Okay, I couldn't take it anymore and googled it. Still looking for the specific energy path, but as far as water going to ice- as usual I was wrong!
The Expansion of Water Upon Freezing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice#Rime_ice
This at least explains the crystalline structure taking more space.
Still searching for an exact energy pathway/explanation. They best answer I am seeing in chat groups so far is the potential energy of liquid water is mostly dissipated as heat, but some energy is converted into the work necessary have the ice expand something. Still looking for a nice flowchart of some sort!