SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
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Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a great year for you and your family.
I ended the year by celebrating my birthday on December 29. The start of the day was at Retina Consultants to have them look at my eye. I had a detached retina surgery, and about six weeks ago, I had cataract surgery. Now my pressures have been high, and I have been on three drops and some pills to drain fluid after being on steroid drops for three months. My pressures are way to high without drops, so now, in less than three weeks, I have to go to a Glaucoma specialist and then see my retina surgeon. My eye issues have been going on since the end of July and still going. I can only see about 60-20 out of my right eye, and my vision is skewed because the retina didn’t heal symmetrically perfect like most with a fully detached retina. So it was a great start.
Everything got better after that. My wife and eye left Fargo and went to watch the girls basketball game in Fergus Falls. The girls lost, but our daughter Macy got to play in her first game in almost two years. She suffered a Liz Franc injury which is at least a year-long recovery process. So she got in, had two strong and solid post moves, and was fouled both times. She hadn’t shot a free throw in a game in almost two years, so we will just leave it at that. But I was so happy for Macy as it has been a long two years, a missed chance to play in the state tennis tournament, and so much more. She has handled it with class, and my wife and I were beyond excited to see her back on the court.
After the game, we went back to Fargo and had a room at the Jasper Hotel in downtown Fargo. It is an awesome hotel in the heart of downtown and close to great bars and restaurants and the Fargo Theatre so we stayed. We went across the street to Dempsy’s Irish pub. We sit down and order a drink, and the waitress says it is free hot dogs with the purchase of a drink. It wasn’t only free hot dogs, but they were Vienna all-beef dogs, and you could choose from a chili dog and a few others, along with my favorite, a Chicago dog. So the night was looking up. Then they start free bingo with prizes of drinks, shots, pitchers, etc for each game. We played bingo and didn’t win, but it was still fun to chat, play bingo and have a few drinks with my wife Tiffany, the love of my wife. We ate at a different spot later in the evening, and the food was delicious and we went to bed and slept in the next morning. Then the next night, my wife brought me to Harry’s Steakhouse in Grand Forks for my real birthday dinner, and it was awesome as usual.
So thank you to my awesome wife Tiffany. To all that wished happy birthday. It was a good one, and happy to be 46 now.
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Warroad Boys Hockey player Jayson Shaugabay is five points away from tying all-time point leader T.J. Oshie! The Warriors play two games at home this weekend, and one would think he would do it in one of those two games.
Oshie had 241 points in 93 games played!
Shaugabay has 236 points in 88 games played!
You can also look at the other GREAT hockey players that have come through Warroad.
Below are the best Warroad pro hockey players.
TJ Oshie (Washington Capitals) has played 923 games, scored 276 goals, 370 assists for 646 total points.
Brock Nelson (NY Islanders) has played over 700 NHL games with 220 goals and 205 assists for 425 points.
Henry Boucha played 247 games before his career was cut short due to a vicious hit and health problems after. He had 102 points in 247 games.
Alan Hangsleben played 185 games with 69 points as a defenseman with 396 penalty minutes!
Last but not least, Dave Christian. He played 1009 games and had 340 goals, 433 assists for 773 points. He had 102 power-play goals and 35 game-winning goals.
While Larry Olimb never played in the NHL, he was a Mr. Hockey in 1988, but when he was a junior Warroad beat Crookston 4-1 in the Section 8 championship game and earned the program’s first appearance since 1970. He played four years for the Gophers and was the program’s all-time assist leader with 159.
One of the many other highlights was the Christian Brothers, Roger, and Bill Christian. They were the co-founders of Warroad-based Christian Brothers Hockey Sticks! In the 1960 Olympics, Roger assisted Bill in the game-winning goal against the Soviet Union.
