We are in the heart of March Madness across the state of Minnesota with high school wrestling, basketball, and hockey section competition underway. Last week was exciting with wrestling and now individual competition. Hockey and basketball take center stage this week and so far things have gone well outside of Detroit Lakes Boys hockey, who had to cancel their season and weren’t able to play in the postseason because of covid.
BASEBALL practice can start on Monday, March 22 with arm conditioning practice. And ALL spring sports teams can start real practice on Monday, March 29! Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we will have a full spring sports season.
— — —
The 2021 Crookston High School Spring sports PAC meeting, or parent athlete coach meeting will be held Monday night March 22 at 6:00 pm in the CHS auditorium. The PAC meeting is for those students interested in playing baseball, softball, track, boys tennis, boys and girls golf and clay target.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the following schedule will be used:
6:00-6:20: 7th and 8th graders will meet in the auditorium and then will meet with the coach of your sport.
6:20-6:40: 9th and 10th graders in the auditorium, and then to your coach
6:40-7:00: 11th and 12th graders in the auditorium and then to your coach
Masks and social distancing will be required
Clay Target will meet in commons- West side
Boys tennis will meet in room C130
Softball will meet in the media center
Baseball will meet in the commons-East side
Girls track will meet in the gym- West side
Boys track will meet in the gym-East side
Boys golf will meet in room C118
Girls golf will meet in room D144
Registration for activities is now open
— — —
The Crookston High School will be selling tickets for the Pirate Girls Basketball playoff game on Friday and the Boys Hockey playoff game on Saturday.
Tickets will be on sale at the Crookston High School from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18.
Girls Basketball tickets are $8
Boys Hockey tickets are $7
— — —
We will start off the column with a big CONGRATULATIONS to the Crookston Pirate Wrestling team on winning the Section 8A team championship for the second time in school history and the first time since 1988. We knew this could be the year for the Pirates with a full squad from top to bottom and outstanding wrestlers throughout. Crookston only had 15 or 16 wrestlers out this year, but they were able to fill 13 of the 14 and even all 14 weights throughout the season and that is pretty impressive.
Crookston was 22-11 in duals this year and wrestled against 8 teams that were or are currently ranked! I think it is safe to say this was the toughest schedule the Pirate wrestlers have had and it showed at playoff time when they beat Fosston/Bagley, Frazee, and Badger/Greenbush-Middle River! When I was in Cass Lake for the state team prelims/section championship on Saturday I overheard at least a handful of people talking about how they would really like to see Wes Hanson and the Crookston team win the championship. It wasn’t because they didn’t want BGMR to win, because Coach Novacek and the Gators are great people, are well respected, and do things the right way. It was because Coach Hanson is well respected and one of the nicest guys around. His wrestlers are great young men and wrestle hard, are classy in victory and/or defeat and do things the right way. It was pretty cool as a Pirate fan to hear so many people hoping for Crookston to get a section title for the right reasons. One thing I should also add is how classy the BGMR wrestlers and coaches were after they lost to Crookston. In a time you aren’t supposed to shake hands and personally congratulate people, the BGMR coaches said forget it, and they all personally congratulated the Crookston coaches on the section title. It was a pretty cool and classy move by the Gators and they handled defeat with class and that shouldn’t surprise anybody! It is one reason why I enjoy the section wrestling tournaments (team and individual) because the coaches and athletes are so supportive of each other. It is a tight nit and special group of people!
It was also cool to see Fosston-Bagley coach and Crookston High School graduate Pat Wolfe congratulate Coach Hanson, and former Pirate Wrestling Coach, and current Fertile-Beltrami coach Chad Hitchen at Cass Lake on Saturday congratulating the Pirates. The only thing I wish we could have done is to have Rod Olson do the match with me. Unfortunately, we were only allowed one person to be at the event due to the attendance limit and media counts against it!
Oh, by the way, Crookston will have 10 wrestlers advancing to the state prelims on Saturday in Cass Lake.
