SATURDAY -  DECEMBER 10, 2011
 

TARTAN'S OVERTIME GOAL SPOILS CROOKSTON PIRATE BOY'S COMEBACK

Tartan’s sophomore defenseman, Eric Geskermann’s goal two minutes into overtime spoiled a strong Crookston comeback to give the Titans a 4-3 win over the visiting Pirates in Oakdale, Minnesota.
After Crookston scored with 18 seconds to go in regulation to tie the game at 3-3, the Pirates continued their dominating play in the overtime getting three point blank shots on goal, but were stopped and Pirate Connor Morgan had a wide open net on a rebound and couldn’t get a backhand on net, but when Tartan finally got it into the Crookston end in overtime Geskermann took a pass at the point and skated in a bit and his shot was grabbed by Crookston goalie Kollin Erdman who couldn’t hold unto the puck and it rolled off his glove behind him and bounced into the goal to give Tartan their second victory of the season.
The game started with two similarities of Pirate hockey in the early season, failure to clear their zone plus going to the penalty box and then senior goalie Erdman called upon to make numerous saves and keep his team close. “It’s like the Republicans and the Democrats as far as penalties,” said Crookston head coach Jon Bittner referring to the officiating, “I didn’t see it quite like the officials seen it. We had a couple tripping calls where their player stepped on a stick and we were called for the penalty. The officials and I didn’t see quite eye to eye on that.” Tartan is much like Crookston in they only had one senior on the top four lines, but they could scoot and were bottling up Crookston and forcing Erdman to make save after save Crookston had taken to back-to-back penalties and were two men down for just three seconds. Crookston skated the first penalty off, but on the second one arguably the top Titan who could scoot was Jake Jackson and the junior scored with the man advantage of a shot from the right circle that snuck by the short side of Erdman to give Tartan a 1-0 lead.  Crookston was outshot 20-9 for the period, but almost tied the game on a last second faceoff in the Tartan zone. There was 1.9 seconds to go, Crookston pulled the goalie and had an extra man because of the time left and Ryan Edevold was then tossed out of the faceoff circle by the referee. Brady Heppner stepped in to take the draw and won the faceoff and drove the puck at the goalie off the draw, which the Titan goalie saved, but the rebound came right out in front and the Pirates Connor Morgan slide it just inches wide of the goal and would have counted, but Tartan had the 1-0 lead at the first period break. “Tartan is a good team and has a lot of giddy up in their step, which they have to be because of the conference and section they play in,” said Coach Bittner, “they are in with Hill-Murray, Mahtomedi, White Bear Lake and some of those teams.”
The second period was played much of the time in the Crookston zone again although not as many shots as both teams kept play to the outside walls and on the perimeter. Crookston again was called on two penalties within 11 seconds of each other and their top two defensemen, Justin Cameron and Ryan Bittner are in the penalty box and Tartan scored on some nice passing with a two man advantage. The Titans worked the puck from the blue line to the right circle and then a crisp on the ice pass to across to the left circle and Mike Winberg one-timed a shot that beat Erdman to put the Titans up 2-0 and still had a minute and a half of a five on four power play, but Crookston was able to skate it off. Whether it was an even up call or not, but Tartan was whistled for a penalty a short  time later and Crookston would strike to get back within a goal. After winning the faceoff, Heppner got it back to Ryan Bittner near the circle and he in turn dropped it back to the blue line where Edevold runs the power play and the junior, who is in a scoring zone right now blasted a shot that whistled by the Tartan goalie to put Crookston on the scoreboard and trailing 2-1 with about eight minutes left in the second period. The Pirates were able to skate off another penalty, but you could slowing see things starting to change as Crookston started carrying a lot of the play and setting up some good scoring chances, but it was Tartan that would score with just over a minute to go in the period as Jackson who made a good play behind the Crookston net to free up a puck, quickly circled around and tried to stuff the puck, but Erdman got over as quickly to make a skate save, but with Erdman down and the puck bouncing right back to Jackson, who fired it in to give Tartan a 3-1 lead heading into the second period intermission. “We made some adjustments and the kids started playing better and with more confidence,” said Coach Bittner. “We juggled some things around to try and find some scoring combinations and shortened the bench at bit at times too. Our young defensemen are inexperienced and going up against a really fast team we changed their positioning. Sometimes they weren’t reacting, like seeing their partner in the corner digging for the puck and then realizing a little late that they should be back for a partner pass behind the net and then out of position and Tartan’s third man is right on them and we couldn’t break out. We made them more aware of this and I thought all of our defenseman continued to play better as the game went along.”
Crookston started out the third period with another penalty and Tartan goes on their sixth power play of the game, but it backfired on the Titans. About half-way through the power play, Crookston cleared their zone and got the puck near center ice and two Titan defensemen were a little careless handling the puck and this is not good when you have Edevold in the vicinity, as the Pirate center man stripped one defenseman of the puck, out muscled the other and came in on a breakaway and about seven feet out snapped his signature shot and the Tartan goalie didn’t move and Crookston was within a goal, trailing 3-2 with a lot of time left (15 minutes) in the game.  “Man, can he score,” Coach Bittner said about the Pirates leading goal scorer with his 10^th of the season and fourth of the two weekend games, “Man oh man, let’s keep this going.”
You had to think that Tartan fans were thinking there was too much time left on the clock the way Crookston had started picking up the pace and pushing the puck in the offensive zone and forcing the play. It was still 3-2 and with 2:18 left in regulation and after a pileup in the Crookston zone, the officials ruled that one of the Crookston players threw his stick at a Tartan player trying to knock the puck away. After about a five minute conference they ruled that Tartan would have a penalty shot. “Our player must have been Tarzan,” said Crookston coach Bittner, "he was going down on the ice and they said he threw it, but again I didn't see that." Jackson, who had scored two of the Titans two goals to this point was picked to take the penalty shot and came in on the Pirate goalie Erdman and Jackson tried to go high with a shot and rang it off the cross-bar and it was still 3-2 with Tartan leading.  This was the point that momentum totally turned to Crookston and with just under a minute to go in regulation, the Pirates pulled the goalie and had an extra attacker on the ice and the three Pirate centers combined to tie it up, as Heppner continued his scrappy play with corralling the puck behind the Tartan net away from two of their players, passing to the left circle to Edevold who put a hard shot right on goal, with the rebound bouncing in the slot in front and Crookston freshman, Paul Bittner was able to find it and fired it by the goalie to tie it up with 18.1 seconds left in regulation. It was the first varsity goal for Paul Bittner who missed the first four games of the year after having his appendix out and the 6’5 youngster showed some pretty good vertical after scoring.
The overtime was all Crookston as the Pirates controlled the play, had great opportunities and Morgan having an open net after a flurry of shots on the Tartan goalie, but the Titans were able to get into the Crookston zone for the Geskermann heroics to give the home team the 4-3 win.
Crookston is now 2-3-2 on the season and will host Grand Forks Red River on Thursday night at the Crookston Sports Center. “I’m real proud again of the way this team came back again tonight,” said Jon Bittner, “we are right there and have to get off to better starts, but we are scoring goals and Kollin keeps playing well and we are improving each game which is good.” Tartan is now 2-4 on the year.
JV -  Tartan won 6-0

