The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team played well, but the undefeated Waseca Bluejays were to much as the Pirates fell 8-4 in final day of the Thief River Falls Holiday Classic at Ralph Englestad Arena in Thief River Falls.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period was an offensive battle for the teams as Waseca came out strong with a goal on over a minute into the game. Waseca’s Griffin Story stuffed the puck into the net on the first shot of the game to give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead. Both teams had several scoring chances before Waseca added another goal as Jackson Dahl gave his team a 2-0 lead halfway through the period. Crookston responded two minutes later when Tate Hamre stuffed the puck in the net while on the power play to get the Pirates within a 2-1 deficit. On Friday night, anytime Thief River Falls scored, it seemed like Waseca would answer and they did that again on Saturday against Crookston as Otto Schoenrock added his first goal of the game with 3:30 left in the period for a 3-1 lead. Crookston had a big answer 27 seconds later as the Pirate first line each touched the puck as Greyson Ecker snuck a shot past the Bluejay goalie for the goal with assists coming from Garett Fischer and Jay Reese to get within a 3-2 deficit and that is how the first period would end.
SECOND PERIOD
Crookston started the second period strong and showed a little extra energy and that paid off as Garrett Fischer got the puck in the circle to the left of the net. He spun and whistled a wrist shot past the Waseca goalie to tie the game at 3-3 just over four minutes into the period. As they did all weekend, Waseca had an answer. The Bluejays responded with a goal 24 seconds later to regain the lead by a 4-3 score 4:40 into the period. Both teams played some great hockey with several scoring chances, but neither team scored until Waseca’s Otto Schoenrock scored with less than three minutes remaining in the period. 28 seconds later, they struck again when Griffin Storey scored to take a 6-3 lead into the second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
Crookston had another strong start to the third period as they came out buzzing. Three minutes into the period, Crookston’s Ryan Street fired a shot wide of the net, but it bounced off the boards, and Michael Bochow got to the puck and slapped a quick shot past the goalie to bring the Pirates within a 6-4 deficit. Crookston continued to play solid all-around hockey until the final minutes when they seemed to run out of gas. It didn’t help that Waseca got a goal from a shot even with the red line when Otto Schoenrock’s wrist shot somehow found the net over four minutes left in the game for a 7-4 lead. Crookston decided to pull the goalie, Parker Kelly, in the final minutes. The Pirates looked a little worn down as they made a few mistakes they don’t usually make, and one of them was a turnover in their defensive zone that led to a Waseca open net goal with 32 seconds left in the game, and the Bluejays won the game by an 8-4 score.
Crookston drops to 7-4-1 on the year and will be off until Monday, January 6 when they host Park Rapids. Waseca improves to 9-0-1 on the year.
J.V. – Waseca won 5-2
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Waseca | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Crookston | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
1st Period
1:21 – Waseca – Griffin Storey (Jayden Gehring, Jude Gehring)
8:53 – Waseca – Jackson Dahl (Avery Selvik, Otto Schoenrock)
10:57 – Crookston – Tate Hamre (Grant Funk, Gavin Aakhus) (PP)
13:30 – Waseca – Otto Schoenrock (Jackson Tesch, Jackson Dahl)
13:57 – Crookston – Greyson Ecker (Jay Reese, Garrett Fischer)
2nd Period
4:16 – Crookston – Garett Fischer (Greyson Ecker, Tate Hamre)
4:40 – Waseca – Hunter Anderson (Lucas Groll, Henry Hettemeier)
14:39 – Waseca – Otto Schoenrock (Henry Hettemeier, Hunter Anderson)
15:07 – Waseca – Griffin Storey (Brayden Hesch-Priem, Hunter Anderson)
3rd Period
3:27 – Crookston – Michael Bochow (Ryan Street)
12:48 – Waseca – Otto Schoenrock (Cash Lynch, Lucas Groll)
16:28 – Waseca – Griffin Storey (Otto Schoenrock) (Open net)
| Goalie | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Parker Kelly – Crox | 5 | 8 | 5 | 18 |
| Carter Martens – Was | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