The Crookston season records are below –
The 10 Pirates advancing to the State prelims –
106 Evin Trudeau 15-9
113 Nolan Dans 26-9
120 Zach Brown 32-2 (Ranked #7 in the state)
126 Ethan Bowman 33-1 (Ranked #4 in the state)
132 Cameron Weiland 19-15
138 Braxton Volker 24-12
160 Hunter Knutson 22-13
195 Ethan Boll 33-2 (Ranked #3 in the state)
220 Hunter Kresl 14-16
285 Greg Gonzalez 12-8
Other Pirates wrestlers –
120 Carter Coauette 24-6
145 Spencer Ness 10-23
152 Casey Weiland 2-5
170 Cade Coauette 9-11
182 Cade DeLeon 6-25
195 Layten Fuentes 7-11
Pirate Wrestler career Milestones this year –
150 Wins: Zach Brown
100 Wins: Nolan Dans, Ethan Boll
75 Wins: Braxton Volker, Ethan Bowman
50 Wins: Carter Coauette, Hunter Knutson
Pins:
75 Pins: Cameron Weiland, Zach Brown
— — —
The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team’s season came to an end on Tuesday night with a 5-4 loss to the Thief River Falls Prowlers.
Crookston had an improved season, even though the record didn’t show it. The Pirates played a tougher schedule and lost a handful of guaranteed wins when they chose to “beef” up the schedule. That included three great games with Thief River Falls and a fourth in the playoffs. They had three good games with East Grand Forks. I see TRF, EGF and Crookston playing three times a year in the future. It is good for all three teams, short road trips, competitive games, and with a lack of teams to play in the area, it only makes sense.
Warroad is still a long way from being “touched” by the rest of the section and while Crookston has hopes of closing the gap, people have to remember Warroad is still very young and some of their best players are 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. And they are like the old Soviet Union teams in the 70’s and 80’s. They are a well-oiled all-around solid team with no weaknesses. Warroad is fun to watch if they aren’t playing your team!
Crookston says goodbye to three seniors.
Nora Peterson – Crookston’s leading scorer with 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists0 She was the best player on the team and could do everything for the Pirates. She was a great skater, was strong, could score, and always played hard. She was fun to watch and her commitment to the program was unmatched, driving from Mayville to practice and play. She will be missed!
Catherine Tiedemann – Crookston Girls Hockey’s all-time games played leader and this year she was fourth in points (6 goals/4 assists). Nobody has played more Pirate hockey games than Catherine Tiedemann and that likely won’t be touched for years. While she didn’t score as much as she had hoped, she seemed to find a way to come up with a big goal in several games. And kind of like the tennis team in the fall, she was kind of the team leader and kept things loose before and after the games/matches. It will be weird not seeing Cat on the tennis courts and the ice next year.
MacKenze Epema – She was fifth on the team in scoring, not bad for a defenseman (1 goal/7 assists). She battled through a lot of ups and downs throughout her career, including several concussions. It was great to see Kenze have a healthy senior year and her leadership on the ice was fantastic. #6 was everywhere on the ice and I don’t know if you could find anybody that played harder during every shift than her. Like Tiedemann, it will be weird to not see Epema on the soccer field or ice next year. The two have given so much to the programs and they will both be missed in a big way next year!
The good news, everybody else is coming back. The Pirates have a great crew of eighth and ninth graders and that was shown this year.
Freshman Reese Swanson was tied for first in goals and second in points on the team with 9 goals and 5 assists. Eighth-grader Addie Fee (thank god she takes after her uncle Chris and not her dad) was third on the team in points with 7 goals and 4 assists (most if not all of them in the second half of the season).
The Pirates didn’t record a lot of goals and more goals will come as they get stronger and older. They also return key players like Aleah Bienek who had her best year this year. She will be one of the senior leaders next year. The athletic sister duo of Cassie and Rylee Solheim had good years this year and might be the most athletic on the team and their skills are catching up to their athleticism and that is a great sign.
You also have a bunch of other young talents like Brekken Tull, Coral Brekken, Kaylie Clauson, Grace Fisher, Morgan Nelson, Jenna Seaver, Brynley Coleman, Parker Strand, and many more. You could also add one of the top, if not the top player, from this year’s PeeWee A team with Ashlyn Bailey joining the program next year. She will be an 8th grader next year and could make an immediate impact much like Swanson and Fee.