1st Period
12:19 - Tartan - Jake Jackson (Mike Winberg, Jake Kurschner)  PP

2nd Period
6:24 - Tartan - Mike Winberg (Jacob Picht, Eric Olheiser) PP
8:49 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (9) ( Ryan Bittner, Brady Heppner) PP
15:45 - Tartan - Jake Jackson ( Dean McComas, Eric Olheiser) 

3rd Period
2:23 - Crox - Ryan Edevold  (10) (unassisted)
16:42-Crox- Paul Bittner (1)  (Ryan Edevold, Brady Heppner)

Overtime
1:59-Tartan-Eric Geskermann (Mike Winberg, Jake Jackson)
 

CROOKSTON WRESTLERS HOST THE RODD OLSON INVITATION TOURNAMENT


Cody Weiland was in total control on his way to a pin in his first round match

The Crookston Pirate wrestling team will host the First Annual Rodd Olson Invitational Tournament today at the Crookston High School Gym starting about 10:30 AM.  Teams competing besides Crookston are East Grand Forks, Red Lake County Central, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, Warren-Alvarado-Oslo, Hillsboro, Larimore, Lake Park-Audubon, Mahnomen-Waubun and United North Central.

        Wyatt Hanson goes for a take down in his first match                    Blake Bergeron looks to roll his opponent onto his back
 

              Zane Baranski is close to a pin in his first match of the tournament

Before the start of the tournament a fundraiser called "A Match for Myrel" was held to raise money for the Frazee wrestler Myrel Schermerhorn, who was involved in a car accident on November 18.  Schermerhorn's car hit ice and went into water and he was submerged and has been unconscious since.  In just two minutes $876.12 was raised and will go to the Schermerhorn family.

UMC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TRY FOR SECOND CONFERENCE WIN AT MOORHEAD

The University of Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s Basketball team is tied for sixth place in the Northern Sun Conference with a 1-1 record in the early season, which is exactly the same conference record that the Golden Eagles opponent today will have 1-1.  Game time is 4:00 PM and will be on KROX RADIO in which we will pick up in progress after the completion of the Crookston High School Hockey game.  It will also be on the internet by clicking on the On The Air link at the top of this page.
 

UMC MEN'S BASKETBALL SEARCHES FOR FIRST CONFERENCE WIN AT MOORHEAD

The University of Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagle Men's Basketball team is a perfect 4-0 on the non-conference season, but 0-2 in the Northern Sun Conference. They Golden Eagles will try to correct that tonight when they play at Minnesota State-Moorhead starting at 6:00 PM and it will be on KROX RADIO and the internet by clicking on the On The Air link at the top of this page.
 

