Tigers Unbeaten in Holiday Classic

by Pat Rupp

Farmington finished with a perfect 3-0 in last week’s annual Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic but perfection was not quite good enough as three teams won three straight at the eight-team tourney held at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

South Suburban Conference schools Farmington, Lakeville North and Eastview shared the top spot in the final rankings at 3-0 with North awarded the title on the basis of its three consecutive shutout victories.

The Tigers downed old Missota Conference rival New Prague 3-1 in the final game of their three games-in-three nights run.

Coach Jon Holmes’ squad now has five-game winning streak and owns an overall mark of 9-5 heading into the 2020 portion of the schedule.

At 6-3 in South Suburban play, Farmington has sole possession of second place in the standings, one game behind league-leading Apple Valley.

“This game had a similar story line as the first two,” Holmes said. “We certainly controlled the play and got the better of chances but we never really separated the game on the scoreboard.

“We were playing confidently enough and well enough, however, to get some new faces some playing time. That is always key in getting younger players developed as well as getting players that have earned a chance to get some time on the big stage….Rylee Bartizal played well in the nets and Morgan Mitchell and Olivia Andrews both played solidly at forward while Jenna Bethke continued to see some quality shifts as well.”

The teams skated to a scoreless draw through much of the first period before Farmington erupted for two scores in the final three minutes of the opening frame. Liv Helleson (from Izzy Zwart and Jayden Seifert) scored on the power play at 14:20 and 29 seconds later Carly Lancaster (from Sadie Long) gave the home team a two-goal cushion.

Sam Moehle (from Seifert) banged home another power play goal six minutes in the second frame but the Trojans’ Payton Hard countered with a power play score of her own to make it 3-1 at the final break.

Farmington outshot New Prague 9-2 over the final 17 minutes but neither team could find the back of the net. The Tigers finished with a one-sided 42-10 advantage in shots on goal.

The Farmington penalty kill was especially effective in the contest as it held the Trojans to just once score in seven opportunities. The Tigers were whistled for eight penalties.

Farmington won’t have much time to savor its three-game sweep at the Schmitz Classic as they start the second round of South Suburban play Saturday with a 5:00 home matchup with Lakeville South (12-3). The Cougars won the season opener between the two teams 5-3.

SLAP SHOTS: Farmington played the holiday tournament without all-conference defenseman Brenna Fuhrman who was busy playing for the USA 18 women’s team in Bratislava, Slovakia. The USA team was to play in the Gold Medal Game of the international tournament on January 2nd vs. long time foe Canada…At a break in the Tigers’ opening round overtime win over Owatonna, Jenna Gerold, a captain from last year’s state tournament team, was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Herb Brooks Award for “strongly representing the values, characteristics, and traits” that defined the legendary coach. Gerold missed almost all of her senior season due to injury but stayed with the team as an inspirational leader throughout the regular season and eventually returned to score a goal in the state tournament.