Tigers Win Two of Three at Schmitz Classic

By Pat Rupp

 

The Tigers built a little momentum heading into the 2003 portion of their schedule by winning two of their three games at the annual Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic played last week at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

 

The long-running tourney is named in honor of the late Farmington sports icon who was a pioneer in developing girls ‘hockey in Minnesota.

WCCO television aired a tribute to Schmitz and the tournament last Friday night.

 

It can be viewed at

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/video/high-school-sports-rally-farmington-tigers-remember-a-pioneer/

 

“I thought the tournament went very well for us,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “Of course, we would have liked to have gone 3-0, but we got sot some good solid play and the girls had a great experience in honoring Louie Schmitz.”

 

Farmington 5 Owatonna 1

The Tigers opened the three-day run with a convincing win over Section 1AA rival Owatonna.

 

“I think we gave them too many scoring chances,” Holmes said, “but we did a nice job of capitalizing on our own…Owatonna came at us hard and the final score was a little closer than it looked.”

 

Each team netted a goal in the opening period with Abby Gehrke accounting for the Farmington score on assists from Kenna Kadrlik and Josie Empey.

 

Kadrlik notched her second of the night midway through the second frame on the power play with an assist from sister Madison Kadrlik. Later in the second, freshman Alexa Bricko mad it 3-1 with an unassisted score.

 

Bricko (from Kenna and Madison Kadrlik) found the net again, this time on the power play, midway through the third period. Madison Kadrlik added a late goal to close out the win.

 

Addison Moudry handled the goaltending duties, stopping 23 of 24 shots for a save percentage of .958. The Tigers finished with 44 shots on goal.

 

Northfield 2 Farmington 0

Heading into the match-up with the defending Section 1AA champs, Holmes had his teamed keyed on stopping the Raiders’ high-scoring forward Ayla Puppe who has already committed to playing collegiate hockey at the University of Minnesota.

 

“We accomplished that,” Holmes said. “But we gave up a couple of odd goals and didn’t muster any of our own.”

 

The winners netted the first score of the night four minutes into the second period before putting the game out of reach with a fluke goal early in the third.

 

The Tigers actually outshot the Raiders 33-31 but couldn’t slip the puck by Northfield goalie Macy Mueller.

 

Kieley Currow drew the net assignment for the Tigers and played well in defeat, posting 29 saves (.935 save percentage).

 

Farmington 7 East Ridge 4

Farmington scored the first six goals and then turned away a third period rally by the Raptors to up its overall season record to 5-8.

 

“We got some really nice play at both ends of the ice,” Holmes said. “Lots of moving parts came into play…Our lines began to jive better and we did a good job of finishing off our opportunities.”

 

Kenna Kadrlik, the team’s leading scorer, and Kennedy Meier each finished with hat tricks to account for all but one of the Farmington goals.

 

“They were both amazing,” Holmes said. “Kennedy’s line (with Morgan Mitchell and Lexi Giller) is really starting to click. We will be looking for them to really hit their stride the second half of the season.”

 

Gehrke added the seventh goal for the winners, her ninth of the year. Madison Kadrlik and Bricko each chipped in with a pair of assists. Gehrke, Mitchell, Giller and Shelby Mahowald each added one.

 

Moudry was back between the pipes for the Tigers and registered her fourth win of the season with a 21-save effort. Farmington won the shots on goal battle by a 40-25 count.

 

The Tigers resume play this Thursday night as they close out the first round of South Suburban Conference play at Rosemount. Farmington currently sits in a tie for seventh place in the 10-team league standings at 3-5; The Irish rank sixth at 4-4.