The Crookston Pirates Girl’s Hockey team gave up three short-handed and two power-play goals in an 8-0 loss against the East Grand Forks Green Waves in a Section 8A game played at the East Grand Forks Civic Center.
East Grand Forks scored just 3:36 into the game when Kenda Emery slapped a one-timer past Crookston goaltender Grace Koshney giving the Green Wave a 1-0 lead. Just 1:26 later, Kara Ellis stole the puck and skated down the ice, trying to kill some time with Crookston on the power play. Ellis sent a pass to Kylie Stauss, who scored a short-handed goal giving East Grand Forks a 2-0 lead after one period. “They say you always get better between your first and second game, and they’ve played three or four of them so far,” noted Crookston head coach Tim Moe. “They had a little bit of an advantage there. I thought we came out and played well, but every mistake we made it seemed like it came back and ended up in our net. They’re still bigger and stronger than us. We need to get after it in the weight room a little more and get physically stronger, and we need more confidence because we had a lot of young kids playing.”
The Green Wave continued to open things up in the second period. While Crookston was limited to just two shots, East Grand Forks added to its lead. 5:46 into the second period Jacelyn Brenden scored with an assist from Kate Johnson giving the Green Wave a 3-0 lead. Following a Pirates’ penalty, Kendra Emery took a pass from CJ Mack and fired the puck into the net for a power-play goal with 7:40 to play in the second period giving East Grand Forks a 4-0 lead. The Green Wave closed the second period with a shorthanded goal off a steal by Kendra Emery who completed her hattrick while giving EGF a 5-0 lead with 5:02 to play in the second period. “Shorthanded goals have been a killer for us,” noted Moe. “We made a big point of talking to the team yesterday about how when the other team only has four skaters, they’re working hard, so when you have five out there, you can’t take a break because they’re going to come after you. They had a lot of skilled kids, so we just have to do a better job and work harder (on the power play).”
East Grand Forks continued to roll in the final period. Kate Johnson forced running time with her goal set up by a Kendra Emery pass with 12:59 to play in the period. Kylie Stauss added a power-play goal with 10:03 to play before Ellie Bowen capped off the scoring with a short-handed goal with 5:21 to playing closing out the Green Wave’s 8-0 win. “I thought we competed,” summarized Moe. “I talked to their coaches after the game, and they were very complimentary, and they understood this really wasn’t an 8-0 hockey game. This didn’t have the same feel as the last couple of years where we didn’t even get the puck out of our own zone. It was up and down the ice, and we had chances. It’s a different feel, and I hope the girls understand that. It’s not like we’re not talented, and we can’t go out and compete.”
Grace Koshney finished the night with 33 saves for the Pirates, while East Grand Forks’ netminder Ellie McDonald earned the shutout with 12 saves.
Crookston falls to 0-1-0. The Pirates return to the ice on Friday night when Crookston hosts Orono at 5:30 PM at the Crookston Sports Center. The game can be heard on KROX beginning at 5:00 PM. East Grand Forks improved to 2-2-0.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Grand Forks | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
1st Period
13:24 – EGF – Kendra Emery (Jacelyn Brenden)
11:58 – EGF – Kylie Stauss (Kara Ellis) (SH)
2nd Period
11:14 – EGF – Jacelyn Brenden (Kate Johnson)
7:40 – EGF – Kendra Emery (CJ Mack) (PP)
5:02 – EGF – Kendra Emery (SH)
3rd Period
12:59 – EGF – Kate Johnson (Kendra Emery)
10:03 – EGF – Kylie Stauss (Lainey Pesch) (PP)
5:21 – EGF – Ellie Bowen (Julia Nelson) (SH)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Grace Koshney – Crox | 12 | 12 | 9 | 33 |
| Kailee Magsam – Crox | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Ellie McDonald – EGF | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
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