Post-Season Momentum Starting to Build

by Pat Rupp

Farmington coach Jon Holmes has maintained all season that he wanted his team to be playing its best hockey heading into the post-season and after Friday night’s 5-0 home whitewash of Apple Valley his hopes appear to be well on the road to being realized.

Bailey Kelley scored twice, her eighth and ninth goals of the season, and all in all, seven different players registered at least a point as the Tigers raised their record to 12-10-1 overall and 7-9 in South Suburban Conference play.

“Admittedly, it has taken us longer than we all thought it would to find our real team identity and jive,” Holmes said. “But the last couple of weeks it has been very apparent that everyone not only knows their roles but are embracing them with positive talk, meaningful mindset preparation, and a genuine feeling of belonging.

“The journey in players finding and experiencing that is what creates a real team buy-in and a real life-long experience to draw from. The momentum is still building and we are getting prepped for peaking at the perfect point.”

Kelley (from Jenna Gerold and Megan Bernu) got the home team off to a good start by finding the twine late in the first period and then in the second Kenna Cavanaugh (from Marissa Agerter and Ellie Moser) gave the Tigers some breathing room heading into the final frame with a power play score.

The count remained 2-0 through most of the third period before Farmington exploded for three scores in just 4:08.

“We found the recipe,” Holmes said. “Valley was doing a phenomenal job of clogging the shooting lanes. But in the third period we were getting our heads up and looking though seams to find ways to get purposeful shots rather than just throwing the puck toward the net.” 

Emily Rubins (from Cavanaugh and Agerter) got the party started and a minute and a half later Moser (from Kelley and Bernu) made it 4-0. Kelley’s second of the night (from Moser) accounted for the final score of the night with 2:22 remaining in regulation.

While the offense was humming, the defense was limiting the Eagles’ scoring chances, making goaltender Abby Bollig’s ninth win of the season a little easier. Farmington outshot its guests by a lopsided 30-6.

“We have two great goalies in Abby and Emily (Auge),” Holmes said. “Abby has been solid all season and Emily has found her confidence after missing the first half of the year. The best thing is that they are each other’s greatest fans.”

Holmes also liked what he saw in his offense, especially the top line of Moser, Kelley and Gerold that produced three of the five scores.

“They have found their click,” he said,” and the other lines are contributing, not only helping keep the other team’s top lines off the board but creating scoring opportunities of their own.”

The Tigers will try to keep the momentum building next Tuesday night when they finish their final week on the road against Burnsville Tuesday, and close out the campaign with a road contest at Eden Prairie next Thursday.