The Pirates will also have Kailee Magsam back next year as a junior goaltender. She stepped up and started playing goalie to help the team and continues to show tremendous improvement and it will be fun to see her play over the next two years.
The future is bright for Crookston. Can they catch up to Warroad in the next year or two and get to that level? Probably, not. But, can they get close enough where they have a chance to knock them off in a playoff game? In the next two or three years – ABSOLUTELY.
— — —
The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team’s season came to an end on Monday in a play-in game loss to Roseau.
It was a disappointing season that only produced two wins. Everybody knew it was going to be a tough season, but we were hoping they could get close to a handful of wins and with the schedule it was possible.
One thing that was disappointing to me was the lack of diving for loose balls, getting after it, leaving it all on the court, etc. No matter how good you are, hustling is the one thing you can control. I am not going to beat a dead horse, but it was frustrating as a fan and broadcaster.
Crookston loses five seniors – Carter Bruggeman, Easton Tangquist, Jacob Miller, Lucas Winger, and Karsten Isaacson. While the season wasn’t what they wanted, they got to play all 18 regular-season games and one playoff game, so that was great!
Positives – Jack Garmen finished with probably his best game of the year. He hustled, was active, hit the boards, and chipped in 19 points. Jacob Hesby was a shooting machine in the last five or six games. There isn’t a kid who has worked harder to get to where he is right now than him. He is a gym rat and has developed into a pretty good high school basketball player. He is definitely a favorite of mine in just the way he works. He is one you never questioned on how hard he works.
Other underclassmen showed some signs of potential, but nothing consistent. The key for the boy’s program will be getting better numbers and A LOT of time in the weight room to work on getting bigger, faster, stronger. If that isn’t done starting now, it could be another long year next year.
— — —
The Crookston Peewee A team competed in the District 16 Tournament in Red Lake Falls this past weekend. Crookston beat Warroad 3-0 in the first round and lost to East Grand Forks in the championship by a 5-2 score.
The top three teams advance to the Region tournament this weekend in Virginia, including Crookston with their second-place finish. Crookston will play Moorhead at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, March 19. Crookston tied Moorhead in their first game of the year and there will be some very good teams in the region tournament. According to the youth rankings (yes they rank the youth), Hibbing is #1, East Grand Forks is #2, Alexandria is also in the top five, so if Crookston can get one of the top two spots, it would be a pretty impressive accomplishment! Crookston has had an outstanding season with a 20-5-1 record, and we wish them best of luck this weekend.
Members of the team are Parker Kelly, Brady Chandler, Ryan Clauson, Grant Funk, Jay Reese, Easton Hanson, Connor Maruska, Ashlyn Bailey, Tate Hamre, Gavin Aakhus, Greyson Ecker, Masen Reitmeier, and Garrett Fischer. The team is coached by Trent Fischer, DJ Ecker, and Scott Sanders.
— — —
UMC Men’s Basketball received some bad news last week when their outstanding Freshman, Josh Dilling, decided to enter the transfer portal. Josh said he likes Crookston and the coaching staff, but he wants to see what is out there. He was a player the Golden Eagles were going to look to build around so that is a tough blow to the program. It comes early enough to start recruiting another guard, so that is positive.
UMC isn’t the only team getting hit by the transfer portal. It is funny that some people think male athletes come to the school because of the education. HAHAHAHAHAH. Funny stuff. They come for one reason only and that is to play the sport. They could give two craps less what kind of education they receive as long as they get to play a sport. It is sad but true. That is why it is funny at a place like UMC, where almost half the on-campus enrollment is athletes. The coaches should be paid more than the professors because I have NEVER heard a student say, “I am going to the University of Whatever because professor Johnson is soo good and well-respected.” NEVER.
Well anyway, back to my original point, there are hundreds of teams that have players in the transfer portal, including every school in the NSIC. NDSU has four that are entering the portal, including Jaxon Knotek. Jaxon is the grandson of Crookston’s Dale Knotek who is a long time employee of UMC and a big Crookston sports fan. I know Coach Weisse knows about it and that would be worth a shot!
