No. 2 Maple Grove skates by Tigers 4-1

by Pat Rupp

Farmington put in a good effort but came out on the short end of a 4-1 score against Maple Grove Wednesday night in a non-conference game played at the Maple Grove Community Center.

With the win, Maple Grove, coached by former Farmington High School and University Minnesota standout athlete Amber Hegland, upped its season record to 13-2-1. The Crimson’s only losses have come at the hands of top-rated Edina.

Farmington suffered only its second defeat in its last 10 games and stands at 8-6-1 for the season.

“Maple Grove is a tough squad,” Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. “They are deep and they play a solid attack and spread the ice nicely on their Olympic-sized ice sheet.”

Maple Grove’s Maia Martinez and Tina Kampa scored first period goals to put the Tigers in an early hole.

“We had a handful of mental breakdowns in which Emily (goaltender Auge) saved us on a few and the other two were tap-ins where our defensive zone broke down,” Holmes said. 

The visitors outshot the Crimson 11-7 in the scoreless second frame but couldn’t get the puck by Maple Grove goaltender Breanna Blesi.

“We played disciplined and on point in the second period,” Holmes said. “We had the edge in opportunities and were accountable to where we had to be in order to limit their chances and give us more opportunities.”

The winners put the game to bed in the third period with Kampa’s second score of the night and a shorthanded goal by Mannon McMahon.

Ellie Moser netted her team-high 10th goal of the season on an assist from eighth-grader Jayden Seifert with a minute to play to account for the Farmington scoring. The assist was Seifert’s second of the season.

As has been the case most of the season the Tigers didn’t hurt for scoring opportunities. Maple Grove finished with a 32-27 edge in shots on goal.

Emily Auge patrolled the Farmington nets for just the second time this season and finished with 28 saves.

“There are many learnable moments from this game,” Holmes said. “The film will be one that we will look at to highlight some things we did really well and some areas we may get away with against other competition but will not and cannot against teams of that caliber.”

The week of top-flight competition continues Friday when the Tigers return to South Suburban Conference action with a home contest against defending league champion and No. 7-rated Lakeville South.