The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Hockey team led 2-0, but four unanswered goals from the East Grand Forks Green Wave would prove to be the difference as East Grand Forks won 4-2 at the Crookston Sports Center.
The Pirates went on the powerplay midway through the period and were cycling the puck when Ben Andringa found himself alone at the right point and fired a shot a goal. Andringa’s shot was blocked down onto the stick of Jack Doda who softly shoved it into the slot to the waiting stick of Quinn Westlake who backhanded it home for a 1-0 lead with 8:16 to go in the period. The goal was Westlake’s third of the year and first career powerplay goal. “We’ve switched things around a bit on the powerplay with Quinn out front and Andringa back deep,” said Pirate coach Josh Hardy. “We’ve been talking that Quinn has really stepped up his game for a couple of weeks and nice to see him get rewarded there.”
The Pirates would strike early in the second period when Eric Delorme fed Brock Heppner in the slot, Heppner’s shot was blocked onto the stick of the Joey Doda in the left circle who fired the puck into a wide-open net. “Joey started that play in our own end making a nice move and then getting absolutely wrecked,” said Hardy. “Nice to see him get back up and in the play. Eric made a nice play before sliding it to Brock and Joey didn’t miss the empty net.” The Pirates looked to take a 3-0 lead just a minute and a half later when Sam Overgaard fired a puck into the top right corner from the bottom of the left circle, but the official’s ruled the net was off its mooring which meant it would’ve been pushed off by the Green Wave goaltender as no one else was near the goal. With the no-goal call the score remained 2-0 Crookston. “Sam made a nice play and wires it far side,” said Hardy. “We’ve got live with the way the ref saw it but it could’ve been big for momentum. The Green Wave comeback started when they drew a penalty on a 2-on-1 rush on the goal. Six seconds into the powerplay Luke Vonesh fired a shot off the right point that was redirected on the way to the net by Carter Beck for a goal to cut the lead to 2-1 with 7:14 to play. The late in the period Carter Beck centered a pass that leaked through the slot to Jake Hjelle who used the stick of Eric Delorme, who was just getting to his feet after getting tangled with Tanner Mack’s stick, to redirect his shot into the top of the goal and tie the game at 2-2 with 17.7 seconds to play in the second period. “They are dangerous, they have a lot of tough guys and can score quick,” said Hardy. “They scored six seconds into that powerplay and then get one at the end. We still felt okay about ourselves with a 0-0 game going into the third and if asked before the game I would’ve taken that in a heartbeat.”
The Green Wave would add two powerplay goals in the third period to win the game. First Trey Ausmus passed along the blue line to Vonesh who fired a wrist shot through traffic into the back of the new for a 3-2 with 14:47 to play. A late penalty would take away the Pirates opportunity to pull the goaltender and East Grand Forks would capitalize with a goal to make it 4-2 with 1:10 remaining. “We were able to get good opportunities tonight and get up early,” said Hardy. “We just gave East Grand Forks to many opportunities late in the game on the power play. I think we learned a lot about who we are tonight and proved we can play with anybody in the section.”
The Pirates fall to 6-14-1 and will travel to Lake of the Woods for a Section 8A game on Friday. East Grand Forks improves to 16-5-0.
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| East Grand Forks | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| CROOKSTON | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
1st Period
8:11 – Crookston – Quinn Westlake (3) (Jack Doda, Ben Andringa) (PP)
2nd Period
14:38- Crookston – Joey Doda (Brock Heppner, Eric Delorme)
6:59 – East Grand Forks – Carter Beck (Luke Vonesh, Trey Ausmus) (PP)
17.7 – East Grand Forks – Jake Hjelle (Carter Beck, Tanner Mack)
3rd Period
14:47 – East Grand Forks – Luke Vonesh (Trey Ausmus, Tanner Mack)(PP)
1:10 -East Grand Forks – Landon Parker (Trey Ausmus, Mason Poolman)(PP)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Jack Ricord – Crookston | 8 | 11 | 14 | 33 |
| Tucker Brown – East Grand Forks | 9 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
