Tigers Make It Three In A Row

By Pat Rupp

Farmington celebrated Senior Night with a solid 4-2 South Suburban Conference win over Metro South Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The victory paid back the Phoenix who defeated the Tigers 3-2 earlier in the season. Metro South is a cooperative program consisting of players from Burnsville, Faribault, St. Agnes, St Paul Academy Faribault Bethlehem Academy and DeLaSalle.

Farmington (8-16) won for the third consecutive outing and has coach Jon Holmes thinking positive heading into next week’s Section 1AA tournament.

“We wanted to be playing our best hockey going into the playoffs,” Holmes said, “and this was another step in that direction. We continued to attack the net but also took care of our defensive zone…Our confidence should be building as we go into the post-season.”

The Tigers led wire-to-wire, using a pair of first period goals to set the tone for the evening. Kennedy Meier got the winners off on the right foot, scoring at 7:36 of the opening period on assists from linemates Morgan Mitchell and Lexi Giller.

Later in the first, leading scorer Kenna Kadrlik netted her 18th goal of the season with sister Madison Kadrlik and Alexa Bricko assisting.

Madison Kadrlik (from Kenna Kadrlik) gave her team some breathing room with a laser shot from the point on the power play early in the second period but the Phoenix rallied for a goal of their own late in the second to make it a 3-1 game headed to the final frame.

Metro South made it interesting with a goal midway through the third but Madison Kadrlik restored order with another power play goal from long range, this one on an assist from Abby Gehrke.

“Madison is a warrior,” Holmes said. “She really keys our defense. We are obviously a better team when she is on the ice. And she is on the ice a lot.”

Farmington finished with a decisive 47-26 advantage in the shots on goal department.

Senior Kieley Curow patrolled the Tiger net and posted her third win of the season with a 24-save performance.

“We still have to get better around our goal,” Holmes said. “Both of the goals we gave up came on rebounds that we didn’t clear…Still, overall, we played very well.”

Holmes envisions his team drawing a fourth or fifth seed for the eight-team Section 1AA tournament, but said that process will take of itself.

“We want to have another good game on Saturday and then we’ll worry about the playoffs,” he said.

The Tigers entertain Rosemount Saturday afternoon at 3:00 at Schmitz-Maki in their regular season finale.