FRIDAY -   DECEMBER 9, 2011
 

CROOKSTON BOY'S HOCKEY TIE ST. PAUL JOHNSON 4-4, BUT WIN THE LIONS CUP IN A SHOOOUT
 

                        The Crookston Pirate Hockey team with the Lions Cup after the win in a shootout

The Crookston Pirates battled back with two third period goals to tie the game and send it to overtime where nobody scored in the eight minutes and it ended in a 4-4 overtime time, but because Crookston and St. Paul Johnson play for the Lions Cup, they went to a five person shootout and Crookston won the shootout two to one and Crookston retains the cup for another year.
St. Paul Johnson scored the only goal of the first period on one of the three power play goals they would have on the night when Bryan Standly was able to put a shot off the glove of Crookston goalie Kollin Erdman with 10 minutes left of the first period. “St. Paul Johnson came right after our two veteran defenseman Ryan Bittner and Justin Cameron,” said Crookston head coach Jon Bittner, “we knew that they would, but Kollin played outstanding in goal. He was a real stud out there, taking control of our zone and didn’t give them any second chances.”
It didn’t take Crookston long to tie it up, just 19 seconds into the second period when freshman Kal Salentiny with a defenseman on him in the offensive zone still managed to slide a pass in the slot area in front of the St. Paul Johnson goal and the Pirates leading scorer, Ryan Edevold one-timed a shot by the Governor’s eighth grade goalie Samuel Moberg to tie it at 1-1. Crookston got into penalty trouble with two in the box for 1:40 and the Governors took advantage when their big center (6’6) Jay Dickman scored on a rebound to make it 2-1 on another St. Paul Johnson power play goal.  The lead was short lived when Edevold struck again, this time as Dylan Klatt came across the St. Paul Johnson blue line, dropped a pass to Edevold who blasted a boomer that was by the young Governors goalie before he could react to tie it again at 2-2 and the period would end that way, even though St. Paul Johnson out shot Crookston13-6, but Erdman made some terrific saves and controlled all rebounds. “Johnson is a very talented group and well coached. Their defensemen are outstanding and we had a hard time setting up our power play when we dumped it in as their defensemen were so active.”
St. Paul Johnson struck for their third power play goal of the game early in the third period on defenseman Derek Baregi’s great play, first keeping a clearing pass in the zone, putting a shot on goal and collecting his own rebound to put it away and Johnson was back on top 3-2 with just three minutes gone in the period. The Governors took their biggest lead of the game two minutes later as Gage Grace carried the puck into the Crookston zone, walked around one defender and made a nice pass to Mark Terry who scored to make it a 4-2 game with 12 minutes left. After Terry scored the goal, there was a lot of pushing and shoving behind the Crookston goal and besides the officials calling a penalty on each team, they also whistled another on St. Paul Johnson for unsportsmanlike conduct, so Crookston went on a power play and late on the man advantage, Connor Morgan did some good forechecking and after knocking a puck through the St. Paul Johnson crease, Brady Heppner scored to close the St. Paul Johnson lead to 4-3 with plenty of time left. Crookston tied the game up for the third time of the night on another power play and good hustle of both Edevold and Heppner and as they puck was sent to Connor Morgan about 14 feet away on the left side of the goalies snapped off a shot that surprised the Governor’s goalie to make it 4-4 with five minutes left in regulation. Both teams had good scoring chances the rest of the way, but were either stifled by the opposing goalies, or missed the net and the game ended 4-4 in regulation and it was going to overtime. Right at the conclusion of regulation, St. Paul Johnson was given a minor penalty for charging so after a three minute rest Crookston started the eight minute overtime with a man advantage. The Pirates best chances in the overtime were in that first two minute power play, but Moberg was sharp, as was Erdman for Crookston stop all four shots including a brilliant one in the waning seconds and the game officially ended in a 4-4 tie. “It was a great comeback by our team and a real gutsy effort,” said Jon Bittner, “when they scored those two early goals in the period, we could have gassed it, but we didn’t, we fought back against a very tough and physical Johnson team and I’m very proud in the way our players did that.”
But, this is the 25^th meeting between the two schools playing for the Lions Cup, when 25 years ago, Lions Club organizations from both communities sponsored a cup that the winning team would get to have for an entire year until the next time they met in December.  To decide who would get to keep the cup for another year they needed a winner, so they went to a shootout, where five players from each team would be able to go one on one against the opposing goalie and try to score. Whomever had the most goals after the five players attempts would be declared the shootout winner and gain possession of the Lions Cup.
St. Paul Johnson started first and Mark Terry was denied by Erdman. Crookston’s Heppner was the first Pirate up and the sophomore made a nifty deke move to score. The top Johnson player Dickman was stopped by Erdman on a great pad and skate save. Next up was Morgan, who had scored three goals on Tuesday in a win over Kittson County Central and had the tying goal tonight and the junior captain came in a snapped off a shot that rang off the inside of the cross bar and in and Crookston led the shootout 2-0 with three left to go on both sides. Baregi scored on a nice backhander to keep St. Paul Johnson alive and now it was Crookston freshman Paul Bittner’s turn. Playing in his first game of the season after have his appendix out, he was stopped by the eighth grade goalie. Ronny Reese was also stopped on another great save by Erdman and the Pirates had another chance to win the shootout, but Ryan Bittner’s shot hit the pipe and it was still Crookston leading 2-1 with the Governor’s last chance being Jake Gallivan. The senior defenseman came in and tried to deke the Pirate goalie, but Erdman wouldn’t have anything to do with it and made the save and the Pirates won the shootout 2-1 with Erdman leaping about 4 feet into the air and then mobbed by his teammates, who eventually went to hoist the Lions Cup in the air and they would be able to take it back to Crookston for another year. “It was fun watching the shoot out two years ago here when Nick Biermaier was our goalie,” said Erdman, who was a backup sophomore at that time. “It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a lot of fun, especially when you win.” This is the fourth year in a row that Crookston has won the Lions Cup and third year in a row that they’ve won in shootouts! “
Crookston is 2-2-1 on the season and will be at Tartan High School tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PM. St. Paul Johnson is 1-1-1 on the year and will host Thief River Falls at 3:00 PM tomorrow afternoon.
JV -  Crookston won 3-2 on Kyle Proulx’s second goal of the game with six seconds left.

Connor Morgan fires a wrist shot into the back of the net in the shootout for the second goal
 

The Pirates stormed goalie Kollin Erdman after the winning save in the shootout

1st Period
7:06 - SPJ - Bryan Standly (Jay Dickman) (PP)

2nd Period
0:19 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (7) (Kal Salentiny)
5:27 - SPJ - Jay Dickman (Bryan Standly,  Jake Gallivan) (PP)
7:10 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (8) (Dylan Klatt)

3rd Period
3:04 - SPJ - Derek Baregi (unassisted) (PP)
5:02 - SPJ - Mark Terry (Nick Bollmann, Gage Grace)

6:41 - Crox - Brady Heppner (3) (Connor Morgan) (PP)
10:53 - Crox - Connor Morgan (5) (Ryan Edevold, Brady Heppner) (PP)

