CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston hockey team scored five goals in the first period to lift them to a 7-2 win over the University of North Dakota hockey club. The game was the first on home ice for the Golden Eagles as they took on UND at the Crookston Sports Center. It signified college hockey being back in hockey for the first time in nearly a decade. The Golden Eagles had a NCAA program until 2009 and then a club team for a short period after.

Minnesota Crookston moved to 2-1 with Monday night's win. They were on offense the majority of the game as they had 71 shots on goal compared to just 17 for the Fighting Hawks.

To start off the scoring, UMN Crookston gets the puck and Cam Olstad rifles the puck top shelf over the goaltender's stick on an unassisted goal. UMN Crookston put plenty of pressure on UND's defense and Brandon Boetcher fired in the second goal of the night for the Golden Eagles with just 2:57 off the clock in the first period off assists from Casey Kallock and Gunner Ferrier. Tristan Morneault kept the momentum going as he scored the third goal for UMN Crookston with 3:12 elapsed in the first period. After some time going back and forth, Kallock put one on the board to make the score 4-0 at the 13:46 mark of the first frame. Zach Larson for UMN Crookston made a nice shot shortly after with 14:45 off the clock to make the score 5-0.

Minnesota Crookston had 26 shots and five goals to end the first period. UND had four shots and no goals in the first period.

UND came back with energy in the second stanza after falling behind 5-0. Logan Stokke from UND shot one in and got them on the board 5-1 with just 1:38 elapsed in the second. To answer back, Tyler Zahradka is able to put one in for Crookston with the help from Tristan Morneault making the score 6-1 at the 14:26 mark of the second frame.

Crookston had 18 shots and one goal to end the second period. UND had nine shots and one goal in the second period.

The third period begins with UND's Alex Navarro sneaking around Jake Sumner to make the score 6-2 with just 2:37 elapsed in the third period. Olstad put in his second score of the game with just 40 seconds left in the game to put UMN Crookston ahead 7-2.

Crookston had 27 shots and 1 goal to end the third period. UND had four shots and one goal in the third period.

UND did not take advantage of any of the three power plays that were given. UMC took advantage to score on one of the three power plays. UMC finished with 71 total shots and UND with 17.

UMC was led by Olstad with two goals and one assist. Morneault, Larson, Kallock and Zahradka all had one goal. Kallock added two assists for the game, while Morneault had one. Sumner had 15 saves throughout the game.

UND had goals from Navarro and Stokke. Bryan Bresina had 64 saves throughout the game.

The Golden Eagles return to the ice Fri., Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. against Williston State College. 

Quotes
"Moving the puck around was our big key and we were really conditioned so we skated around nicely," Casey Kallock said. "Making good decisions with the puck was the key early on. We got pucks in the net and we were playing together not just individuals. It really helped putting those five goals in during the first period."

"(Getting the five goals) made it so we could give everyone a chance to get out there so guys could get used to playing with different players," Cam Olstad said. "We need to keep doing the simple stuff in practices. We need to keep making the hard clean passes and we need to keep playing as a team and not become just individuals out there."

FINAL 7-2
University of Minnesota-Crookston
5     1      1        -7
University of North Dakota Club Team
0    1      1         -2
First Period
1.       UMC, Cam Olstad 3, 1:36 2. UMC, Brandon Boetcher 3 (Gunner Ferrier, Zach Larson), 2:57 3. Tristan Morneault 1, 3:12 4. Casey Kallock 3, 13:46 5. Zach Larson 1, 14:45

Second Period
1.       Logan Stokke 1, 1:38 6. Tyler Zahradka (Tristan Morneault) 3, 14:26

Third Period
2.       Alex Navarro 1 (Sothio Suzue-Pan), 2:37 7. Cam Olstad (Casey Kallock, Josh Nelson), ppg 19:20

Shots on Goal: UND 4-9-4 UMC 21-17-26
Penalties: UND 0-of-3, UMC 1-of-3
Goalies: UND, Bryan Bresina (71 shots-64 saves-7 goals) UMC, Jake Sumner (17 shots-15 saves-2 goals)