Brelee Jobe recorded 64 saves, her fourth 50-plus saves performance this season, but Thief River Falls' offense carried the Prowlers to a win.
The Pirates returned home to play in their first home game of 2018 against Thief River Falls. Pirate senior goaltender Brelee stopped 64 shots and freshman forward Catherine Tiedemann scored a goal, but the offense of the Prowlers proved to be too much in a 9-1 loss.
Thief River Falls scored first finding the back of the net six minutes in to the first period on a power play.
The Pirates prevented any further scoring, but could not record a shot on goal while Jobe stopped 20 shots in the first period.
In the second period, the Prowlers put distance between themselves and Crookston scoring three times in 10 minutes with one of the goals coming on a power play goal to lead 4-0.
With under four minutes remaining in the second period, Tiedemann took a pass from eighth grade forward Aleah Bienek and broke away from the pack. Tiedemann approached the net with a one-on-one opportunity and took a shot that beat the goalie, hit the pipe and went into the net to give Crookston their first shot on goal as well as their first goal.
“[Catherine] gets another breakaway and we’ve been talking to her about what the goalie is giving her,” Head Coach Jaclyn Martin said. “If she’s back, take the shot. If she comes out, you got to deke. She took a shot and that was so fun to watch her score and pop one in on a really good team.”
The goal for Tiedemann served as her sixth on the season, a team best. Bienek’s assist gave her number six on the season putting her second-highest on the team.
Neither team scored another goal in the period and Crookston went into the locker room trailing 4-1. Through two periods, Jobe tallied 48 saves.
Thief River Falls began to pull away in the third period with a goal in the first two minutes. Another goal with just over 12 minutes to play made the score 6-1 and three more goals scattered throughout the period resulted in the 9-1 final.
Jobe finished with 64 saves, a performance Martin commended.
“Defensively, we played really well the first and second periods,” Martin said. “We were pushing the puck out and Brelee was just playing unbelievable. Her pad saves are just crazy. By the third period, we had a lot of kids double-shifting. We just got a little tired and that’s going to happen, but I’m proud of our efforts tonight.”
The loss gives Crookston a record of 3-13 with nine games to play in the regular season. The Pirates play their next two games on the road in a pair of weekend contests. The first is against Hibbing on Friday, January 12 at 6 p.m. On Saturday, January 13, the Pirates go up against International Falls at 1 p.m.