Overtime
No Scoring
 

STORM TAKE THE LEAD WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT TO BEAT PIRATE GIRLS BASKETBALL 40-39

The Stephen-Argyle Storm Girls Basketball team led for 31 seconds early in the game and then led for the final two seconds for a 40-39 win over the Crookston Pirates at the Crookston High School Gymnasium. 
Crookston’s Monica Wold scored the first points of the game on a lay up, but Stephen-Argyle came right back and Haley Safranski made a three pointer to give the Storm a 3-2 lead 29 seconds into the ball game.  Crookston responded by going on a 13-0 run as Erica Samuelson scored six points, Sydney Boike chipped in five and Brooke Heggie added a basket in the run and the Pirates led 15-3 with 11:44 left in the half.  “I thought we came out with a lot of energy to start the game,” said Pirate Coach Lon Boike.  “We had things going pretty well and were making shots and everything was working well and defensively we played pretty well.”  The Pirates would keep a double digit lead and actually take their biggest lead of the game after a Taylor Demarais basket for a 24-11 lead with 7:09 remaining in the half.  Stephen-Argyle switched their defense from man-to-man to a zone and that gave Crookston problems, namely because they weren’t hitting their outside shots.  The Storm slowly chipped away at the Pirate lead and got within a 28-21 score at halftime.  “They switched to a zone defense and we did well right away and our defense played well,” said Coach Boike.  “Our offense really started to struggle and that carried into the rest of the game.  We missed a lot of shots and a lot of three pointers.”
In the second half Samuelson scored the first points on a shot in the paint before Stephen-Argyle went on a 10-2 run to get within one point (32-31) with 9:48 left in the game.  Crookston scored the next six points behind three Freshman, Heggie and Danica Brekken and Sydney Boike to give Crookston a 38-31 with 5:52 remaining.  Stephen-Argyle scored the next six points and with 30 seconds left in the game Crookston led 39-37.  The Pirates were fouled after they in-bounded the ball and missed the front end of the bonus (the Pirates made 1-4 free throw attempts in the final minute and a half) and the rebound went out of bounds last touched by the Pirates.  Stephen-Argyle missed a shot and the Pirates grabbed the rebound, but turned the ball over again with 7.9 seconds left.  The Storm in-bounded the ball and Crookston fouled forcing Stephen-Argyle to inbound again, this time under their own basket.  The inbound pass went into Carly Safranski who made the shot to tie the game and was fouled for a chance to take the lead with two seconds left in the game.  Safranski made the free throw to give the Storm a 40-39 lead.  Crookston in-bounded the ball and a pass to the middle was picked off to end the game as the Storm pulls off the come from behind victory 40-39.  “We didn’t play the best we could, but a lot of that has to do with Crookston.  They played really well and killed us on the boards on both ends and they played very well for a young team and they took it to us for most of the game,” said Stephen-Argyle Coach Gary Kotts, a Crookston Central High School graduate.  “It is always fun coming back to see people like Rodd Olson, Marshall Olson, MaryAnn Simmons and others and every time we come everyone is gracious and it is fun to come back here.”
Crookston drops to 1-3 on the year and will be at Grafton on Tuesday.  Stephen-Argyle improves to 5-0 on the year.
J.V. – Crookston won 22-15 (Brooke Heggie had 9)

Taylor Demarais brings the ball up the floor as Kallie Haugen guards her closely
 

Erica Samuelson with a shot in the 2nd half   Amber Froeber fights for the ball on the baseline

THURSDAY -   DECEMBER 8, 2011

CROOKSTON BOY'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO DEFENDING STATE AA CHAMPS PERHAM

Some wondered if winning a state championship and having pretty much all of the team back this year would make the #2 ranked Perham Yellow Jackets relax or work harder in the off season.  The Pirates learned the answer the hard way as Perham beat the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team 59-33 in a Section 8AA game played in Perham.   “The guys put in a lot of time in the weight room and we played 40 to 45 games this summer,” said Perham Coach Dave Cresap. “So the guys put in a lot of time this summer.”  And the weight room work really showed as most of the basketball players were also on the Section 8AAA Football Championship team this fall.
Perham didn’t waste any time as they started the game on an 11-0 run behind four different players scoring. “It was Park Rapids all over again, except the opposite way,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen.  The Pirates finally scored their first points of the game when Aaron Hollcraft hit a three pointer just under three minutes into the game.  Perham’s Jordan Cresap answered with five straight points before Crookston’s Brett Delage hit two straight three pointers to bring Crookston within a 16-9 deficit with 10:39 left in the half.  It was all Perham the rest of the half as the Yellow Jackets went on a 12-0 run to take a 28-9 lead.  Perham cruised into the half with a 34-14 lead.  “I thought we handled the ball well against there full court pressure then we got into the half court and that was a different story,” said Coach Garmen.  “We weren’t able to get many good shots off.  They are long and get after it and we need to get stronger with the ball.”
Crookston started the second half on a good note as Hollcraft scored the first four points before Perham responded by going on a 16-0 run over an eight minute span to take a 50-18 lead with 7:48 left in the game.  Perham continued to roll the rest of the game on their way to a 59-33 Section 8AA win.  “I thought we competed and didn’t back down to them and moved the ball well, but couldn’t find the seem or crack in the defense and didn’t get anything inside and need to find a way to score inside and didn’t have any free throws until the second half so we need to be more aggressive.”
Crookston drops to 1-1 on the year and will host Roseau on Tuesday in another Section 8AA game.  Perham improves to 3-0 on the year and will take on the #5 ranked team in Class AAA, St. Thomas Academy in Minnetonka on Saturday before they play #1 ranked and Section 8AA rival, Pelican Rapids on Friday, December 16.
J.V. – Perham won 52-37 (Danny Davidson led Crookston with 10 points)
Freshman – Perham won 50-31  (Seth Desrosier had 12 points)

Aaron Hollcraft pulls up for a baseline jumper          Brett Delage drives by Perham's Jordan Cresap
 