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Section 8AA Girls Basketball Standings as of 1-4 (courtesy of Minnesota-Scores.net)
We aren’t halfway through the season yet, but Perham is putting a stamp on the top spot in the section! They have great defense, solid guard play, and have the best post player in the section with Willow Thiel. From the second seed down to the 11th team are all in the hunt to get a home playoff game in the first round (top nine teams). The section is really wide open after Perham, and the playoffs are going to be outstanding this year.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perham | 4-0 | 8-1 | 83.4 |
| Fergus Falls | 1-0 | 4-3 | 62.2 |
| Pelican Rapids | 5-1 | 8-2 | 58.0 |
| Hawley | 3-1 | 7-2 | 57.0 |
| EGF | 1-2 | 5-3 | 48.8 |
| Thief River Falls | 4-3 | 6-3 | 46.4 |
| Barnesville | 2-1 | 3-4 | 44.4 |
| Crookston | 3-2 | 4-4 | 43.8 |
| Dilworth-G-F | 0-2 | 3-5 | 39.7 |
| Park Rapids | 1-2 | 3-3 | 39.1 |
| Wadena-DC | 1-1 | 5-3 | 36.5 |
| Roseau | 1-2 | 6-5 | 33.5 |
| Frazee | 0-4 | 2-6 | 26.8 |
| Menahga | 0-2 | 2-4 | 25.5 |
| Warroad | 0-3 | 2-7 | 17.6 |
| Red Lake | 0-0 | 0-4 | 11.9 |
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Section 8A Girls Basketball Standings as of 1-4
Section 8A – West Standings
It is a two-team race for the top seed in the 8A West sub-section, with BGMR and Goodridge/Grygla at the top. The teams play twice, and the first meeting will be on January 12 and the tie-breaker could come into play, so the two head-to-head meetings will be huge for the top seed, if it matters who is 1 and 2.
The third through seventh seed is up for grabs. Sacred Heart, Kittson County Central, Red Lake Falls, and Warren-A-O are all fighting for the third seed.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| BadgerGMR | 3-0 | 7-1 | 53.9 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 6-0 | 7-0 | 52.7 |
| Sacred Heart | 4-0 | 4-2 | 39.5 |
| Kittson Co. Central | 4-1 | 4-3 | 36.9 |
| Red Lake Falls | 2-4 | 4-4 | 33.7 |
| Warren-A-O | 3-3 | 4-3 | 32.4 |
| Climax/Fisher | 3-3 | 4-6 | 23.0 |
| Lake of the Woods | 1-2 | 1-4 | 20.0 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 1-4 | 1-5 | 18.0 |
| Northern Freeze | 2-6 | 2-8 | 17.5 |
Section 8A – East Standings
Fosston and Kelliher/Northome are fighting for the top seed in the east sub-section. It is cool to see Kelliher/Northome at the top of the standings as they are having the best year and a long time. It looks like Fertile-Beltrami has a firm hold on the third seed and after that most of the seeds are still wide open.
| Section | Section | Overall | QRF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fosston | 5-0 | 6-0 | 60.6 |
| Kelliher/Northome | 5-0 | 8-0 | 58.1 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 6-2 | 7-2 | 44.2 |
| Cass Lake-Bena | 2-1 | 5-4 | 31.3 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 3-1 | 4-3 | 29.9 |
| Bagley | 3-4 | 3-5 | 21.6 |
| Blackduck | 1-6 | 3-6 | 21.0 |
| Red Lake Co. Cent | 2-6 | 2-6 | 16.2 |
| Win-E-Mac | 1-7 | 1-8 | 9.4 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 0-7 | 0-8 | 8.3 |
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Section 8AA Boys Basketball Standings as of 1-4
Perham has the early lead as the top team in Section 8AA Boys Basketball, but they aren’t too far ahead. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Thief River Falls, and Barnesville are battling for the second and even the top seed. DGF and TRF play this week and that will be a great game, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see TRF win by 10 to 15. I think TRF has a chance to be the best team with their size, guards, and everything else. But never bet against Perham, or a team like DGF that has not only had success on the football field, but also has one of the top players in the state with Owen Leach.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perham | 3-0 | 7-0 | 76.1 |
| Dilworth-G-F | 1-0 | 2-1 | 72.3 |
| Thief River Falls | 6-0 | 8-0 | 62.0 |
| Barnesville | 0-0 | 3-0 | 58.0 |
| Fergus Falls | 0-1 | 4-3 | 50.2 |