We will see, but college basketball (Men’s) is the wild west with guys leaving their programs for greener grass somewhere else.
— — —
The Section 8A Boys Hockey tournament starts on Thursday and the seeds went like this –
1. Warroad
2. East Grand Forks
3. Thief River Falls
4. Kittson County Central
5. Red Lake Falls
6. Crookston
7. Lake of the Woods
8. Bagley-Fosston
9. Park Rapids
Out – Detroit Lakes – Covid-19
You don’t have to be a hockey genius to figure out who will likely be in the championship game with Warroad and East Grand Forks the heavy, heavy favorites to be in the big game. But is this the year Kittson County Central can play in the big game? They lost to EGF 5-3 during the regular season and they are playing some great hockey right now.
It will be interesting, especially with all the game being played at the high seed throughout the tournament.
— — —
University of Minnesota Crookston baseball player Brock Reller earned NSIC Player of the Week honors for the second-consecutive week. Reller earned the accolade Monday, March 8. Reller has helped the Golden Eagles to their best start as a NCAA Division II program with a 4-0 mark after earning wins over St. Cloud State University and Bemidji State University last weekend.
Reller continued his hot start hitting .545 (6-of-9) in two games with a 2.111 slugging percentage. He scored six runs, had three home runs, two triples, and eight RBI. He was 5-for-6 with two home runs and six RBI in a 17-6 win over Bemidji State. On the season, he is hitting .500 with an astounding 1.722 slugging percentage and 2.287 OPS. Reller currently leads the NSIC in hits (nine), home runs (six), triples (two), runs batted in (15), total bases (31), and slugging percentage (1.722).
John Bezdicek of Southwest Minnesota State University was selected as the NSIC Pitcher of the Week.
Reller and the Golden Eagles will look to continue their strong start as they open NSIC play Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21 at Winona State University.
— — —
JOKES
The daycare teacher holds up a picture and asks, “What’s this?” “A horsy,” one child answers.
“And this?” the teacher asks. “A piggy,” replies another youngster.”
And now this one?” asks the teacher, holding up a picture of a male deer with a beautiful rack of antlers. There was no answer, only total silence. “Come now, children,” she coaxes, “I’ll give you a little hint”.
What does your Mommy call your Daddy when he hugs and kisses her a lot? “I know! I know!!” exclaims one little girl.
“It’s a horny bastard!”
— —
A guy goes into a bar, orders twelve shots, and starts drinking them as fast as he can. The bartender says, “Dang, why are you drinking so fast?”
The guy says, “You would be drinking fast, too, if you had what I had.”
The bartender asks, “What do you have?”
The guy answers, “75 cents.”
— —
Sitting by the side of the highway waiting to catch speeding drivers, a Highway Patrol police officer sees a car puttering along at 37 MPH.
Says he to himself: “This driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!” So he turns on his lights and pulls the driver over.
Approaching the car, he notices that there are 5 older ladies, 2 in the front seat and 3 in the back… wide-eyed and white as ghosts.
The driver, obviously confused, says to him: “Officer, I don’t understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?”
“Ma’am,” the officer replies, “you weren’t speeding, but you should know that driving slower than the speed limit can also be a danger to other drivers.”
“Slower than the speed limit? No sir, I was doing the speed limit exactly…37 miles per hour!” …the older woman says a bit proudly. The Police officer, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that 37 is the highway number, not the speed limit.
A bit embarrassed, the woman grins and thanks the officer for pointing out her error.
“But before I let you go, Ma’am, I have to ask…Is everyone in this car OK? These women seem awfully shaken, and they haven’t made a peep this whole time,” the officer asks.
“Oh, they’ll be all right in a minute officer. We just got off Highway 103.”
— — —
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
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Sweden for Vasby IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan league.
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Ben Trostad is playing Club Hockey and Men’s Golf at UMC.
Ty Hamre is playing Club Hockey at UMC.
Brandon Boetcher is playing Club Hockey at UMC.
Brady Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Brita Fagerlund, is a Senior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.
Rachel Hefta, a Sophomore, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Nick Garmen is a sophomore playing tennis 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
