Tigers Blank Forest Lake, Advance to Consolation Title Game

By Pat Rupp

Farmington bounced back from Thursday night’s tough 4-1 loss to top-seeded Edina in style, shutting out Forest Lake 1-0 Friday afternoon in the Class AA state consolation semifinals at Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

The win vaulted the Tigers into the consolation championship game against South Suburban Conference rival Eastview Saturday afternoon back at Ridder Arena.

The final stat sheet from the Forest Lake game shows the Rangers with a 32-21 shots-on-goal advantage but Tiger goalie Emily Auge made it two nights in a row of stellar Farmington netminding with a 31-save shutout. Teammate Abby Bollig stopped 49 of 53 shots against Edina.

“They primarily were getting those chances on power plays from outside the house,” Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. “We do a nice job not allowing point blank shots and so teams are forced to try and dump it to the net from outside.”

Unlike the Edina game where there were but two penalties, Friday’s contest was interrupted by 11 infractions, six of them on Farmington. The efficient Tiger penalty kill team skated off all of them, however, and the opportunistic offense scored the game’s lone goal on the power play.

After a scoreless first period in which Forest Lake held a 13-7 shots on goal margin, Ellie Moser used an assist from Bailey Kelley to score the game-winner with 4:40 remaining in the second.

Kelley hit Moser with a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone and the Bemidji State recruit did the rest, beating Ranger goalie Josephine Bothun on her short side. The score was Moser’s as well as her team’s second of the tournament.

The Rangers kept up the pressure in the third period and pulled their goalie with 1:56 to gain a player advantage but Auge and the feisty Tiger defense were up to the task.

“Both of our goalies are truly top notch,” Holmes said. “Going into the year I honestly thought we'd be on a rotation much like Maple Grove does with their two goalies. Emily getting sick for so long at the beginning of the year obviously put that on hold, but they both have my complete confidence.

“Megan Bernu and Brenna Fuhrman are an electric duo on the blue line and they truly bring energy to the ice. Cassie Knutson,Jay Seifert, Taylor Anderson and Carly Simon also see quality minutes and generally, our defense has been a rock all season.”

Saturday’s consolation championship game with Eastview will serve as the rubber game between the teams this winter. The Tigers prevailed 1-0 in overtime back in November and the Tigers scored a 4-1 victory in the January rematch.

The appearance in the consolation title tilt is the third in school history for the Tigers who split their first two games in the early 2000’s while playing in the Class A division. Eastview won the  Class AA consolation championship last year.