SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
We will be halfway through the high school football season after Friday. Actually, there will only be 3 and a half weeks left after Friday’s games. Every year it seems like the season goes by faster and faster. There is a lot of news to get to this week. I will take a look at section football and volleyball in next weeks column as he are over halfway through the regular season!
— — — — —
Jon Bittner, who coached boys’ hockey at Hallock, Warroad, and Crookston and served a decade as the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association’s Executive Director, has been named the winner of the MHCA’s Cliff Thompson Award for long-term outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in Minnesota.
Born and raised in Duluth, Bittner graduated from Duluth East and later from the University of North Dakota. He played senior hockey for the Hallock Bruins and the Grand Forks Wheat Kings before starting his high school coaching career as an assistant at East Grand Forks.
Bittner coached at Crookston for nearly three decades, retiring after the 2009-10 season. His teams reached the Section 8 finals in 1987 and 1992, and the 1987 team’s 19-4 record is the best in school history. He was named the state’s Coach of the Year twice, in 1997 and 2002.
Bittner was inducted into the MHCA Hall of Fame in 2000 and received the Bruce Johnson Award in 2005. As the Section 8 representative on the MHCA board, he represented the state’s high school coaches on Minnesota State High School League committees that addressed the two-tier/two-class state tournament, added regular-season games, longer periods, and re-sectioning, among other initiatives. He also expanded the locations of MHCA clinics and broadened the association’s Hall of Fame and awards.
The Cliff Thompson Award is named for the former Eveleth coach who won five state championships, including four straight from 1948 to 1951.
The MHCA also announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2026: Matt Majka (Minnesota Wild), Mike Randolph (Duluth East/St. Thomas Academy/Northern Lakes), Greg Rajanen (Austin/Fridley/Anoka), Frank Senta (Rosemount/Lakeville/Burnsville), Lee Smith (Eden Prairie) and Mike Taylor (Eagan). Other award winners are Thomas Johnson (Dave Peterson Award), Fran McDevitt (Bruce Johnson Award) and the late David La Vaque (Oscar Almquist Award).
Bittner and the other honorees will be recognized Friday, September 25, at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul between periods of the Minnesota Wild’s game against the Dallas Stars. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
— — — — —
Southwest Minnesota State Mustang Football (Marshall, MN) head coach Scott Underwood announced his retirement after they lost 59-0 to Minot State on Saturday. Former UMC Football Coach Levi Bullerman (2013-2017) has been named the interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Underwood was the 11th head coach in team history and was in his fifth season, retiring after 17 seasons as a head coach at the Division II level.
Underwood was hired as SMSU head coach on January 7, 2022, following 12 seasons (2008-19) as head coach at St. Cloud State University.
Coach Underwood is a great guy and was also a class act when I talked with him while he was at St. Cloud State. A bummer for a good guy, but happy to see Coach Bullerman have a shot.
As we all know, social media is the cesspool of humanity, but these comments were made on a resignation story in the St. Cloud media. I will leave the two replies for your perusal.
“Are they (Southwest Minnesota State) becoming Crookston?”
The reply from somebody else was this –
“At least at Crookston, you graduate with a University of Minnesota degree. Nobody wants to live in Marshall or Crookston.”
— — — — —
The City of Thief River Falls made an interesting move with the Ralph Englestad Arena last week. They decided to buy out the current arena manager for over $500,000. The contract was supposed to be until 2030, but they mutually parted ways. The arena has been a headache for the City of Thief River Falls, more so because of the money it takes to operate it. NOBODY can deny it is one of the nicest high school arenas around. But adding this cost to the city is tough. Hopefully the new company will be able to make it work better and have more events.
— — — — —
Climax-Fisher’s Peyton Hoffman recorded the 1,000th kill of her career on Tuesday in a 3-0 victory at Lake Park-Audubon.
— — — — —
Bemidji High School Boys Hockey’s Landon Knott has announced his commitment to play hockey at the University of Wisconsin for the Badgers. Landon is the son ot Kurt Knott (Red Lake Falls grad) and Landon’s uncle is Badger Men’s Hockey Assistant Coach Todd Knott (also a Red Lake Falls grad).
— — — —
A few columns ago, we had news that Warroad Girls Hockey’s Jaylie French decommitted from Dartmouth Women’s Hockey. This weekend, she decided to stay closer to home as she committed to Bemdiji State University
— — — — —
Fergus Falls’ Elsa Retzlaff has committed to play basketball for Southwest Minnesota State.
