SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
I still have some Gopher Women’s and Men’s Basketball tickets available. I have FOUR tickets for each game. Email chrisjfee@yahoo.com and include your cell phone number, and I can electronically transfer them to you. NO CHARGE! They are free for whoever can use them!
Tickets available –
Men’s games-
January 23 (Tuesday) vs Wisconsin at 6PM
February 18 (Sunday) vs Rutgers at 5:30 PM
February 22 (Thursday) vs Ohio State at 7PM
March 2 (Saturday) vs Penn State at 2:15 PM
Women’s games –
January 14 (Sunday) vs Nebraska at 2PM
January 20 (Saturday) vs Michigan State at 2PM
January 31 (Wednesday) vs Penn State at 7PM
February 17 (Saturday) vs Northwestern at 2PM
February 20 (Tuesday) vs Wisconsin at 6PM
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The #8 ranked Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team‘s trip to Roseau on Tuesday night couldn’t have gone any worse than it did. In warm-ups, Crookston junior goalie Kambelle Frejie had a freak accident and broke her thumb!!!! She was in the net, and the players were shooting at her, she had a puck under her skate and started to fall, and as she was falling, a puck that was shot on goal hit her in the thumb and broke her thumb in two spots! You can’t make it up! So she wasn’t able to play, and it sounds like the best-case scenario: she would be back for the Section tournament.
If you haven’t followed the Pirate Girls Hockey team, Kambelle has been the team MVP this season. The Pirates aren’t a high-scoring team so their solid defense and outstanding goaltending have been the strength this season. Kambelle’s stats speak for themselves – Kambelle has played 19 games. She has made 329 saves while giving up 28 goals for a save percentage of .922 and a goals-against average of 1.47!! She also has five shutouts on the season!
The good news for Crookston is that the defense was solid again, and freshman goalie Maddie Abrams had a solid game, and that was great to see.
The other bad thing that happened in the game was the game was tied at 3-3 and looking like the game would go into overtime until the last minute. Roseau scored a goal to take a 4-3 lead. Crookston pulled the goalie, and Roseau scored again. Within 49 seconds of the first goal, Roseau added a third goal off a faceoff and won the game 6-3 for one of the craziest endings I have heard of.
Looking at SECTION 8A GIRLS HOCKEY –
This is the way it looks in my eyes as of Wednesday.
1-Warroad
2-Crookston
3-East Grand Forks
4-Thief River Falls
5-Detroit Lakes
6-International Falls
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SECTION 8AA GIRLS BASKETBALL –
Section 8AA Girls basketball is turning out to be interesting as a race for the top five seeds will be interesting.
Right now, it looks like Perham is well on their way to getting the top seed. After that, the next four teams will likely come down to the last games of the year.
Barnesville is currently in the second spot but less than a QRF point ahead of East Grand Forks and one point ahead of Pelican Rapids. Menagha is in the fifth spot, only 3.4 points behind Barnesville. Everything could be jumbled after Thursday and Friday, but it shows you how tight the second through fifth-place teams are.
Barnesville has great athleticism, skill, and is well-coached. They have beaten Perham and East Grand Forks. They lost to Pelican Rapids. They are a tough match-up and seem to keep getting better as the season progresses.
East Grand Forks lost to Perham by 10, beat Pelican Rapids by two, and lost to Barnesville by 20 in early December. They have athleticism in all five spots in the lineup, even when they go to the bench. They play tremendous defense and are solid on offense. They have gotten stronger every game.
Pelican Rapids beat Barnesville by seven points, lost to East Grand Forks by two points, and lost to Perham by five. Pelican Rapids has talent and has proven that in the three section games I mentioned above. They have some big games coming up and are going to be there in March.
Menagha is several points behind everybody because the schedule hasn’t been as tough. With that said, and seeing them in person, they are a solid team and will likely end up the fifth or sixth team in the section because Hawley could catch up to them with the strength of schedule. BUT, the only loss was to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the first game of the year with a 64-56 loss. I don’t put much stock into that loss in the first game, especially when they have beaten everybody since and are currently 12-1. They haven’t had a close game in all 12 of the wins, and that tells you how good they are. Wins include Osakis, New York Mills, and Park Rapids, to name a few. They have East Grand Forks on January 26 and we will see if they are “for real” in that game, and they end the regular season with games against Hawley and Pelican Rapids.
Again, with a little over a month left of the regular season, every game is a big game with the QRF.
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SECTION 8A GIRLS BASKETBALL –
WEST-SUBSECTION-
Sacred Heart, who just cracked the Top 10 rankings in Class A for the first time this season, is 13-1 and leads by almost 20 QRF points. They seem to have a lock on the top seed, as long as they keep playing like they have. They start four freshmen, so get used to Sacred Heart being at the top of the standings for many years to come.
The second seed seems to have a four team race as of today. Northern Freeze (11-2), Kittson County Central (8-3), Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (8-4), and Stephen-Argyle (5-5).
Northern Freeze beat BGMR by four, lost to Sacred Heart by 17, beat Stephen-Argyle big, and KCC by 12. They have a lot of BIG section games left with Sacred Heart, KCC, WAO, Stephen-Argyle, and BGMR.
KCC beat BGMR by one point, beat Stephen-Argyle by 10, lost to the Freeze by 12, and lost to Fosston by two points in overtime. They have games with BGMR, Northern Freeze, Sacred Heart, and a non-section game against East Grand Forks Senior High and that could be a big point-getter if they win that game.