CROOKSTON GIRL'S HOCKEY PLAY BETTER, BUT FALL SHORT IN 4-1 LOSS TO ROSEAU RAMS

The Roseau Rams scored three third period goals on their way to a 4-1 win over the Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team in a game played in Roseau.
Roseau scored the only goal of the first period when the Pirate goalie, Rachel Biermaier, thought she had the puck froze but it trickled across the line and the Rams had a 1-0 lead.  “It was a pretty good first period as the action was back and forth, up and down the ice,” said Crookston Coach Tim Persson.  “Nobody was dominating until we got into penalty trouble again and then they rattled off some shots on net.”  Crookston trailed 1-0 at the end of the first period.
In the second period Crookston was the only team to light the lamp as Amber Trostad scored a goal late in the period.  “Amber came down on the left side of the boards and had a nice wrist shot and beat the goalie in the upper corner in the right hand so that was nice to tie it up at 1-1.”  The Pirates had another great scoring opportunity in the second period when Brianna Breiland got around a Ram defenseman and rifled a shot that hit the goalie in between the eyes.
In the third period Roseau took the lead 2-1 after scoring a goal 1:28 into the period.  The Roseau’s Tianna Gunderson received the pass in the slot and she scored on a quick shot to give the Rams a 2-1 lead.  Roseau added another goal five minutes later when Adelle Murphy won the battle for the puck in front of the Pirate net and snuck the puck past the goalie on the right side for a 3-1 Ram lead.  Roseau’s Murphy scored her third goal of the game when the puck was loose in front of the net and she stuffed the puck past the goalie to give the Rams the lead for a 4-1 lead with over three minutes left and they held on for the 4-1 victory.  “We played better as a team tonight than we did against Warroad,” said Coach Persson.  “We ran out of gas by the end of the game and we were flat footed and they came at us hard.  Up to the second goal of the third period it was still anybodies game.  We are getting better and our younger players are learning and getting better and that is all you can ask for.  As long as we keep getting better each game that is all you can ask for.  The only bad thing was we took to many bad penalties and we have to get better at that.”
Crookston drops to 2-5 on the year and will be at Bemidji on Tuesday, December 13.  Roseau improves to 5-2-2 on the year.
J.V. – Roseau won 13-0

Rachel Biermaier gets ready to make one of her 37 saves (By Chris Trostad)
 

Caitlin Wahouske brings the puck up the ice (By Chris Trostad)

1st Period
5:13 - Roseau - Adelle Murphy (unassisted)

2nd Period
14:11 - Crox - Amber Trostad (unassisted)

3rd Period
1:28 - Roseau - Tianna Gunderson (Bethany Tangen and Ciscely Nelson)
6:08 - Roseau - Adelle Murphy (unassisted)
13:25 - Roseau - Adelle Murphy (Gracie Olson and Bailey Holter)   PP
 

18 UMC STUDENT ATHLETES NAMED TO THE NSIC FALL ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference has announced its All-Academic Teams for the 2011 fall athletic season. To be eligible for this honor, the student-athlete must be a member of the varsity traveling team and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or better. Furthermore, the athlete must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at her/his institution (true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at that institution.
 
Golden Eagle Athletes Include:
Football:
Walter Lundsford     Jr.        Upatoi, Ga.
Keith McBride           Jr.        Lodi, Wis.
Justin Overby           Sr.       Langdon, N.D.
Brett Rice                   Jr.        Poynette, Wis.
Chris Secrest            Jr.        Hollywood, Fla.
Joe Stearly                Jr.        Blaine, Minn.
Andrew Steinfeldt    So.      Green Bay, Wis.

Soccer:
Jensen Crots            Jr.        Chesterton, Ind.
Megan Flynn            Jr.        Chanhassen, Minn.
Jessica Goodrich     So.      Munster, Ind.
Rachel Halligan       So.      Duluth, Minn.
Nikki Hammond       So.      Nelson, Minn.

Volleyball:
Janie Bauer              Sr.       Menomonie, Wis.
Katie Miedtke            So.      Maple Grove, Minn.
Danielle Rueter        Sr.       Burlington, Wis.
Alyssa Schneider    So       Racine, Wis.
Alexandra Skeeter   So       Milwaukee, Wis.
Chelsea Wiesner     So       Rochester, Minn.

