Pirate Girls Hockey’s Hadley Verwest scores first varsity goal and Freije’s lead to a 3-1 win

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team didn’t feel good about their first two games at the Warroad Hockey Town Classic. That changed this morning when they defeated Albert Lea 3-1 with two unassisted goals late in the third period with an open net goal to ice it.

FIRST PERIOD
The Crookston first-year head coach, Reed Olson wanted more ‘juice’ than the Pirates had displayed in their first two games in Warroad. He got it as the Pirates came out skating right from the start, with good line shifts, their three defensemen playing one of their strongest periods, and goalie Kambelle Freije being Kambelle Freije! Despite an early powerplay and playing the last four minutes of the period on a five-on-three or five-on-four power play, Crookston couldn’t get anything past Albert Lea goalie Jayda Moyer, who came into the game with 0.90 goals against average and a save percentage of a lofty .957 in 13 games.
“I thought we really came out ready to play, and we had a different feel of something that I think was different last night and this morning before the game and carried over to the game,” said Crookston head coach Olson, “We didn’t score on the power play, but we had chances and were able to move the puck in the offensive zone. They gave us some room, which I think surprised our girls after not having much in the first two games here.” Crookston did outshot Albert Lea 10-7 in the period.

SECOND PERIOD
Even though the Pirates took an early penalty, they came out with the same type of play that they had in the first period. When Albert Lea was applying pressure, the Pirates did a great job of lofting the puck down ice softly enough not to ice it. They also had some nice chances in the offensive zone or near chances. So much so Albert Lea called a time-out with 11:54 left in the period. The Tigers took another checking penalty, but the Pirates were called for too many men on the ice to nullify the power play. After Crookston was back at full strength, they scored the first goal of the game. Addie Fee bounced a pass from center ice to Jocelyn Field at the Tiger’s blue line, and she came in on a two-on-one with Hadley Verwest, who caught the pass, and her shot was in for her first varsity goal as a Pirate, “Addie made a nice pass to Jocelyn who was going into the Albert Lea zone, and I caught up with her and she made a nice pass and I was able to shoot it twice and scored,” said Verwest, an eighth grader from Mayville, N.D. and part of the cooperative between Mayville, Sacred Heart and Crookston in girl’s hockey. “It was a great play by that line,” said Coach Olson, “Addie made a nice pass to Jocelyn, and it was nice to see Jocy look up and spot Miss Hadley, and it was good to see her score her first at that time.” It came with three and a half minutes left in the period, and Crookston was able to skate off the rest of the period and take a 1-0 lead into the second-period intermission. “It was nice to have a lead after two periods, and it was a different vibe in the locker room,” said Olson, “we just wanted the girls to go out and continue to play the same way.”

THIRD PERIOD
Crookston had scored 17 goals in the third period so far this season, which was the most in one period in their first 12 games. The period didn’t start the way the Pirates wanted it to. They took an early penalty, and with eight seconds left in the penalty, Albert Lea scored on the power play as Morgan Goskeson broke Freije’s shutout chance when she one-timed a strong shot past the Pirate goaltender to tie it a 1-1 with 10 minutes to go. Three minutes later, the Pirate’s Emma LaPlante was weaving her way at center ice into the Albert Lea zone, and way at the top slot seemed to surprise the Tigers goalie and wristed a shot that beat the goalie to her glove side for her seventh goal of the year unassisted to give the Pirates 2-1 lead with just under seven and a half minutes to go. “That was a huge goal for us to get the lead back,” said Coach Olson, “I was actually yelling for Emma to drop it back to Parker (Strand), but she shot It, and we were back in the lead. Crookston played cautious hockey the rest of the way, with the defense stepping up andert Lea forwards, frustrating Alb as did Freije. Crookston did get another power play chance but couldn’t stand the prosperity and had another to-many-men-on-the-ice penalty to nullify their man advantage. With time running down and a minute to go, Albert Lea pulled the goalie. and Adley Vigness, the Crookston freshman defenseman who played a stalwart defensive position had the puck at her own red line. She did a Kirill Kapirzov with an end-to-end open net goal to give the Pirates insurance goal with 27 seconds left to make it 3-1, and the Pirates would pick up their eighth win of the season, and it was sweet, “It was a great win for the girl’s,” said Coach Olson, “this is the team that we won our first seven games with. It was a testament to them figuring it out. We have a week of practice to heal and prepare for a very strong January with Section games.”

Crookston improves to 8-4-1 on the year and if off until January 6 when they have a rematch with Thief River Falls this time at TRF. The Prowlers beat the Pirates 2-1 in Crookston on November 12. Crookston will be at East Grand Forks on Tuesday, January 7, and Thursday host Warroad. “It’s a tough Section start to January, but this should get our confidence back,” said Olson.
Albert Lea falls to 10-3-1 on the season.

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
Crookston	0	1	2	3
Albert lea	0	0	1	1

1st Period
No Scoring

2nd Period
12:30 – Crookston – Hadley Verwest (1) (Jocelyn Field, Addison Fee)

3rd Period
6:12 – Albert Lea – Morgan Goskeson (Hanna Austinson) (PP)
9:24 – Crookston – Emma LaPlante (7) unassisted
16::33 – Crookston – Adley Vigness (2) unassisted (Open Net)