BGMR lost to KCC by one point, lost to Northern Freeze by four, and beat Stephen-Argyle by 14. They have games with Fosston, KCC, Stephen-Argyle, Sacred Heart, and the Northern Freeze left.
Stephen-Argyle, even though they are 5-5 on the year, is in the thick of things as they play a solid schedule, and one loss was to Grafton (ND), which doesn’t count in the QRF formula. The Storm beat WAO, lost to KCC by 10, lost to the Freeze by 15, lost to BGMR by 14, lost to Sacred Heart by 15. They have games with East Grand Forks Senior High, BGMR, Sacred Heart, Fosston, and the Freeze coming up with a chance to move up the standings quickly with some wins in those games.
The last month of the regular season will be exciting, with a lot of big games.
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MILESTONES –
Kaden Pierce (Warren-Alvarado-Oslo) scored the 1,000th point in a win over Climax-Fisher on Tuesday.
Willow Thiel (Perham and UMC commit) recorded the 1,000th rebound of her career to become the first-ever Yellowjacket to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Steve Philion (Red Lake County Boys Basketball coach) earned the 650th win of his 50-year coaching career in a win over Clearbrook-Gonvick on Tuesday. His team is ranked 7th in Class A with an 11-0 record.
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The Mr. Basketball Committe has announced the watch list for the 2023-24 basketball season. The seniors on the list are recognized for their play during the current season.
There were only two people from northwest Minnesota listed as a finalist –
Justin Courneya – Win-E-Mac
Dylan Zimmerman – Moorhead
Here are the rest of the finalists.
Isaac Asuma, Cherry
Jalen Langsy, Shakopee
Colton Benson, New Ulm
Jackson McAndrew, Wayzata
DaMarcus Burks, Lakeville South
Randy McClendon, Columbia Heights
Jordain Cain, Minnetonka
Jonathan Mekonnen, Eastview
Brayden Carlson, Holy Family
Jay Neubert, Sauk Centre
Casmir Chavis, Park Center
Makoi Perich, Esko
Chiang Ring, Park Center
Matt Drake, Lakeville North
Jack Robison, Lakeville North
Tameron Ferguson, St Cloud Tech
Patrick Rowe, Chisago Lakes
Jackson Fowlkes, Park Center
Carson Schweim, Mankato East
Daniel Freitag, Breck
Abe Soumis, Hermantown
Grayson Grove, Alexandria
Andy Stefonowicz, Minnetonka
Kole Hanson, Holy Family
Will Strandemo, Delano
Zavier Hayes, Richfield
Henry Tschetter, Stewartville
Brandon Hrncir, Farmington
Owen Waldoch, Forest Lake
Isaiah Johnson, Totino-Grace
Shaun Wysocki, Rochester Century
Ryan Johnson, Lakeville South
Kyle Jorgensen, Minneapolis Washburn
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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)
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The Crookston Pirate Winter Sports Schedules are available on our website. Click on the link below –
CROOKSTON PIRATE WINTER SPORTS SCHEDULES – KROX (kroxam.com)
JOKES
Dallas Cowboys fans are now switching apparel to their other favorite teams.
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An elderly woman walked into the Royal Bank of Ireland one morning with a purse full of money. She wanted to open a savings account and insisted on talking to the president of the Bank because, she said, she had a lot of money.
After many lengthy discussions (after all, the client is always right) an employee took the elderly woman to the president’s office.
The president of the Bank asked her how much she wanted to deposit. She placed her purse on his desk and replied, ‘$165,000’.
The president was curious and asked her how she had been able to save so much money . The elderly woman replied that she made bets.
The president was surprised and asked, ‘What kind of bets?’
The elderly woman replied, ‘Well, I bet you $25,000 that your testicles are square.’
The president started to laugh and told the woman that it was impossible to win a bet like that.
The woman never batted an eye. She just looked at the president and said, ‘Would you like to take my bet?’
‘Certainly’, replied the president. ‘I bet you $25,000 that my testicles are not square.’
‘Done’, the elderly woman answered. ‘But given the amount of money involved, if you don’t mind, I would like to come back at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning with my lawyer as a witness.’
‘No problem’, said the president of the Bank confidently.
That night, the president became very nervous about the bet and spent a long time in front of the mirror examining his testicles, turning them this way and that, checking them over again and again until he was positive that no one could consider his testicles as square and reassuring himself that there was no way he could lose the bet.
The next morning at exactly 10 o’clock the elderly woman arrived at the president’s office with her lawyer and acknowledged the $25,000 bet made the day before that the president’s testicles were square.
The president confirmed that the bet was the same as the one made the day before. Then the elderly woman asked him to drop his pants etc. so that she and her lawyer could see clearly.
The president was happy to oblige.
The elderly woman came closer so she could see better and asked the president if she could touch them. ‘Of course’, said the president. ‘Given the amount of money involved, you should be 100% sure.’
The elderly woman did so with a little smile. Suddenly the president noticed that the lawyer was banging his head against the wall. He asked the elderly woman why he was doing that and she replied, ‘Oh, it’s probably because I bet him $100,000 that around 10 o’clock this morning I would be holding the balls of the President of the Royal Bank of Ireland .’
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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.
