Panthers Blank Tigers in Saturday Matinee

by Pat Rupp

Goaltender Abby Bollig and the Tiger defense continued to do their jobs but the offense which had helped fashion a modest two-win streak was absent in a 3-0 South Suburban Conference loss to Lakeville Saturday afternoon at Ames Arena.

The shutout loss was Farmington’s third in eight games so far this season which has seen the Tigers net just 12 goals, half of them coming in a 6-3 non-conference victory over Hastings last week. In six conference contests the offense has produced just four goals. 

Saturday’s loss dropped coach Jon Holmes’ squad’s record to 3-5 overall and 1-5 in the South Suburban. 

The Panthers scored all three of their goals in the final period, two even strength goals in the period’s first eight minutes and an empty-netter in the closing minute.

“Another goose egg,” Holmes said. “We started off really firing on all cylinders for the first 10 minutes. We were making and catching passes, supporting the play everywhere, moving the puck like a veteran state contender, and getting North back on their heels. We were getting great opportunities as a team. 

“Then slowly we fell back into some habits we’ve been trying to rid ourselves of. We became a little complacent. We started watching others give individual efforts and we stopped crashing the net. It just snowballed with every minute that went by until eventually we had given up a couple of chances we couldn’t get back.”

Coach Holmes said he was proud of the way his team handled the task of playing on the Olympic-sized sheet of ice at Ames Arena, not always an easy task.

“We didn’t score so you can’t say it cost us the game,” he said, “but it has to be the biggest home ice advantage in girls’ hockey. You can’t replicate it in practice. You can always make the practice rink smaller but never bigger.”

Holmes said the one constant through the first eight games of the season has been the play of his defense and the goaltending of Bollig who had another strong performance with 25 saves.

“Abby and the defense did what they had to do to keep us in the game, but we were not able to convert at the other end,” Holmes said. “Giving up just two goals on this ice is what we needed to do.

“We will definitely keep our focus on the end game for the post-season and continue trying some things to look for spark. Hopefully we snap into something sooner than later.”

The Tigers will hit the ice again Tuesday night when they travel to Apple Valley to take on the Eagles. Friday they return home to face Burnsville in another South Suburban Conference match-up.