| Hawley | 2-1 | 4-3 | 49.7 |
| Pelican Rapids | 5-1 | 7-2 | 48.8 |
| Red Lake | 1-0 | 5-1 | 46.4 |
| EGF | 1-2 | 3-3 | 40.3 |
| Wadena-DC | 0-1 | 4-2 | 36.8 |
| Warroad | 1-2 | 4-6 | 29.4 |
| Crookston | 2-2 | 3-5 | 26.8 |
| Frazee | 1-4 | 2-5 | 24.0 |
| Park Rapids | 0-4 | 1-6 | 19.4 |
| Menahga | 0-1 | 1-6 | 12.9 |
| Roseau | 0-4 | 1-7 | 10.7 |
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Section 8A Boys Basketball Standings as of 1-4
Section 8A – West Standings
The Warren-A-O Ponies have stamped their claim on the top spot by a pretty sizable margin. They have athleticism, length, height, and some pretty good basketball players and they have shown it so far this year going 9-0. Fighting for the second seed will be Goodridge/Grygla, Sacred Heart, and the Northern Freeze. The Freeze are a tough team to figure out early on. They have had some nice wins and some tough losses. The second through four seeds could come down to the final week of the season.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warren-A-O | 5-0 | 9-0 | 58.7 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 5-1 | 5-1 | 44.1 |
| Sacred Heart | 6-1 | 6-2 | 37.1 |
| Northern Freeze | 2-3 | 3-4 | 36.3 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 3-2 | 4-3 | 32.2 |
| Red Lake County | 2-3 | 3-4 | 28.9 |
| Lake of the Woods | 1-1 | 3-6 | 24.0 |
| Kittson Co. Central | 0-3 | 1-4 | 19.3 |
| Badger/GMR | 0-6 | 1-7 | 14.4 |
| Climax/Fisher | 1-3 | 1-6 | 10.6 |
Section 8A – East Standings
The East seems to be a two team race so far this season. Ada-Borup-West and Cass Lake-Bena are way ahead of everybody so far in the QRF. But Fosston and Fertile-Beltrami, and Mahnomen/Waubun are all right behind and more than capable of knocking the top two off. This will be an interesting subsection to keep an eye on the rest of the season.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ada-Borup-West | 2-0 | 5-0 | 65.7 |
| Cass Lake-Bena | 3-0 | 6-0 | 65.3 |
| Fosston | 4-1 | 4-1 | 46.4 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 5-2 | 6-2 | 41.4 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 2-2 | 5-2 | 38.4 |
| Blackduck | 2-2 | 4-2 | 32.0 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 0-2 | 2-4 | 27.7 |
| Win-E-Mac | 2-5 | 4-5 | 26.7 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 2-5 | 3-6 | 26.6 |
| Bagley | 0-5 | 0-7 | 5.6 |
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Section 8A Boys Hockey Standings
The Section 8A Boys Hockey standings, according to the QRF could use some improvement, but here is what they have below.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warroad | 1-0-0 | 9-0-0 | 73.5 |
| Detroit Lakes | 3-1-1 | 9-2-1 | 47.5 |
| Kittson Central | 3-1-0 | 5-4-0 | 37.9 |
| East Grand Forks | 2-0-0 | 5-6-0 | 37.7 |
| Red Lake Falls | 3-1-0 | 7-2-0 | 36.8 |
| Thief River Falls | 1-1-1 | 4-6-1 | 31.6 |
| Bagley/Fosston | 2-1-0 | 6-4-0 | 29.9 |
| Park Rapids Area | 1-1-0 | 3-3-0 | 27.0 |
| Lake of Woods | 0-5-0 | 1-6-0 | 15.9 |
| Crookston | 0-5-0 | 1-9-0 | 15.0 |
My seeding would go like this –
1. Warroad (no doubter)
2. Detroit Lakes
3. East Grand Forks
4. Thief River Falls
5. Kittson County Central
6. Red Lake Falls
7. Bagley/Fosston
8. Crookston
9. Park Rapids
10. Lake of the Woods
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Section 8A Girls Hockey Standings
It is tough to argue with the QRF standings for Section 8A Girls hockey. Warroad has the best ranking in Class A girls hockey (Shocker!!!), and Crookston is #12. Playing DL, I-Falls, Rock Ridge, and Breckenridge/Wahpeton dropped their ranking down big time.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warroad | 3-0-0 | 14-1-0 | 104.9 | 1 |
| Crookston | 4-2-0 | 10-4-1 | 57.9 | 12 |
| EGF | 1-2-0 | 4-7-0 | 34.2 | 28 |
| TRF | 3-1-0 | 4-12-0 | 30.0 | 35 |
| Detroit Lakes | 1-4-0 | 2-13-0 | 16.0 | 45 |
| I-Falls | 0-3-0 | 0-9-0 | 9.1 | 50 |
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Section 8A Wrestling is too early to report on as the month of January is a big dual month so we will know more in the next couple of weeks.