TUESDAY -  DECEMBER 6, 2011
 

CROOKSTON BOY'S HOCKEY WIN SECOND SECTION 8A GAME IN 8-2 WIN AT IN HALLOCK

Crookston’s Connor Morgan and Ryan Edevold scored  three goals each to lead the Crookston Pirates to an 8-2 win over Kittson County Central in Section 8A boy’s hockey game in Hallock.
Crookston dominated play from the outset and had numerous scoring opportunities, but to start with but missed the net more times than not. Crookston captain Connor Morgan finally put the Pirates on the scoreboard on some good fore checking by line mates Brady Heppner and Morgan Grimes and after jamming the puck toward net, a loose puck was laying at the goals door step and knocked in by Morgan with 2:48 left in the first period to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Crookston added one more in the first period after Dylan Klatt spotted Ryan Bittner on the point with time running out in the period and Bittner drilled a shot that beat Kittson County Central goalie Tucker Cosley with one second left in the period to give Crookston a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room. "To be honest I didn’t even know the puck went in,” said Ryan Bittner. “I saw Dylan’s pass coming back and I just let it go and didn’t know it went in until my teammates came over and celebrate, so it was sweet. I actually thought  it was deflected, but no one took credit.” Crookston had the territorial advantage in the first period outshooting the Bearcats 9 to 4. “That second goal was a big one really,” said Crookston head coach Jon Bittner. “We had carried the play in the period, but were only leading 1-0 and when you score late like that it lifts you up and maybe takes a little out of the other team.”
Crookston took an early penalty to start the second  period and  Kittson County Central took advantage with the extra man when Devon Shuler blasted a shot from the blue line that Pirate screened goalie, Kollin Erdman didn’t see and the Pirate lead was cut in half at 2-1 just three and a half minutes into the second period. Crookston’s two leading goal scorers would convert nice setups that turned into breakaways. Morgan took a Josh Erickson pass at the Kittson County Central blue line and was in alone and snapped a shot under the crossbar to the left of the goalie to put Crookston back up 3-1.  Then late in the period and both teams skating a man short, Ryan Bittner fed a pass to Edevold just outside the Bearcats blue line and Edevold  just crossing the blue line blasted a slap shot that singed by the goalie to give Crookston a 4-1 lead after two periods. “Those were some real nice plays in the second period,” said coach Bittner. “Connor picked the corner on a nice pass from Josh and Eddy is a goal scorer.”
Crookston continued to apply ample pressure in the Kittson County Central zone, but it was the Bearcats who scored about half-way through the final period as Kyle Petersburg intercepted a Pirate clearing pass and drilled a shot that beat Erdman and the Bearcats were within two goals again, trailing 4-2 with nine and a half minutes left. That goal woke up the Pirates as they went on a scoring spree the rest of the period.  Morgan getting his hat trick on a rebound and then  it would be the Pirate special teams. Edevold scored his second taking a pass in the high slot and snapping a quick shot off  to make it 6-2. Then Edevold and Klatt put on a shorthanded show in a span of 17 seconds. Klatt took the puck away from a Bearcat in their zone, muscled his way through a defenseman and was in front of the Kittson County Central goal, showed great patience as he waited for the goalie to go down and snapped  it in to make it 7-2. On the faceoff the puck ended up on Klatt’s stick and he made a nifty pass to send Edevold in alone and the junior popped his third goal of the game to make 8-2 and Crookston won their second game and second Section 8A game of the season on the road. “We definitely got a talking to on Monday in practice after our play this past weekend,” said ‘Ryan Bittner. “We came out, worked hard and this is how we have to play to win these battles.”  Crookston outshot the Bearcats 38-15 in the game which doesn’t register how many chances the Pirates had that didn’t get on net. “We had some good efforts by a number of people tonight, which is good,” said coach Bittner. “We played six defenseman and five playing varsity for the first time and at times you would say wow, but then other times you say, hey that a nice play. It’s part of the growing experience.”
Crookston is now 2-2 on the season and will continue on the road this weekend in St. Paul.
The Pirates will play at St. Paul Johnson on Friday night and at Tartan on Saturday afternoon. “They will be two different teams with Johnson playing a physical type game and then the next day` Tartan  likes to get up and down the ice,” said Coach Bittner.  Kittson County Central is 1-2 on the season.
JV -  Crookston won 7-1

Connor Morgan watches his back hand shot go in the net for one of his three goals
 

Dylan Klatt gets the puck over the glove of the KCC goalie for his goal

1st Period
14:12 - Crox - Connor Morgan (2) (Mason Grimes, Brady Heppner)
16:59 - Crox - Ryan Bittner (1) (Dylan Klatt)

2nd Period
3:36 - KCC - Devan Schuler (Kyle Petersburg, Anders Lindegard) (PP)
5:46 - Crox - Connor Morgan (3) (Josh Erickson, Ryan Bittner)
16:06 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (4) (Ryan Bittner)

3rd Period
7:26 - KCC - Kyle Petersburg (unassisted)
8:24 - Crox - Connor Morgan (4) (Brady Heppner, Morgan Grimes)
11:53 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (5) (Kal Salantiny, Dylan Klatt) (PP)
14:06 - Crox - Dylan Klatt (3) (Ryan Edevold) (SH)
14:23 - Crox - Ryan Edevold (6) (Dylan Klatt) (SH)
 

CROOKSTON GIRL'S HOCKEY FALL TO DEFENDING STATE CHAMPS, WARROAD, 6-1

The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team started slow and also committed to many penalties in the first two periods and Warroad took advantage on their way to a 6-1 victory in a rematch of last years Section 8A Girls Hockey Championship at the Crookston Sports Center. 
Warroad didn’t waste any time as Kayla Gardner, a UND recruit, scored 19 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.  Warroad scored again late in the period taking advantage of a power play when Gardner scored her second goal of the game and the Warriors led 2-0 after the first period and out shot Crookston 18-4.
In the second period Warroad’s Gardner scored the natural hat trick as she scored 3:38 into the period.  Warroad added another goal three minutes later when Lisa Marvin scored a short handed goal to give Warroad a 5-0 lead just shy of seven minutes into the second frame.  Warroad’s Gardner struck again five minutes later with another power play goal and Warroad led 5-0 after the second period.  “When we end up in the box we were in trouble,” said Pirate Coach Jeremy Lubinski.  “They are to good of a team and have a very good power play and are quick with the puck and when you are short handed they will put the puck on the net and that is what they did and if Rachel (Biermaier) doesn’t have such a fantastic game the score could have been quite a bit higher.”
In the third period Warroad’s Lynn Astrup carried the puck into the Pirates zone and Hayley Epema bumped her, then dropped to her knees and gave Astrup a bear hug to try to stop her.  The move worked and shockingly a penalty wasn’t called and after Astrup realized a penalty wasn’t called she whacked Epema in the back of the helmet with her stick and a penalty was called on the Warriors.  The penalty seemed to spark the Pirates as they started playing with some fire and 12 seconds into the power play Amber Trostad slid a puck to the Natasha Skala at the point and she blasted a shot using a screen in front of the Warrior goaltender for a goal and Crookston trailed 5-1.  “When you put the puck on the net the chances are obviously better to score,” said Coach Lubinski.  “The girls started to feel a little success moving the puck and that gave them some confidence.”  The Pirates played better the rest of the period until late when the Warriors Gardner scored her fifth goal of the game skating by the Pirate defense and rifling a shot by the Pirate goaltender for a 6-1 lead, which was also the final score. “We knew if we came out in the third period and played stronger we wouldn’t win the game, but we could come away happy and satisfied with how we played at the end,” said Coach Lubinski.  “We had a sluggish start and a strong finish so it is something we cane build on with the young team we have.”
Crookston drops to 2-4 on the year and will be at Roseau on Thursday.  Warroad improves to 5-3 on the year.
J.V. – Warroad won 8-2

