The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team built up a 5-1 lead just over 11 minutes to go in the game but watched the East Grand Green Wave score three times in a span of six and a half minutes and were within 5-4 with 2:23 to go in the game. The Pirates Addie Fee scored a power play goal with four seconds to go in the game to put it away for sure as the Pirates defeated the Green Wave for the third time this year, 6-4 at the Kim Braaten Arena in Mayville, North Dakota.
East Grand Forks leading scorer, Senior Kara Ellis, scored to start things off with just over three minutes into the game. East Grand Forks only had two shots on goal in the period and Ellis made good on one of them with a shot from the top of the circle. “It bounced off Kambelle’s (Freije) glove and rainbowed over her and fell in the back of the net,” said Crookston coach Emily Meyer, “I told the girl’s to shake that off, it was an unlucky bounce and we needed to get it back.” The Pirates did indeed got in back in 33 seconds when Cassie Solheim scored to make it 1-1. “It was great puck movement between Cassie, Addie (Fee) and Taylor (Field)”, said coach Meyer, “Taylor moved it to Addie and Addie did what she does best and slid a nice pass to Cass who ripped a one timer to get us on the board.” Halfway through the period, Reese Swanson scored her 20th goal of the year on an unassisted power play. “It was a nice goal by Reese,” said Meyer, “I don’t think it was unassisted as they said so we’ll look at the film and see who got Reese the puck.” Last night in a loss to Roseau where the Pirates were 0-7 on the power play and Swanson stopped that streak! Crookston’s sophomore from Mayville, Parker Strand scored one for the home folks with three minutes left in the period to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead. Crookston has a cooperative with Mayville-Portland and Hatton, N.D. as well as Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks. They try to play a home game each year at Mayville and the fans were treated to a hometown girl striking in a period the Pirates did dominate. “Parker played some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen her play,” said Coach Meyer, “She played with confidence, took the puck into the zone, dangled around two East Grand Forks players and beat their goalie top shelf. It was amazing seeing a kid like Parker score in front of the home fans. the rink was electric and really got our girl’s buzzing.” Crookston outshot East Grand Forks 11-2 in the first period. “The first period was fast,” said Meyer, “the girl’s communicated well, they played with a chip on their shoulder and that’s what got us to go into the locker room with confidence. We talked about not being comfortable with the lead and that we needed to continue our play in the second period and we couldn’t let it slip away from us.”
The second period was a pretty evenly matched 17 minutes with no penalties, but the Pirates scored late as freshman defensemen, Ashlyn Bailey scored on an unassisted goal to make it 4-1 with the Pirates leading after two periods in the books. “It was a fun, fast and aggressive period,” said Meyer, “East Grand Forks always brings their A game when they play us. That’s what makes the rivalry so much fun.”
The third period was crazy. First Parker Strand scored her second goal of the year before the home folks again for her fifth goal of the season just about six minutes into the period and Crookston took a 5-1 lead. “We should play at the Kim Braaten rink more in general,” said Meyer, “It reminds me of Crookston’s old rink, fast ice, great atmosphere. It’s always so much fun when we go play in Mayville.” Many thought the Pirates might reach running time if things kept going like it has been. WRONG!! The Green Wave had other ideas, like scoring three times to make Crookston start sweating. First it was Ellis again on a power play with nine minutes to go in the game and it was 5-2. Blake Schultz scored for East Grand Forks with over six minutes left and it was 5-3. Wait! East Grand Forks was not done, Ellis scored her third goal of the game, another power play and now it was 5-4 with 2:23 left in the game. “We lost Taylor Field for the rest of the game after a hit she took earlier, so we were rolling three sets of wings and two centers. We started running when East Grand Forks put the pressure on,” said Meyer. The Green Wave were two for two on the power play in the third period, but they TOOK a penalty with 17 seconds to go in the game and Crookston’s Addie Fee scored a power play goal to put it away with four seconds left in the game and the Pirates come away with a much more exciting win then they probably wanted! The girl’s needed to find a way to finish the game,” said Meyer, “we capitalized on that power play opportunity as Addie ripped a hard shot, back door to beat the goalie. I felt like I could finally relax. It got a little intense at the end.” It was the third victory over East Grand Forks for the Pirates this season. “Honestly, it was such a fun game. The rink was electric, the girls really came out flying,” said Meyer, “It was great to be able to do that for our Mayville/Hatton girls. They put in so much time coming to practice every day and always coming to work hard. I am so happy to have them be a part of this program and that we could have a home game for them as well!”
Crookston finishes the regular season with a 16-6-2 record and will be the number two seed for the Section 8A Tournament behind #1 seed and #1 in the State Class A, Warroad Warriors. The Pirates will receive a first round bye in the tournament as they and Warroad won’t have to play in the quarterfinals and will wait until next Saturday, February 11 at Warroad and Crookston will play the 8:15 PM game.
East Grand Forks is 8-15 on the season and will complete their regular season on Monday at Devils Lake, N.D. The Green Wave will be the fourth or third seed for the Section Tournament as they have split with Thief River Falls on the year with the Prowlers winning the last meeting 7-3 while the Green Wave won about 10 days apart, both have comparable overall records with Thief River Falls having one more Section win. So who will be the number three seed? Our guess is Thief River Falls!
So on Thursday in the first round of the Section 8A Tournament IF the Prowlers are the number three seed, International Falls would be at Thief River Falls while Detroit Lakes would be at East Grand Forks.
The EGF/DL winner would play Warroad at 6:00 PM next Saturday and the TRF/IF winner would play Crookston at 8:15 PM, both games at the Warroad Gardens. The Section 8A Championship would be in Warroad on Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 PM.
JV – East Grand Forks won 5-2
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1
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2
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3
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Total
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| EGF | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| CROOKSTON | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
1st Period
3:17 – EGF – Kara Ellis (Blake Schultz)
3:50 – Crox -Cassie Solheim (10) (Addie Fee,Taylor Field)
8:34 – Crox – Reese Swanson (20) unassisted (PP)
14:00 – Crox – Parker Strand (4) (Reese Swanson, Jenna Seaver)
2nd Period
15:50 – Crox – Ashlyn Bailey (9) unassisted
3rd Period
5:55 – Crox – Parker Strand (5) unassisted
8:03 – EGF – Kara Ellis (Maggie Plante, Ava Kleinvachter) (PP)
10:16 – EGF – Blake Schultz unassisted
14:37 – EGF – Kara Ellis (Maggie Plante) (PP)
16:56 – Crox – Addie Fee (9) (Brekken Tull, Morgan Nelson) (PP)
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Saves
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1
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2
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3
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Total
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| Britlyn Rasmussen – EGF | 8 | 12 | 6 | 26 |
| Kambelle Frieje – Crookston | 1 | 12 | 7 | 20 |
