The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team opened the season fast in Friday night’s season opener, taking an early shot advantage over the Sartell Sabres 4-3 before the experience of the Sabres proved too much to overcome.
The Pirates controlled the pace of play during the opening eight minutes of the season before a perfectly placed redirection of a shot for the left point put the Sabres up 1-0 at the 9:14 mark of the first. Sabres’ Maddux Hagy picked up a rebound in the corner to the right of Pirate goaltender Jack Ricord, then found Brock Boerger at the blue line. Boerger fired at textbook blue line shot along the ice towards the net that Michael Webster was able to put a stick on to deflect over the shoulder of Ricord, just under the crossbar. The Sabres then used the momentum of that goal to outshoot the Pirates 9-1 over the final 7:46 over the period.
The Sabres picked up right where they left off when the second period started throwing everything they had at Ricord. A turnover by Jacob Anderson was picked up in the left circle by Sartell’s Hayden Walters who quickly found Jake Henneman all alone on the right side to put Sartell up 2-0. Sartell would make it 3-0 just 39 seconds later when Jacob Mumm found Boerger at the top of the slot and Boerger beat a screened Ricord with a wrist shot halfway up on the glove side.
Ben Andringa tried to get the Pirates on the board midway through the period when he crossed up a defenseman and came in alone on Sabres goaltender Cole Bright, but his shot rang off the pipe keeping the Pirates off the board. At 12:30 of the second period Will Schiffler worked his way down the right side and sent a cross-ice pass to Austin Adelman who buried it into a wide-open net for a 4-0 lead. Then at 14:16 the Pirates scored their first goal of the season as Andringa won a faceoff in his defensive zone to Logan Wardner. Wardner passed ahead to Eric Delorme along the boards who found Brock Heppner at center who then back-handed a pass that sent Andringa in alone for a second time on Bright. This time Andringa’s aim was true as he went top shelf over the outstretched glove of Bright for the first Pirate goal of the year. That led a flurry over the last five minutes of the second period for the Pirates.
Both teams would go deep on their bench in the third period after Sartell picked up a pair of goals in the 3rd to extend their lead to 6-1. At 2:48 of the period Henneman tallied his second of the night on a rebound off his own shot assisted by Hayden Walters. And then at 10:25 Hagy wrapped up the scoring as Ricord made a save moving to his right on a long-range shot. Hagy picked up the rebound, waited for Ricord’s momentum to carry him to the post and slid the puck in the opposite side of the goal.
Pirate Coach Josh Hardy was pleased with the team’s effort against one of the better teams in Section 6A. “To be honest I was pretty happy with our performance here tonight,” said Hardy. “Sartell is a nice hockey team, senior-heavy and have a lot of guys coming back.” The Pirates had long stretches where they controlled the play said Hardy and was impressed with eighth-grader Jack Doda’s play. “I thought he did a nice job of getting puck low, carrying it up the wall, which is tough to do especially, especially for a young kid.” He added, “I thought Jack played well even though he’s probably not to be pleased about his goals against average, but he really battled and made a lot of saves I wasn’t expecting him to.”
Sartell improves to 1-0, the Pirates fall to 0-1 and will return to the ice on Saturday in Little Falls before traveling to Warroad for a Section 8A game on Tuesday.
Sam Overgaard carries the puck up ice. Quinn Westlake wins a faceoff
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sartell | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
1st Period
9:14 – Sartell – Michael Webster (Brock Boerger, Maddux Hagy)
2nd Period
4:23 – Sartell – Jack Hennemann (Hayden Walters)
5:02 – Sartell – Brock Boerger (Jacob Mumm, Cameron Cromwell)
12:30 – Sartell – Austin Adelman (Will Schiffler)
15:16 – Crookston – Ben Andringa (Brock Heppner, Eric Delorme)
3rd Period
2:48 -Sartell – Jack Hennemann (Hayden Walters)
10:25 – Sartell – Maddux Hagy (Will Schiffler, Austin Adelman)
Jack Doda sends a pass to Joey Doda
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Jack Ricord – Crookston | 11 | 8 | 12 | 31 |
| Cole Bright – Sartell | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 |