 
Lizzy Awender passes the puck up the ice              Marietta Geist brings the puck across center ice
 

 Hayley Epema looks to pass before a Warrior player can knock it away

1st Period
0:19 - Warroad - Kayla Gardner (Lisa Marvin and Demi Gardner)
14:31 - Warroad - Kayla Gardner (Lisa Marvin)  PP

2nd Period
3:38 - Warroad - Kayla Gardner (Lisa Marvin and Demi Gardner)
6:47 - Warroad - Lisa Marvin (Kayla Gardner)  SH
11:28 - Warroad - Kayla Gardner (Lisa Marvin)  PP

3rd Period
6:02 - Crox - Natasha Skala  (1)  (Amber Trostad)  PP
13:40 - Warroad - Kayla Gardner (unassisted) 
 

CROOKSTON WRESTLERS LEAVE FIVE WEIGHTS OPEN AND LOSE TO THIEF RIVER FALLS IN 57-18 LOSS

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling only had five wrestlers and five open weights and that added up to a 57-18 loss to the Thief River Falls Prowlers, the defending Section 8AA champ, in a 35 minute match at the Crookston High School Gymnasium. 
Crookston had the first three weights open giving Thief River Falls an 18-0 lead before the first actual match.  At 126 pounds Austin Hjelle picked up a pin to give the Prowlers a 24-0 lead.  Crookston’s Cody Weiland picked up a win by forfeit at 132 pounds before Nate Merten picked up a pin in the second period.  The next match was another forfeit win for Crookston as Zane Baranski picked up a win at 145 pounds to bring the Pirates within a 24-18 deficit.  Crookston lost the next three matches by decision, but at 160 pounds Luke Edlund, a freshman, was trailing 7-3 and in the third period gave a tremendous run to get within a 7-6 score with under a minute left.  Edlund couldn’t hear his coaching staff and teammates yelling to let his opponent go to try to get a two point take down and when he finally did hear the yelling it was with three seconds left and he lost 8-6 in an exciting match.  “The match didn’t start out very good at the beginning, but he finished it very well” said Pirate Coach Chad Hitchen, talking about Edlund’s match.  “Luke got off the mat at the end of and we asked if he could hear us and he said he couldn’t hear anything.  He was in the zone and literally blocked out everything, but he finished off the match wrestling hard and almost picked up the win.”
The Pirates Blake Bergeron, wrestling up a weight, lost to a very good Logan Alten at 170 pounds.  Three of the next four matches Thief River Falls won by forfeit.  The other match of the evening was Josh Edlund and Craig Williams.  Thief River Falls bumped up Williams a weight to wrestle Edlund and came away with a pin in the first period and Thief River Falls won the match 57-18.  “You know when you are wrestling the defending Section 8AA champ in Thief River Falls you are wrestling a good team,” said Coach Hitchen.  “When you give them six open weights due to one kid being sick, eligibility and lack of numbers in the upper weights you can’t afford to give up that many points to a good team.  We got 18 points, but 12 of those points came from forfeit wins.  We didn’t match up very well against them and their studs were better than our studs tonight.”
Crookston will be hosting the Rodd Olson Tournament on Saturday.

      Nate Merten on his way to the only Pirate win by decision on the evening
 

                       Luke Edlund tries to make a move in his match

UMC MEN'S BASKETBALL WIN LAST NON-CONFERENCE GAME BEATING MAYVILLE STATE 73-60

The University of Minnesota, Crookston Men’s Basketball squad withheld a second half rally from a resilient Mayville State University (MSU) team and went on to defeat the Comets 73-60 in a non-conference game tonight at Lysasker Gymnasium in Crookston.

The Golden Eagles raced out to a 32-18 lead at the half shooting 52% while holding MSU to just 31.8%. However, it was the Comets who came out firing in the second half as they went on a 22-8 run to tie the game at 40 all with 13:10 to go in the game. The streaks continued but this time it was on the side of UMC as the Golden Eagles outscored the Comets 17-4 to take a 57-44 lead with 5:10 left in the game. From there on out, neither team really established a definite advantage with both teams trading field goals and free throws to close out the game 73-60 in favor of the Golden Eagles. UMC had eight players score including four in double figures. Akeem Cubie (Sr, Minneapolis) led the Golden Eagles with 19 points (8-11) and eight defensive boards. Jacolby Anderson (Sr, Lancaster, Tex.) added 18 points and went 7-7 from the free throw line. Almir Krdzalic (Jr, Sioux Falls, S.D.) scored 17 points and went 9-10 from the free throw line. Trent Graves (Sr, Hartford, S.D.) scored ten points with three rebounds. MSU was led by a valiant effort from Gus Kueber who led all scorers with 22 points and ten rebounds. He also had two assists, two blocks and a steal.

The Golden Eagles improve to 4-2 on the season. The Comets fall to 7-6. UMC returns to NSIC action on Saturday, December 9 at 6 p.m. when they travel to MSU Moorhead.

Almir Krdzalic gets the lay up by Danny Mattson                Akeem Cubie goes for a reverse lay up

CROOKSTON FIGURE SKATERS HAVE A GREAT PERFORMANCE IN THE GRAND FORKS COMPETITION 

The Crookston Figure Skating Club's individual competitive skaters had their first competition this past Sunday (December 4th) in Grand Forks, ND. The competition was the 1st Annual Holiday Classic sponsored by the Grand Forks Park Board and the Border Blades Figure Skating Club.
Crookston Figure Skating Club Individual Competitors included: Kaydin Brule, Presley Chandler, Aleece Durbin, Grace Espinosa, Katherine Geist, Dominique Larson and Nicole Plante (all pictured to the right).  The skaters are coached by Beth Moe.
The next competition for these skaters will be the Northern Star Competition in East Grand Forks Minnesota January 20th-22nd.

