
No scoring

3rd Period
0:22 – CROX – Greyson Ecker (3) (Jay Reese, Garrett Fischer)
2:15 – B/F – Kamden Fontaine (James Palmer)
16:54 – CROX – Tate Hamre (5) (Garrett Fischer, Parker Kelly)

Connor Hanson and Parker Kelly

Parker Kelly

Riley Benson

Jack Buhler

Pirate Bench

Tate Hamre