It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..Winter Sports is finally here. The first games are tonight with many more Friday and Saturday. Several area teams will have their first games early next week. Kids are excited, coaches are excited, parents are excited, officials are excited, radio announcers are excited, grandparents are excited, you get the idea….everyone is excited. But we all know we won’t see every game played as scheduled between weather and COVID, so we have to ENJOY every game that is played and play like it is your last, because it could be.
We are bringing Frank the Tank out of “retirement” and he will help us broadcast Pirate Girls Hockey throughout the year. Both on streaming (god help us teach him how to set everything up!) and radio. He was going to be going to most games anyway to watch one of his granddaughters. We also have Rob Silvers doing boys hockey and possibly a few basketball games, Nic Severini is our newest addition and he is a great kid that just wrapped up school at West Virginia. He has caught on pretty quick and we are going to baptize him by fire over the next two months. And of course I will be doing basketball, wrestling, some hockey, and whatever else comes our way!
We will stream all 43 scheduled home Crookston Pirate events this winter sports season. You can watch them on our website or on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/KROXAM. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you know when we go live!
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We have the update Crookston Pirate Winter sports schedules – Click on the link below
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We have updated the Section 8AA Boys and Girls Basketball master schedules updated. Click on the link below
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We have updated the Section 8A Boys Hockey master schedule. Click on the link below –
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We have the Section 8A Girls Hockey master schedule updated. Click on the link below –
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The Crookston School District Activities Department has released the protocols for all Crookston Pirate home sporting events.
Crookston High School Gym
- Gates open 30 minutes before game time.
- Masks are required for ALL fans. Extra masks will be available at the door.
- Limit of 150 people total. Currently limited to 2 people per participant. (A number of factors are considered when arriving at this number. Could fluctuate. Players will be notified of any changes)
- Must pre-register. Players will preregister their guests for each game.
- Admission fee is $5 for all fans 1st grade – senior citizen
- Bring correct change.
- NO PASSES
- No concessions are available.
- ALL PIRATE VARSITY games will be live-streamed on KROXAM.com.
Highland Elementary School
- Typical location for C team/7th/8th-grade events.
- Due to the size of the Highland gym, no fans will be allowed.
Crookston Sports Center
- Gates open 30 minutes before game time.
- Masks are required for ALL fans. Extra masks will be available at the door.
- Admission is through the SOUTH (Front) doors only.
- Limit of 150 people total. Currently limited to 2 people per participant. (A number of factors are considered when arriving at this number. Could fluctuate. Players will be notified of any changes)
- Must pre-register. Players will preregister their guests for each game.
- Admission fee is $5 for all fans 1st grade – senior citizen.
- Bring correct change
- NO PASSES.
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The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team is poised for another outstanding year with the bulk of the team returning from last year. Fergus Falls is the heavy favorite, but Crookston, Perham, and others will be battling for the top spot!
Crookston has 22 out in 9th through 12th grade this season.
Seniors (2) – Emma Boll, Emma Borowicz
Juniors (9) – Jenna Coauette, Emma Osborn, Hannah Loraas, Amelia Overgaard, Hayden Winjum, Bailey Cameron, Madison Hoiland, Ellie Nesseth, Ally Perreault
Sophomores (3) – Abby Borowicz, Libby Salentine, Macy Fee
Freshman (8) – Halle Winjum, Kristine Bernd, Emma Gunderson, Madison Lindtwed, Bailey Turnwall, Frankie Torvinen, Isabelle Smith, Katelyn Christensen
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The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team has some solid numbers again this year. There are currently 29 girls on the roster. The Pirates have had some bad news with their top goaltender not coming back this season. Grace Koshney (from Mayville) is a CNA working at a nursing home in Mayville and she didn’t want to put her residents in harms way so she made a tough, but pretty mature and respectable decision to not play for that reason. She also is planning on going into the medical field after college, so that is another reason. Raina Satrom (Mayville) who was the second-leading scorer behind Nora Peterson, decided to play basketball with her twin sister when Minnesota started late and she likes it so much that she is going to continue to play basketball with her sister and basketball teammates. One more notable name that isn’t on the roster is Kendall Bergquist. Kendall was seventh on the team in scoring last year and isn’t playing this winter.