Results:

Kaydin Brule
Level: Limited Beginner
Compulsory: 2nd
Freeskate: 1st
Artistic: 1st

Presley Chandler
Level: Beginner
Compulsory: 2nd
Freeskate: 2nd
Artistic: 1st

Aleece Durbin
Level: Pre-Preliminary
Compulsory: 2nd
Freeskate: 1st
Artistic: 1st

Grace Espinosa
Level: Beginner
Compulsory: 2nd
Freeskate: 1st
Artistic: 1st

Katherine Geist
Level: No Test
Compulsory: 2nd
Freeskate: 2nd
Artistic: 1st

Dominique Larson
Level: Preliminary
Compulsory: 3rd
Freeskate: 2nd
Artistic: 3rd

Nicole Plante
Level: Preliminary
Compulsory: 1st
Freeskate: 1st
Artistic: 1st

MONDAY - DECEMBER 5,  2011

CROOKSTON GIRL'S BASKETBALL WINS FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON, 80-26 OVER NCW

The first four and a half minutes might have been a little slow, but the rest of the game was all Crookston, as the Pirates defeated Norman County West 80-26 at the Crookston High School Gym.
 The Crookston Pirates turned the ball over the first two times down the court and Norman County West made a free throw to take a1-0 lead.  Crookston’s Katie Davidson missed a couple free throws, but rebounded her missed shot and scored to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Neither team made a field goal until the Pirates Sydney Boike hit a three point shot with 13:33 left in the first half to give Crookston a 7-1 lead. Norman County West didn’t get their first field goal until Angela Vanderplaats three point shot with 12:51 left in the first half.  Crookston’s full court press defense started working with consecutive steals and baskets by Taylor Demarais and Amber Froeber and  the Pirates had built a 20-6 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the half and forced the Panthers to call a timeout.  The 60 second break didn’t do much for Norman County West as Crookston continued to dominate and finished off a 21-0 run. After a couple more steals with a half court trap and an Erica Samuelson bucket the Pirates were up 25-6 with seven minutes left and exploded to a 46-13 half-time lead. “It was a solid first half for us and our focus to start the game was not so much on Norman County West, but in playing the best to our ability,” said Crookston head coach Lon Boike. “After the first three or four minutes, I thought we had a lot of intensity, fire and we were getting after it. We did a very good of hitting the boards (Crookston had 9 offensive rebounds alone in the first three minutes), passed the ball extremely well and we changed up our defenses with the 1-3-1, 2-2-1 half court trap.”
The second half wasn’t much different as the Pirates continued the onslaught and had built a 56-19 lead after Kaylee Desrosier hit two three’s in a row. “We played much better tonight,” said Desrosier. “I don’t think we came ready to play the first two games and we wanted to get off to a fast start and we did that in the first half and continued it the rest of the game.” The game went to running time and the Pirates cruised to the 80-26 win for their first win of the season.  In the first two games this year for Crookston, they were leading Moorhead and Red Lake Falls at halftime before falling. “We were happy with the first half, but we reminded the girls of the first two games and we wanted to continue what we had built up in the first half,” said Boike. “I asked the girl’s before going out for the second half what we can’t do and Katie Davidson said not play hard, which we did in the second half. We got everybody into the game and all but two scored, so it was a good night.”  Crookston is 1-2 on the season and will host Stephen-Argyle on Friday night. Norman County West is now 0-3 on the season.
 JV - Crookston won 52-30

  Hayley Solheim goes up for a lay up        Kaylee Desrosier gets a shot off in traffic
 

The Pirates, led by the two seniors Monica Wold and Hayley Solheim, break through the sign before the game

UMC TAKES OFF INTERIM AND NAMES PAUL MILLER HEAD FOOTBALL COACH EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

The University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) and the Golden Eagle Athletic Department announced today that the “interim” tag has been removed and offensive coordinator Paul Miller has been named the head coach of the Golden Eagle Football program effective immediately.
Coach Miller has been coaching football for over 35 years. He began his career as a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He has worked with the Gophers (intern on Jim Wacker’s staff), was an assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas and head coach at St. Olaf College and Hamline University. Football coaching honors he has attained include, Minnesota State Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year, University of Minnesota, Morris Alumni Coach of the Year, KARE TV “Metro Coach of the Year” and Section Football Coach of the Year (seven times). Miller earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris. He was a triple major in physical education/health (K-12), political science and social sciences. He received his Masters of Arts in physical education (athletic administration emphasis) from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Coach Miller and his wife Judy, also a U of M graduate, have three daughters and five grandchildren.
“Paul has the experience as a coordinator and as a head coach to continue to move the Golden Eagle Football program forward,” says Athletic Director Stephanie Helgeson. “Paul is a proven recruiter. He and his staff will continue to recruit and bring quality student-athletes to the University of Minnesota, Crookston.”

UMC'S BRITTANI WIESE NAMED THE NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) announced Monday that Brittani Wiese (G, 5-7, Jr., Albertville) has been named NSIC Player of the Week for women’s basketball.
Wiese had game-high performances of 21 and 19 points respectively as the Golden Eagles lost to the University of Minnesota-Duluth (73-72 in OT) and beat Bemidji State 82-66 this past weekend. Wiese’s 20 points per game was the third highest average in the league this past week. She also led the NSIC with a seven assists per game average. Wiese shot 50% (16-32) from the field and 77.8% (7-9) from the free throw line. She also grabbed two steals and six rebounds.  
The Golden Eagles return to the court on Saturday, December 10 when the team travels to MSU Moorhead for a single NSIC weekend game. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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