Tigers Beat Flu Bug, Valley for 6th Straight

by Pat Rupp

Tuesday’s scheduled non-conference game with Hopkins/St. Louis Park had to be re-scheduled because of a flu bug that hit the Tiger roster.

“It was so bad that all this week we never had more than 15 out of our 32 skaters until Thursday’s game at Apple Valley,” coach Jon Holmes said.

Even with the depleted roster and limited practice time, however, the Tigers were able to extend their winning streak to six games with a 3-0 shutout win over the Eagles. The victory upped Farmington’s season record to 6-1, including a 3-1 mark in South Suburban Conference play.

Bailey Kelley got the visitors off to a fast start with her second goal of the season on an assist from Jayden Seifert on her first shift of the night, just 46 seconds after the opening face-off. The Tigers outshot the Eagles 12-3 in the opening period but had the lone goal to show for their efforts.

The puck stayed in the Eagle zone much of the second period but neither team could find the net so it was still a one-goal game with a period to play.

“We were trying to play more dump and trap for most of the second and third periods, because the puck was not staying on our sticks.” Holmes said. “But we did what we had to do to win and that showed a lot of grit.”

Ellie Moser (from Marissa Agerter) and Jenna Gerold scored back-to-back empty net goals 14 seconds apart in the game’s final minute to round out the night’s scoring. Moser’s was her team-high 10th of the season; Gerold’s was her third.

Holmes said that some of the biggest plays of the night came from goaltender Emily Auge who finished with 21 saves in posting her first shutout of the year.

“Emily played phenomenally,” Holmes said. “She kept our momentum on some very nice saves in the last two periods. She stopped three breakaways and several scary scrums in the front of the net. She was our best defense tonight.”

Auge (4-0) lowered her goal-against average to 1.50 per contest and raised her save percentage to .935 in the whitewash.

Farmington outshot the opposition for the seventh straight game, this time by a 29-21 count.

The Tigers hope to get healthy in a hurry as they hit the ice again Saturday afternoon with a home game against conference rival Lakeville South (4-4; 3-2).