The roster as of now is below –
Seniors (3) – MacKenze Epema, Catherine Tiedemann, Nora Peterson (Mayville)
Juniors (8) – Rylee Solheim, Aleah Bienek, Dana Conley (Fisher), Dillynn Wallace, Samantha Sanders, Jocelyn Brekken, Jacey Laron, Brianna Kelly
Sophomores (3) – Grace Fischer, Jenna Seaver, Kailee Magsam
Freshmen (6) – Reese Swanson, Coral Brekken, Morgan Nelson, Brekken Tull, Cassie Solheim, Brynley Coleman (Hatton)
8th Grade (9) – Georgia Sanders, Paige Abrahamson, Maddy Harbott, Addie Fee, JoJo Wallace, Hattie Weiland, Kaylie Clauson, Julia Buhler, Parker Strand (Mayville)
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The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team has 22 boys out in 9-12 and it is pretty evenly split throughout the four classes. Brooks Butt is back after a year off and will add some beef in the post.
Seniors (5) – Jacob Miller, Karsten Isaacson, Easton Tangquist, Lucas Winger, Carter Bruggeman
Juniors (5) – Haden Michaelson, Jacob Hesby, Jack Garmen, Evan Christensen, Brooks Butt
Sophomores (7) – Tristan Luckow, Ryan Abeld, Bradyn Klinnert, Gavin Winger, Omar Petithome, George Widman V, Tatum Lubinski
Freshman (5) – Brannon Tangquist, Antonio Romero, Caden Boike, Isaac Thomforde, Nathan Johanneck
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The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team has 15 signed up and the roster is below –
Seniors (4) – Nolan Dans, Zach Brown, Cameron Weiland, Cade Coauette
Juniors (1) – Cade DeLeon
Sophomores (6) – Ethan Bowman, Braxton Volker, Hunter Knutson, Ethan Boll, Hunter Kresl, Layten Fuentes
Freshman (3) – Evin Trudeau, Carter Coauette, Spencer Ness
7th graders (1) – Casey Weiland
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The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team has 21 out this year 9-12. They have a nice group of nine sophomores, which makes up almost half the team!
Seniors (6) – Noah Dragseth, Kaleb Thingelstad, Noah Kiel, Gabe Monteith, Gavin Anderson, Carter Nelson
Juniors (3) – Blaine Andringa, Zach Johnson, Sam Stewart
Sophomores (9) – Thor Harbott, Zach Tahran, Alex Longoria, Dalton Delude, Nathan Kelly, Jack Doda, Jackson Demarais, Kaleb Armstrong, Jaren Bailey
Freshman (3) – Carter Trudeau, Kadin Edwards, Ashton Shockman
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Crookston Pirate Treasurette Dance team has 14 kids out this year, which is almost double two years ago! The roster is below –
Juniors – Amanda Schultz
Sophomores – Lily Groven, Emily Shea
Freshman – Hope Alexander, Amelia Cardova, Calleigh Fanfulik
Eighth graders – Mackenzie Funk, Makenna Kopecky, Kalea Luckow, Linda Torres
Seventh graders – Madelyn Knutson, Morgyn Larson, Caden Sanders, Avery Trudeau
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The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball rankings are out and the University of Minnesota Crookston Men’s Basketball team will take on the #2 ranked Northern State Wolves this weekend. Northern State jumped from #7 to #2 and they are currently 4-0.
Northern State has one of the top players in the country with Parker Fox (6’8 Jr Mahtomedi) who averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds a game last year as a sophomore. This year, as a junior, he is averaging 17 points, 9 rebounds 2 blocks, 2 steals per game in only 27 minutes per game.
UMC is going to have their hands full this weekend. They have struggled mightily against decent post players in their first four games.
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The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Presidents’ Council has voted to approve plans for a return to competitive athletics this winter.
