WEST FARGO BEATS PIRATE GIRLS HOCKEY IN OT

The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team came inches away from winning the game at regulation, but West Fargo United (West Fargo and West Fargo Sheyenne coop) used a goal less than three minutes into overtime to win 2-1 in a game played at the Crookston Sports Center.  The game was supposed to be played in Thief River Falls, but the TRF Thanksgiving Classic was canceled due to the impending storm, so Crookston and West Fargo decided to play the game in Crookston. 

FIRST PERIOD –
The teams looked like they were working off the Thanksgiving food and were moving a little slow and only combined to get nine shots on goal in the period. Halfway through the period, West Fargo United’s Courtney Dockter scored the first goal of the game for a 1-0 lead. Neither team scored the rest of the period, and West Fargo took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. “It was a pretty even first period,” said Coach Tim Moe. “The one goal they scored was from behind the net, and I think it went off one of our defensemen. Overall it was a good period.”

SECOND PERIOD –
The teams seemed to shake off the post-holiday rust and started to move up and down the ice. Crookston picked up their play in the final five minutes of the period and began to pepper the West Fargo goaltender with three or four shots, but the United goalie stopped each shot, and they took a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. “It looked like West Fargo didn’t have their legs late in the period, and we took advantage of it,” said Coach Moe, talking about the late shots on goal. “We played a pretty good period, but we ended it on a good note.”

THIRD PERIOD –
Crookston continued to show improvement early in the third period.  That hard work paid off over six minutes into the period, when Morgan Nelson brought the puck up the ice along the boards. Nobody picked up Nelson until she near the circle in the West Fargo zone. When the defender came towards Nelson, she rifled a shot on goal and the rebound deflected in front, and Crookston’s Raina Satrum (8th grader from Mayville) got the rebound as she crashed the net and shot the puck into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. “Morgan kept skating, and nobody picked her up, so she kept going. Finally, somebody picked her up at the circle, and she put a nice shot on goal,” said Coach Moe. “Raina did a nice job of going to the net and was able to put the puck in the net. It was a great play by both girls.” Both teams had several good scoring chances for rest of the game, but both goaltenders played stellar in net. In the last few seconds of regulation, Crookston had the puck, and Satrum skated towards the blue line and blasted a shot on goal that the West Fargo goalie stopped and deflected it into the air. The puck went straight up and started to float behind the goalie. The United goalie didn’t know where the puck was while it was in the air and it bounced behind her in the crease. The West Fargo defenseman tried to stop the puck and almost knocked it in, but the horn sounded, and the puck was an inch or two short of the goal, and the teams were tied at 1-1 at the end of the regulation. “Raina almost had her second goal there,” said Coach Moe. “I didn’t think she had enough time, but she shot it on the net and handcuffed the goalie, and it bounced up over her and ended up at the goal line. It was a little disappointing not to get it, but we competed hard, and I like what we saw from the girls, especially as the game went along.”

OVERTIME –
Crookston started the overtime session strong with two quick shots on goal, but the United goalie came up with two excellent saves. Less than three minutes into overtime, West Fargo’s Erin Nowacki found herself on a breakaway and scored to give the United a 2-1 overtime victory. “We had a lot of kids who had opportunities late and in overtime and kept plugging away,” said Coach Moe. “The girls did a great job while being faced with a little adversity when Kylie Meyer couldn’t go after injuring her knee a little bit, and Samantha Sanders couldn’t play because she was sick. So we had some girls step in and do a great job. It was a great high school girls hockey game, and both teams played hard and played well.”

Crookston drops to 1-4 on the year. West Fargo United improves to 2-0 on the season.

1st Period
5:35 – WFU – Courtney Docktor (Madison Schoenberg, Jocelyn Hareland)

2nd Period
No scoring

3rd Period
10:21 – Crox – Raina Satrom (Morgan Nelson)

Overtime
5:21 – WFU – Erin Nowacki