SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
It is the most wonderful time of the year!! Playoff time is underway, and all the boring January and early February games are done. Win, or your season is done. This is the best time of the year.
We take a look at section playoffs, schedules, etc in this week’s column. Good luck to all teams!
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The Section 8A Girls Hockey Championship will be a rematch between #1 seed Warroad and #2 seed Crookston.
The teams split two regular-season games this year, with Crookston winning 2-0 on December 18 and Warroad winning 4-3 in Warroad on December 28. On December 18, Crookston got a stellar game from goalie Kambelle Freijie and scored an open net goal to get the 2-0 victory. In the December 28th game, Warroad dominated the first two periods and led 4-0 before Crookston scored three goals in the third.
Warroad is 18-8 on the year, while Crookston is 17-8-1 on the year. All that means nothing on Thursday.
Crookston will have a different mindset than last year’s championship. Last year, they were hoping they would be in the game; this year, Crookston is going in knowing if they play well, they can win, already beating Warroad once this year.
What does Crookston have to do to beat Warroad? They have to play their best game of the year. They have to get another outstanding game from Kambelle Freijie in the net. They have to keep the net clear, so Kambelle gets to see any shot coming her way.
Crookston will have to find a way to score. Crookston only scored three goals on 51 shots in the semi-final game win against East Grand Forks and they NEED to score to beat Warroad.
Warroad players have been there and done that. They are the eight-time defending Section Champion and also the defending state champion.
We know this much. It will be a huge crowd, with most cheering for Crookston, and that gives the Pirates an edge.
I have been going back and forth on who is going to win. After Saturday’s semi-finals, I thought Warroad was the best team of the four and looked impressive. But I know the energy the crowd will bring for the Pirates. A lot of the Pirate girls were on the Section 8A Championship team this fall and played at state and found a way to go to state without their best player. I know this: for Crookston to win, it will have to be a defensive battle. If Warroad wins, it will likely be a higher-scoring game with four or five goals.
Prediction – Crookston wins 2-1 (possibly in overtime)
CLICK HERE for the SECTION 8A GIRLS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT PROGRAM
KROX will have the game on the radio – CLICK HERE to listen.
CLICK HERE to watch the game on our YouTube stream.
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The Section 8A Boy’s Hockey coaches had their seeding meeting today setting up the Section 8A Tournament. East Grand Forks garnered the top seed with the Crookston Pirates six of their last seven games got the fifth seed and will play at Detroit Lakes in a Section Quarterfinal game on Thursday, February 22.
The seeds went like this:
1. East Grand Forks
2. Warroad
3. Thief River Falls
4. Detroit Lakes
5. Crookston
6. Red Lake Falls
7. Park Rapids
8. Lake of the Woods
9. Bagley-Fosston
10. Kittson County Central
Tuesday – February 20 – Play In
Kittson County Central at Park Rapids 6:00 PM
Bagley-Fosston at Lake of the Woods 6:00 PM
Thursday – February 22 – Quarterfinals 7:00 PM
Bagley-Fosston/Lake of the Woods winner at East Grand Forks
Crookston at Detroit Lakes
Kittson County Central/Park Rapids winner at Warroad
Red Lake Falls at Thief River Falls
Saturday – February 24 – Semi-Finals at Warroad
2:00 PM – Winner of EGF/LOW/Bagley-Fosston vs Winner Detroit Lakes/Crookston
4:30 PM – Winner KCC/Park Rapids/Warroad vs Winner of RLF/TRF
Thursday – February 29 – Championship at Warroad
7:00 PM –
Warroad is defending Section 8A Champions and finished 2nd at State last year losing to Mahtomedi 6-5 in double overtime in the Championship
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During the Section 8A Boys Hockey seeding meeting, a few things of interest were discussed.
One thing was the possibility of Crookston hosting the Section 8A Boys Hockey tournament. The pros -it is the most centrally located location in the Section. It would rotate with TRF, EGF, and Warroad. Warroads crowds are always the smallest of the three locations and that is because of location. Nobody from DL, Park Rapids, RLF, Crookston, etc is going up to Warroad to watch the championship game unless their team is playing or they planned an ice-fishing trip before or after.
Crookston does an outstanding job of hosting, and if the girls hockey semi-finals on Saturday were any indication, Crookston goes all out to make sure everything goes well.
The cons – The size is much smaller than the other three hosts, but besides the section championship, I wouldn’t see it as a problem as the crowds for the semi-finals and even finals aren’t what they used to be. Plus, there is plenty of room to add temporary bleachers around the top on the ends and corners.
Stay tuned for more information.
The second thing discussed was switching the tournament schedule next year.
They are looking at having play-in games on Saturday.
Quarter-finals on Tuesday
Semi-finals on Saturday
Championship on Thursday.
I will be honest, I love this schedule. It gives you some practice time and a little more time between games.
Again stay tuned for more information on this.