The MIAC winter sports of basketball, hockey, indoor track and field, and swimming and diving will be permitted to participate in regular-season competition. The MIAC will not host winter-sport playoffs nor conference postseason championship meets; however, participation in NCAA championship competition will be permitted for qualifying teams and individuals. To prioritize focus on student-athlete and staff safety, spectators will not be allowed at MIAC contests during the winter season.
MIAC basketball and hockey programs will begin a seven-game conference schedule on Saturday, February 6. The basketball and hockey schedules will follow a single round-robin format, wherein each participating team will play every other team once, with the team achieving the best winning percentage while completing at least 51 percent of the schedule claiming the MIAC championship and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. In addition, teams will have the opportunity to schedule up to four non-conference contests beginning on January 29. The MIAC will not host basketball or hockey playoffs in 2021. The full 2021 schedules for basketball and hockey can be found here.
Regular season basketball games will be played at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays, with midweek and weekend hockey contests set for 7:00 p.m., pending facility availability. Institutions that have opted out of conference play are permitted to compete in non-conference competition during the NCAA-approved competition window. Teams that do not compete this season may continue to participate in practices, strength and conditioning, skill development, and leadership programming in accordance with NCAA, MIAC, and institutional policies, as well as the guidelines put forth by the Minnesota Department of Health.
MIAC indoor track and field and swimming and diving programs will be able to participate in regular-season meets at the discretion of each institution, as there is no assigned conference schedule for these sports; however, due to safety and logistical concerns, the typical postseason conference championship meets for these sports will not be held this winter.
Per the NCAA Division III blanket waiver issued last October, student-athletes may compete up to the established dates of competition maximums without being charged a season of intercollegiate participation during the 2020-21 academic year. All MIAC programs in the competition segment will follow the safety guidelines recommended by the NCAA Medical Advisory Board and Minnesota Department of Health. The complete MIAC COVID-19 Competition – which includes specific details regarding resocialization, conference protocols, and competition expectations – can be found here.
Planning continues for fall- and spring-sport competition and updated information will be provided as it becomes finalized.
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JOKES –
Yesterday my daughter e-mailed me yet again, asking why I didn’t do something useful with my time.
“Like sitting around the pool and drinking wine is not a good thing?” I asked.
Talking about my “doing-something-useful” seems to be her favorite topic of conversation.
She was “only thinking of me”, she said and suggested that I go down to the Senior Centre and hang out with the guys.
I did this and when I got home last night, I decided to play a prank on her.
I emailed her and told her that I had joined a Parachute Club.
She replied, “Are you nuts? You are 78 years old and now you’re going to start jumping out of planes?”
I told her that I even got a Membership Card and emailed a copy to her.
She immediately telephoned me and yelled, “Good grief, Mum, where are your glasses?! This is a membership to a Prostitute Club, not a Parachute Club”.
“Oh man, I’m in trouble again,” I said, “I really don’t know what to do. I signed up for five jumps a week!”. The line went quiet and her friend picked up the phone and said that my daughter had fainted.
Life as an over 60 is not getting any easier, but sometimes it can be fun.
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A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, “Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”
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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
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Brady Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Brady Heppner, is playing hockey for the Roanoke Raildogs in the SPHL.
Brita Fagerlund, is a Senior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.
Ben Trostad, is a Junior member of the University of Minnesota Crookston golf team.
Rachel Hefta, a Sophmore, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Cade Salentine is a redshirt-Sophomore playing football at the University of North Dakota.
Nick Garmen, is a sophomore playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Caden Osborn, is a freshman playing basketball at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Thea Oman, a sophomore, is swimming at St. Ben’s.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Emily Meyer is a girls hockey and softball assistant coach.
Carrie Clauson is a Junior High girls tennis coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach and assistant volleyball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Head Pirate Girls and Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate Baseball coach.
Brock Hanson is the Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant 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 –
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Justin Johnson is an assistant softball coach at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.
Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris, is a Director of Athletics at the British International School of Houston.
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 Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
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 also a grad of West Point and is currently is 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.
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
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
