Pirates Freije records fourth shutout of season, Vigness scores twice to beat EGF

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Hockey team received stalwart goaltending from Kambelle Freije, which is a given, as she recorded her fourth shutout of the season, plus freshman defenseman, Adley Vigness scored two goals, which is becoming a given, to lead the Pirates to a 4-0 Section 8A win over East Grand Forks on Tuesday night.

FIRST PERIOD
Crookston didn’t come out as strong as they wanted to in this rematch with the Green Wave who the Pirates defeated 2-1 earlier this year in Crookston. “I didn’t think we had the start we wanted to with East Grand Forks getting some chances in the first period,” said Crookston head coach Reed Olson, “we started to pick things up later in the period. The Pirates did score a first period goal which came with a minute and a half to go when Parker Strand kept her scoring prowess going during the middle of the season when she was gifted a tap in for her sixth goal of the year and third in two games! The Pirates second line of Emma LaPlante, Strand and either Ava Martin or Jensen Stinar advanced the puck in the Green Wave zone, had a couple shots on net and when Britlyn Rasmussen, East Grand Forks goalie was down to her right and Strand was to the left with a wide-open open net to tap in the rebound. “That line did play well tonight,” said Olson, “and we need that from both our lines to continue to play well.” Crookston was outshot in the period 13-11 but went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

SECOND PERIOD
Crookston started the period with an almost full power play but were unable to dent the net with the combination of good Green Wave goaltending and seemingly shooting right into the goalie. Once the power play was over, Crookston scored just over three and a half minutes into the period when Vigness scored her fourth goal of the season and second in two games when she scored from a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic to score. “Jocelyn (Field) passed the puck back to me and I let the shot go and it went in,” said Vigness, “when asked if she looks for an opening to shoot from the blue line or just let it rip, she responded, “I let it rip!” Crookston would have two more power play opportunities in the period and again were unable to score and were 0 for 3 on the power play for the night. “Yeah, coach Jake (Abrams) drew up a play for the extra attacker and we either shot it wide or right into their goalie. It’s something we must keep working on. We must take advantage of those kind of chances.” With the power plays helping, Crookston outshot East Grand Forks 18-5 in the second period.

THIRD PERIOD
The game had an de ja vu feeling going into he third period. On December 16 in Crookston, the Pirates led 2-0 going into the third. East Grand Forks scored with just over nine minutes to go and then it was nail biting time for both teams, but Crookston survived in the 2-1 win over the Green Wave. Then about a third of the way into the period, the game turned into a Deja Vu from last night at Thief River Falls third period as Crookston scored two goals in 38 seconds to put the game out of reach for East Grand Forks. Emma LaPlante stole the puck near center ice and hurried into the Green Wave zone and wristed a shot through the five hole to make it 3-0. Seconds later, Vigness would score her second goal of the game and third in two nights when she kept a clearing pass in the Green Wave zone and wristed another shot to score her fifth goal of the season and made the score 4-0 with 11 minutes to go in the game. Crookston would draw a couple penalties in the third period and East Grand Forks would make Freije earn her shutout peppering the Pirate senior goalie with nine shots in the period, but she would finish with 27 saves and the shutout to lower her goals against average to 1.87 and boost her save percentage to .935!! “What can you say about Kambelle, she is so steady and our rock back there,” said Olson. Vigness said it’s reassuring to have Freije behind her in goal, “Kambelle just tells the defense to get out of way and if she can see it, she’ll stop it.” Crookston has beaten East Grand Forks twice this season and they will play the Green Wave one more time during the regular season when the Green Wave comes to Crookston on Monday to finish off a three game regular season series. They could make it four games if they meet in the Section Tournament. Next up though for the Pirates is the number one ranked team in Minnesota Class A polls, the Warroad Warriors on Thursday night at the Crookston Sports Center on fan appreciation night!! “Our girls have been looking forward to this game,” said Coach Olson, “they were embarrassed the way they play in Warroad on December 26 in the 5-0 loss at Warroad. They want to come out and play the way they know they can and give them a good game.” Warroad beat rival Roseau 4-1 tonight to come in on a high. East Grand Forks is now 6-12-1 on the year and their next game is Monday facing the Pirates again in Crookston.
JV – East Grand Forks won 5-0