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The Crookston Pirate Winter Sports schedule has been updated again. To see the latest schedules, click below.
JOKES
Once there was an old rich man who was afraid of dying and leaving all his wealth behind on earth. So, he took up the matter with God. He pleaded day and night to be able to take all his earthly possessions with him. Finally, God conceded. He said the man could take as much as he could fit in one suitcase. The old man immediately went out, bought a huge suitcase, sold all he owned and filled the suitcase with gold bars. Shortly after that, the old man died. Awkwardly dragging the big, heavy suitcase, he approached St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter stopped him, asked him to open his luggage, and then told him he couldn’t bring his gold bars into Heaven. The man was irate. “You don’t understand,” he said. “I got permission directly from God himself for this. He told me whatever I could fit into one suitcase, I could bring with me.”St. Peter, shrugged his shoulders and simply said, “Fine with me. But we’ve already got plenty of pavement here.”
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A juggler, driving to his next performance, is stopped by the police. “What are these matches and lighter fluid doing in your car?” asks the cop.
“I’m a juggler and I juggle flaming torches in my act.”
“Oh yeah?” says the doubtful cop. “Lets see you do it.” The juggler gets out and starts juggling the blazing torches masterfully.
A couple driving by slows down to watch. “Wow,” says the driver to his wife. “I’m glad I quit drinking. Look at the test they’re giving now!”
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A little boy had been pawing over the stock of greeting cards at a stationery store.
After a few minutes the clerk became curious and asked, “Just what is it you’re looking for, sonny? Birthday greeting? Message to a sick friend? Anniversary congratulations to your mom and dad?”
The boy shook his head, “No.”
“Then what kind of card is it that you want?” asked the clerk.
The boy answered wistfully, “Got anything in the line of blank report cards?”
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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
Emma Osborn is a freshman playing basketball at Northland Technical and Community College in Thief River Falls.
Jacey Larson is a freshman playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Olivia Huck is a freshman playing soccer at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Brooks Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Aleah Bienek is a freshman playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Elise Tangquist is the Assistant Girl’s Volleyball and Assistant Girl’s Golf Coach this year at Heritage Christian Academy in Maple Grove.
Kaleb Thingelstad is a sophomore playing golf at North Central University in the Twin Cities.
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.
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Norway.
Kate MacGregor is senior swimming at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Aleece Durbin is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Nick Garmen is a junior playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls’ hockey coach and softball assistant coach.
Lacia Hanson is the Junior High softball 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
Cody Brekken is the Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls’ Swimming coach
Brock Hanson is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Ben Halos is a Pirate Baseball assistant coach.
Alex LaFrance is a 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/Admin/etc –
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 is the Head Girl’s Tennis Coach and 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 Minnesota State Mankato 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 with the Army and is deployed to Iraq for nine months.
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.
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