sports

THE PIRATES GIRLS HOCKEY EXPLODE FOR 15 GOALS TO BEAT INTERNATIONAL FALLS

January 22, 2022

After a first period scoring three times, the Crookston Pirates added 12 more goals in the last three periods to dispatch the International Falls Broncos 15-0 in a Section 8A game played in Crookston this afternoon.

The Pirates started quickly when captain Aleah Bienek scored on a nice shot after Addie Fee found her down low after receiving a pass from Dillyn Wallace and a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game. “The girls have been itching to play,” said Crookston head coach Emily Meyer, “with all the postponements and cancellations because of the weather, we were just excited to get back out on the ice, and it showed early for us.” The Pirates brought up Emma LaPlante for this varsity game, and the eighth-grader scored her first goal of the year on varsity with a tip from Ashlyn Bailey’s pass through the crease, and it was 2-0 about halfway through the period. “Emma really works hard,” said Meyer, “she’s fast, and I feel a lot of things right with her, and she can shoot the puck, and I know this is only the beginning for her.” The Pirates leading goal scorer, Reese Swanson, would pick up her 10th goal of the season standing in front by herself when she tucked in a rebound off a Wallace shot to make it 3-0 with about six and a half minutes left in the period and although Crookston had a lot of shots and controlled play they found an equal opponent in the Bronco’s goalie, freshman Mara Pelland who had 21 saves and allowed three goals in the first as Crookston led 3-0. “I didn’t say much at all between periods today,” said Meyer, “it was mainly the girl’s among themselves discussing things they wanted to work, and one of their goals was to get 25 shots on net and working the puck around the perimeter which I think we did.”

Crookston would score with less than a minute into the second period when defenseman Bailey scored on a rush into the Bronco’s zone and zipped a backhander past Pelland, and it was 4-0. Just over 30 seconds later, Fee took the puck from an I-Falls defenseman, went from the left side of the net around, and stuffed it on the right to make it 5-0 just over a minute into the second period. The hits came coming when Morgan Nelson scored a goal because of her work ethic. When her linemates had the puck, Nelson never quit moving around and got in position to receive a Brekken Tull pass and a quick one-timer, and it was 6-0. Bienek would score her second goal of the game when she took a pass from Fee and was about the top of the circle to the left of the Bronco goal and had a big opening to the left of Pelland and Bienek made no mistake on a top shelf, under the crossbar shot to make it 7-0. Fee would cap off the second period when the Freshman scored her second goal of the period on a backhand about four feet out to the right of the goal with four and a half seconds to go. “That’s always the fun part when everybody gets into the scoring act,” said Meyer, “we were shooting the puck hard, and when you do that, it is hard to stop it. We just wanted them to go out in the third period and continue working hard.”

It only took a minute and a half into the third period, when freshman Kaylie Clauson’s slap shot found the net after getting a pass back from Swanson to make it 9-0. Converted Pirate defenseman Cassie Solheim would score two goals in a row about seven minutes apart on a couple of slap shots for her first goals of the season, and it was just over five minutes left in the game. Swanson would score her second of the game on a nice, nearly rink length coast to coast, LaPlante would score her second of the game as well as she hooked up again on Bailey’s shot/pass. The last two came in the last minute and a half and 49 seconds apart on Nelson’s second of the game, and Tull would add her eighth of the year to finish it off in a 15-0 win for Crookston. “It’s tough to figure out how to play the game with the score the way it was,” said Meyer, “looking back, I should have played our third and fourth lines more in the game, although they got regular shifts and a lot of ice time. We had a number of girls getting points, which is good, and even though they only had six shots, it was nice seeing Jacey (Larson) getting the shutout.” Crookston outshot International Falls 62-6 in the game. “Yeah, a tip of the hat to their freshman goalie,” said Meyer, “she played a good game, many strong saves, she’s quick, and you can see she has a nose for the game, so good for her.”

Crookston improves to 9-5-1 on the season, and they will have a bruising schedule next week!! They go to Detroit Lakes on Monday, travel to Bemidji on Tuesday, host Fergus Falls on Thursday, and go to East Grand Forks on Friday!! Detroit Lakes and EGF are Section opponents. “Those two games will be big as we continue to try and get the number two seed for the playoffs,” said Meyer, “Detroit Lakes is having a tough go at it this season, and we have to go in there and play like we did today. We tied Bemidji here at 1-1 in overtime and outshot them badly, so both teams will be looking for a win to settle the score. Fergus Falls should be a great game, we had a terrific game with them last year when Nora Peterson scored the winning goal for us, and I hope a lot of girls remember that because Fergus Falls will come in ranked in the top 10 in Class A in Minnesota. Then finally, on Friday, we go back to East Grand Forks and have a score to settle after they beat us the first time; this will be game number two of three. We play them, and we want/need this win. It will be an interesting week.” International Falls is 0-16 on the year and will be at Eveleth on Thursday to play Rock Ridge.

For Crookston, today goals scored and year of goal scorers
8th Grader -3
9th Grader – 3
Sophomore – 7
Junior – 0
Senior – 2

	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
International Falls	0	0	0	0
CROOKSTON	3	5	7	15

1st Period
1:13 – Crox – Aleah Bienek (5) (Addie Fee, Dillynn Wallace)
7:30 – Crox – Emma LaPlante (1) (Ashlyn Bailey)
10:32 – Crox – Reese Swanson (10) (Dillynn Wallace)

2nd Period
0:44 – Crox – Ashlyn Bailey (4) (Unassisted)
1:18 – Crox – Addie Fee (7) (Unassisted)
9:06 – Crox – Morgan Nelson (7) (Brekken Tull, Brynley Coleman)
16:00 – Crox – Aleah Bienek (6) (Addie Fee)
16:55 – Crox – Addie Fee (8) (Unassisted)

3rd Period
1:29 – Crox – Kaylie Clauson (2) (Reese Swanson)
4:03 – Crox – Cassie Solheim (1) (Jocelyn Brekken, Parker Strand)
11:13 – Crox – Cassie Solheim (2) (Unassisted)
12:16 – Crox – Reese Swanson (11) (Unassisted)
14:03 – Crox – Emma LaPlante (2) (Ashlyn Bailey)
15:26 – Crox – Morgan Nelson (8) (Brynley Colman)
16:15 – Crox – Brekken Tull (8) (Morgan Nelson, Brynley Colman)