Momentum heading to the Post-Season

by Pat Rupp

After a win and a tie to close out the regular season, Farmington (16-8-1) will take a five-game unbeaten streak into the Section 1AA tournament slated to begin later this week..

The Tigers extended their victory streak to four games Thursday with a 4-3 squeaker over Metro South at the Burnsville Ice Center before skating to a 2-2 tie at Rosemount Saturday night.

The win and tie gave Farmington sole possession of third place in the final 10-team South Suburban Conference standings with an 11-6-1 record.

“Third place in the South Suburban is quite an accomplishment for this young team,” coach Jon Holmes said. “That was not on our radar as the season began.”

Farmington 4 Metro South 3

Thursday’s see-saw affair in Burnsville saw wild swings of momentum with the Tigers scoring the winning goal late in the final period.

Early on, the contest looked like a breeze for the visitors as they outshot their hosts by a 19-5 margin and scored three unanswered goals in the opening period.

The shots evened out (13-12) in the second period and so did the score as Metro South scored three times in less than a six-minute span to make it a game. One of South’s goals came on the power play as the Tigers were whistled for a pair of penalties in the period.

“We didn’t play all that well in the first period and still scored three goals and that was the worst thing that could have happened as far as our motivation goes,” Holmes said.

“We did a lot of puck watching in the second period and had to grind out a goal in the third to pull it out.”

Farmington regained control in the final frame, outshooting the opposition 17-5. Morgan Mitchell provided the game-winner on an assist from Amelia Goblirsch.

The Tigers doubled up in the final shot totals department (48-23) with Farmington goaltender Kena Underwood finishing with 20 saves to earn her eighth win of the season.

Farmington 2 Rosemount 2 (OT)

Saturday’s regular season finale at the Rosemount Community Center was close throughout although the Tigers found themselves constantly playing from behind.

Rosemount’s Annalee Holzer’s goal in the first three minutes of the opening period provided the only scoring of the evenly-played first 17 minutes.

Amelia Goblirsch gave the Tigers immediate life in the second, scoring on assists from Josey Empey and Katie Klotz to send the teams to the final break knotted at two apiece.

The Irish struck first in the third period on a goal from Breanna Maas before Johnson scored a clutch power play goal on an assist from Meier in the final minute of regulation.

“We were much more disciplined in this game,” Holmes said.  “We just couldn’t seem to buy a bounce and get the puck to the back of the net.

“Defensively though we had trouble transitioning from end-to-end and that’s something we have to address heading into the section.”

Rosemount got the better of play in the extra eight-minute extra period, outshooting the Tigers 9-2 , but Farmington goalie Addison Moudry stood tall as she and her mates kept the Irish off the scoreboard.

“We had a nice comeback at the end of regulation but couldn’t come out with the same fire in the overtime,” Holmes said.

Rosemount outshot Farmington 42-28 for the night with Moudry tallying 40 saves.

The Tigers drew the third seed in the Section 1AA tournament and will host sixth-seeded Rochester Mayo  (10-11-2) in opening round play Wednesday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

“We have some nice momentum heading into the tournament,” Holmes said. “That should help build out confidence.”