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EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. —
In a span of about three minutes in the first period Thursday in East Grand Forks, the Green Wave scored four goals to take a 4-1 lead on Crookston. The Pirates would manage to cut the deficit to one goal but couldn't find the tying goal as the Green Wave would hang on to beat the Pirates 6-5 in the final game of the regular season for Crookston.
The two rivals split the regular season series with Crookston winning 4-3 on Dec. 22 in Crookston and East Grand Forks winning Thursday's matchup.
With 35 seconds in the third period on Thursday, Pirate junior Brianna Breiland rushed into the Green Wave zone with the puck and took it to the net. Pirate senior Hayley Epema, who was crashing the net at the same time, collided hard with East Grand Forks goalie Madi Galstad as Breiland's shot went into the net. A penalty was called on Epema, the goal was disallowed and the Green Wave survived.
Pirate senior goalie Rachel Biermaier recorded 17 saves, while Galstad stopped 23 shots.
"We sure came back and controlled the game," said Pirate Co-Head Coach Tim Persson, who was proud of the way his squad battled back. "We put pressure on their goalie, but we just got down too far too deep. It was good the way we battled back when we got down 4-1. The coaches were telling the girls 'we can score goals, just go out and play hard.'
"To sum it up, the refs kind of took it away from us," Coach Persson continued. "Every time we got a power play chance we got it negated by a supposed penalty. The Crookston girls played hard and the East Side girls played hard. It came down to bad reffing calls that cost us the game."
The eventful first period, in which six goals were scored, started with Pirate junior defenseman Natasha Skala scoring her eighth goal of the season when she fired a shot from the top of the right circle that deflected off Galstad's glove and into the net at the 2:07 mark.
A little more than four minutes later with the teams playing 4-on-4, Green Wave's CoCo Piche rushed in on a breakaway and slipped the puck past Biermaier to tie the game at the 6:25 mark.
A little more than a minute later, Riley Koberinski gave East Grand Forks the lead with a power play goal. Then, just about a minute after Koberinski's goal, Haley Mack scored back-to-back goals in the span of about a minute to give East Grand Forks a commanding 4-1 lead.
In a span of about three minutes in the first period Thursday in East Grand Forks, the Green Wave scored four goals to take a 4-1 lead on Crookston. The Pirates would manage to cut the deficit to one goal but couldn't find the tying goal as the Green Wave would hang on to beat the Pirates 6-5 in the final game of the regular season for Crookston.
The two rivals split the regular season series with Crookston winning 4-3 on Dec. 22 in Crookston and East Grand Forks winning Thursday's matchup.
With 35 seconds in the third period on Thursday, Pirate junior Brianna Breiland rushed into the Green Wave zone with the puck and took it to the net. Pirate senior Hayley Epema, who was crashing the net at the same time, collided hard with East Grand Forks goalie Madi Galstad as Breiland's shot went into the net. A penalty was called on Epema, the goal was disallowed and the Green Wave survived.
Pirate senior goalie Rachel Biermaier recorded 17 saves, while Galstad stopped 23 shots.
"We sure came back and controlled the game," said Pirate Co-Head Coach Tim Persson, who was proud of the way his squad battled back. "We put pressure on their goalie, but we just got down too far too deep. It was good the way we battled back when we got down 4-1. The coaches were telling the girls 'we can score goals, just go out and play hard.'
"To sum it up, the refs kind of took it away from us," Coach Persson continued. "Every time we got a power play chance we got it negated by a supposed penalty. The Crookston girls played hard and the East Side girls played hard. It came down to bad reffing calls that cost us the game."
The eventful first period, in which six goals were scored, started with Pirate junior defenseman Natasha Skala scoring her eighth goal of the season when she fired a shot from the top of the right circle that deflected off Galstad's glove and into the net at the 2:07 mark.
A little more than four minutes later with the teams playing 4-on-4, Green Wave's CoCo Piche rushed in on a breakaway and slipped the puck past Biermaier to tie the game at the 6:25 mark.
A little more than a minute later, Riley Koberinski gave East Grand Forks the lead with a power play goal. Then, just about a minute after Koberinski's goal, Haley Mack scored back-to-back goals in the span of about a minute to give East Grand Forks a commanding 4-1 lead.
Shortly thereafter, Crookston went on a power play and just seven seconds into the man advantage Breiland scored her 45th goal of the season to cut the deficit in half.
"It started with us putting pressure on them," Persson said of the four Green Wave goals in three minutes. "Then Natasha takes a shot and it bounces off CoCo Piche and it was off to the races. Then the second one I'm not sure what happened. The third goal was a pounding of the goalie. I didn't see the puck and I don't think the ref saw the puck.
"We told the kids, body up on kids and don't play the puck," Persson continued. "Four goals in three minutes is not very good. It was young mistakes on our part."
The offense stayed hot in the second period with Piche giving the Green Wave a 5-2 lead at the 1:50 mark. However, Breiland answered back for Crookston just seven seconds later on assists from senior forward Caitlin Wahouske and eighth grade defenseman Sabrina Delorme.
About three minutes later, the Pirates cut the deficit to one goal when senior winger Riley Erickson took a pass from eighth grader Marietta Geist in the slot and fired a quick low shot that found the net just inside the pipe.
East Grand Forks would take back its two-goal lead before the end of the second period when Jenna Wisk scored with four minutes, 39 seconds remaining to make it 6-4 Green Wave.
"The two goals we gave up in the second were really goals that killed us," Coach Persson stated.
Crookston quickly cut the deficit to one at the 2:18 mark of the third period when Breiland sent a pass from the boards to Epema waiting in front of the net where she chipped it past Galstad to make it 6-5.
The Pirates fall to 13-12 on the season and will get the No. 4 seed in the Section 8A Tournament. They will host Park Rapids in the opening round Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. The winner will play top seeded Warroad in the semifinals at Thief River Falls' Ralph Engelstad Arena on Monday, Feb. 13.
"Our last two games we've played really good hockey," Coach Persson said. "We just can't give up easy goals like that. We have to play better in our zone."