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I noticed the Section 8AA Boys and Girls basketball playoff semi-finals and championship have moved back to Concordia this year. That SUCKS. I hate this move worse than when they stopped alternating between UM-Crookston and Concordia for the sites, even though UMC was a better gym, better hosts, offered the teams official stats, and just a better venue. But it wasn’t on Highway 10.
So instead of using the Detroit Lakes High School gym, which was brand new, a great host, with plenty of room, a way better atmosphere, etc, they are moving back to the dump at Concordia.
I honestly don’t get it, unless DL didn’t want to host anymore. It can’t be because WDAY is going to televise it because with streaming these days, there are companies that do a fantastic job and better than WDAY’s announcers will do. So, the only thing I can think of is that DL couldn’t or didn’t want to host.
Somebody, please let me know. The change makes ZERO sense to me. The Section 8AA Basketball tournament has had more changes to it than Donald Trump’s list of court cases. The board/coaches should be questioned on their decision-making because they change every two years on format, location, etc.
This is the main reason we don’t stream Section 8AA basketball semi-finals and championships and do Section 8A basketball instead. Region 8A does a much better job of running tournaments, having the same location and schedule every year. They do it right, and that is why they don’t change. They don’t change to try to favor certain teams, they don’t change because one thing could make them more money. They have it the way they do because it is best for the kids, and they have a helluva venue.
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The Section 8A Team Wrestling Tournament had the first-round matches on Tuesday at the high seed with everything going as expected.
#1United North Central beat #8Crookston
#4 Barnesville beat #5 Mahnomen/Waubun
#3 Fosston/Bagley beat #6 Fertile-Beltrami
#2 Frazee beat #7 BGMR
The semi-finals and Championship will be held at Fertile on Friday. The schedule is below.
6:00 PM – United North Central ____ vs Barnesville ____
6:00 PM – Frazee _____ vs Fosston-Bagley ____
7:30 PM – (Championship)
The Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament will be held in Crookston again. It will be Saturday, February 24. KROX will live stream all the matches again this year.
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MILESTONES –
Hunter Nicholas (Crookston) broke the Crookston Pirate Boys basketball rebounds in a season record and career rebounds record in a win over Stephen-Argyle on Monday. Hunter is only a junior and has over 700 career rebounds already.
Carter Coauette (Crookston) earned the 175th career victory in the Section 8A team wrestling tournament loss at United North Central on Tuesday.
Aiden Wolfe (Fostton) earned the 150th career victory in the Section 8A team wrestling tournament victory over Fertile-Beltrami.
Lewis Jones (Goodridge/Grygla) scored the 2,000th point of his career on Thursday.
Ava Waldal (Thief River Falls) scored the 1,000th point of her career in a win over Win-E-Mac on Thursday.
Brevyn Stoa (Hawley) scored 61 points in an overtime game against Central Cass on Saturday. The 61 points is a new single-game scoring record for the Hawley Nuggets.
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The latest Minnesota High School sports rankings are available by clicking the link below.
Minnesota High School Rankings – KROX (kroxam.com)
JOKES
An older, white-haired man walked into a jewelry store one Friday evening with a beautiful young gal at his side. He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend.
The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring, and showed it to him.
The old man said, “I don’t think you understand. I want something very special.”
The jeweler went to his special stock and brought another ring over.
“Here’s a stunning ring at only $40,000,” the jeweler said. The young lady’s eyes sparkled, and her whole body trembled with excitement.
The old man, seeing this, said, “We’ll take it.”
The jeweler asked how he would pay and the old man stated, by check. “I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I’ll write it now, and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds, and I’ll pick the ring up Monday afternoon,” he said.
Monday morning, a very teed-off jeweler phoned the old man. “There’s no money in that account.”
“I know,” said the old man, “but can you imagine the weekend I had?”
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Deep within a forest, a little turtle began to climb a tree. After hours of effort, he reached the top, jumped into the air waving his front legs, and crashed to the ground. After recovering, he slowly climbed the tree again, jumped, and fell to the ground.
The turtle tried again and again while a couple of birds sitting on a branch watched his sad efforts. Finally, the female bird turned to her mate.
“Dear,” she chirped, “I think it’s time to tell him he’s adopted.”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Halle Bruggeman is a freshman on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Tennis team.
Grace Fischer is a freshman on the Concordia College (Moorhead) Women’s Golf team.
Ethan Boll is a Freshman on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Sophomore on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Emma Osborn is a Sophomore playing basketball at Northland Technical and Community College in Thief River Falls.
Jacey Larson is a Sophomore playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Sophomore playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND..
Kaleb Thingelstad is a junior playing golf at Kansas Wesleyan.
Joslynn Leach is a sophomore playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brady Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.
Aleece Durbin is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Womens Track and Field team.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches
Todd Miner is a Pirate Football assistant coach.
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls hockey coach and softball assistant coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach and assistant girls golf coach
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Katy (Westrom) Horgen is the Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy.
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and a grad of West Point and currently serving in the U.S. Army.
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
