Still Looking For That Scoring Touch

By Pat Rupp

Heading into Saturday night’s South Suburban Conference match-up with Metro South (a Burnsville Co-op team) at Drake Arena in St. Paul, Farmington coach Jon Holmes wanted his team to keep attacking the goal and do a better job of staying out of the penalty box.

The Tigers achieved both goals but still came out on the short end of a 3-2 final score. Farmington outshot yet another opponent in Metro South by a convincing 51-21 and was assessed but one minor penalty in 51 minutes of play.

“We controlled the pace, the zones,” Holmes said. “We basically outdid them in every category except the one that counts…We could have held ourselves a little more accountable in the defensive zone but when you have five to seven point-blank shots in every period, you should score more than two goals.”

The first period proved to be a sign of what the night would like. The Tigers outshot the opposition 15-3 but South had the only goal over the first 17 minutes.

Kenna Kadrlik finally got the visitors on the board late in the second period on a breakaway from an assist from sister Madison Kadrlik. The 1-1 tie lasted only a minute, however, and Metro South hit the final break with a one-goal lead.

Madison Kadrlik re-tied the game early in the third frame on assists from Kenna Kadrlik and Abby Gehrke but once again South responded quickly with Heidi Deuel providing the game-winner at 5:44 of the final period.

Addison Moudry worked the Farmington goal and stopped 18 of 21 shots sent her way for a save percentage of .857.

“It’s frustrating,” Holmes said, “because it has happened to us so many times already this season. All of our losses have been like this and even when we have won, we don’t have an easy time getting the puck in the net.

“I’ve had a couple of other teams that have had similar problems and in both cases it worked out because the girls kept their mental commitment and stayed the course…So far we have weathered the storm pretty well. If we continue to do that I think we will find ways to win hockey games. We’ll start with owning the defensive zone and go from there.”

Saturday’s loss dropped the Tigers to 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the South Suburban Conference. Metro South is also 3-5 in league play and 6-5 overall.