— — — — —
We have the first Minnesota High School Football polls out this week and we have also updated the volleyball, boys and girls soccer, and girls tennis polls. To see the latest polls, click below.
https://kroxam.com/mn-high-school-rankings/
— — —
Below are the 9-Player West-North Sub-District Football stats after week 3
— — —
KROX Radio and KROX TV will be video-streaming every Crookston Pirate Varsity Fall sporting event again this season. We have direct links to the streams for each home game. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel ((155) KROX Radio – YouTube) to get reminders when we go live with all our coverage.
September 26 –
Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer vs Hillcrest Academy – https://youtube.com/live/125XJaskplM
October 1 –
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Thief River Falls – https://youtube.com/live/SyFzCrTG4-Q
October 2 –
Crookston Pirate Boys and Girls Soccer doubleheader vs Mesabi East – https://youtube.com/live/SyFzCrTG4-Q
October 3 –
Crookston Pirate Boys and Girls Soccer doubleheader vs Hibbing – https://youtube.com/live/HT-KwnMRcEM
October 5 –
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Win-E-Mac – https://youtube.com/live/o_DJWRREuNc
October 6 –
Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer vs Hillcrest Academy – https://youtube.com/live/qGukPq8OUHM
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Warroad – https://youtube.com/live/h9i846k5H7s
October 8 –
Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer vs Walker-Hackensack-Akeley – https://youtube.com/live/1OvbRNo7usU
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs East Grand Forks – https://youtube.com/live/7L4Y6cx91Ng
October 9 –
Crookston Pirate Football vs Red Lake County – https://youtube.com/live/purUdRsZ_xY
October 12 –
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Northome/Kelliher – https://youtube.com/live/EVXbjKHDWeA
October 21 –
Crookston Pirate Football vs Red Lake – https://youtube.com/live/NwlNvw1izos
October 22 –
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Climax-Fisher – https://youtube.com/live/dbH4RVra80Y
— — — — —
— — — — —
The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball program is hosting a prospect camp October 4 commencing at 1 p.m., for grades 9-12. It will be held at the Minnesota Crookston Baseball Field.
The camp is instructional and provides a college-level learning environment with guidance from the Golden Eagle coaching staff led by Head Coach Steve Gust. Camp activities include: 60-yard dash, position-specific arm-strength testing, batting practice, infield and outfield defensive instruction, and live game-play. Following the camp, participants and their families are invited to an informational session covering the University of Minnesota Crookston baseball program, academic opportunities, the admission process, and a guided campus tour.
The cost of the camp is $111 with $100 plus fees. To register for the camp visit baseball.umcsportscamps.com/prospect-camp.cfm. Reach out to Assistant Coach Cal Fougner at foug002@crk.umn.edu with any questions regarding the prospect camp.
— — —
— — — —
JOKES
A guy and a girl meet at a bar. They get along so well that they decide to go to the girl’s place.
A few drinks later, the guy takes off his shirt and then washes his hands.
He then takes of his trousers and washes his hands again.
The girl has been watching him and says, “You must be a dentist.”
The guy, surprised, says “Yes! How did you figure that out?”
“Easy,” she replied, “you keep washing your hands.”
One thing led to another and they make love.
After they have done, the girl says, “You must be a good dentist.”
The guy, now with a boosted ego says, “Sure, I’m a good dentist, How did you figure that out?”
— — —
Two guys are out hiking. All of a sudden, a bear starts chasing them.
They climb a tree, but the bear starts climbing up the tree after them. The first guy gets his sneakers out of his knapsack and starts putting them on.
The second guy says, “What are you doing?”
He says, “I figure when the bear gets close to us, we’ll jump down and make a run for it.”
The second guy says, “Are you crazy? You can’t outrun a bear.”
The first guy says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you.”
— — —
A couple with three children waited in line at San Francisco’s Pier 41 to purchase tickets for a boat trip to Alcatraz. Others watched with varying degrees of sympathy and irritation as the young children fidgeted, whined, and punched one another. The frazzled parents reprimanded them to no avail.
Finally they reached the ticket window. “Five tickets, please,” the father said. “Two round trip, three one way.”
— — —
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
Ava Martin is a freshman playing golf at Gustavus Aldolphus.
Matt Contreras is a Sophomore playing baseball at Concordia College in Moorhead.
Teagen Lubinski is playing Junior Hockey for the Badlands Sabers in the NA3HL.
Parker Kelly is playing Junior Hockey for the Badlands Sabers in the NA3HL.
Addie Fee is a Sophomore playing hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a Sophomore playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a Sophomore playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a Sophomore playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a Junior playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Matt Contreras is a Sophomore playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a Sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Reese Swanson is a Junior playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a Junior playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a Junior playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Senior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Senior on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Senior the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Senior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Colton Weiland is an assistant Pirate Wrestling Coach
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Head Pirate Boys Hockey coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
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.
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 North Dakota.
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
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is Lance Corporal in the Marines.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
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..
