Tigers Open with a Split

by Pat Rupp

Farmington kicked off its 2017-18 season with a split of South Suburban Conference home games last week. The Tigers dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Lakeville North Thursday night before bouncing back with a decisive 6-1 defeat of Prior Lake on Saturday.

Lakeville North 3 Farmington 2

A look at the post-game stat sheet tells the story of the season-opening loss to the Panthers. Farmington outshot its guests by a solid 41-27 margin but managed just two goals. That inability to finish coupled with five penalties leading to three power play goals for North sealed the deal.

“We played very solid five-on-five hockey for the entire game,” Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. “In fact we were buzzing them hard and you could tell they had no real options in terms of how to get out of the defensive zone and manage our speed.

“Unfortunately, we got ourselves into some bad habits on the penalty kill by standing flat-footed and not purposefully chasing the puck. We gave them the passing and shooting lanes rather than taking them away.”

North scored its first goal just 1:17 into the game and then made it 2-0 midway through the second period before Brenna Fuhrman (from Marissa Agerter) scored on the power play to make it a one-goal contest headed into the final frame. Farmington outshot the Panthers 18-6 in the second period. 

Jenna Gerold’s unassisted score pulled the Tigers even at 6:22 into the final period but North’s Jayden Neameyer silenced the home crowd with the game-winner with just 58 seconds left in regulation for North’s 3rd powerplay goal.

The loss negated a solid job in the nets by Abby Bollig who stopped 24 of the 27 shots she faced.

“There were a lot of good takeaways from this game,” Holmes said. “Our shots were not bad shots; we just didn’t capitalize on some of the point blank opportunities in a way I know we will in the upcoming games. 

“Our puck movement was good as well and it was apparent that we are more comfortable playing together as a team early this year than we have been in years past. 

“Everyone was pretty nervous for the first game and I think some of those nerves came out in the penalty kill.”

Farmington 6 Prior Lake 1

This one was decided early with the Tigers firing on all cylinders in the opening period while scoring four unanswered goals.

Savanna Tucker scored two of the first period goals on the way to her first career hat trick. Sandwiched between Tucker’s scores were goals by Claire Enright and Carly Lancaster. Six different players recorded assists on the fours scores: Fuhrman, Agerter, Gerold, Ellie Moser, Jayden Seifert and Emily Rubins.

The Lakers registered the first goal of period two but the winners quickly responded with scores from Tucker (from Rubins) and Moser (from Seifert and Rubins) before the teams skated through a scoreless final 17 minutes.

Farmington won the shots-on-goal battle by a similar margin as it did against North, 42-27.

“It was nice to get our first conference win against a team that has given us trouble in the past,” Holmes said.

“In general, our fore-check and our ability to go downhill to the net for rebounds was solid even though we still had some simple positioning issues that could have given us an even greater advantage while in the offensive zone.

Emily Auge (28 saves) worked the Tiger nets to post the win and according to Holmes turned in a heroic effort.

“Auge played amazingly and had at least three or four stops where it looked like our other girls were caught in quicksand and watching the events unfold from a third person perspective,” he said.

Despite the offensive fireworks and another strong effort by his goalkeeper, Holmes was not completely satisfied with his team’s play.

“For a team and program that has always prided itself in defensive zone play, this was not one of our better performances,” he said. “We need to relish the win and take the solid offensive zone play as a steppingstone, but we need to really buckle down and figure out how we can get back to blocking shots, winning races, and making well-executed exits from our own zone.”

Next up on the Farmington docket is a third (straight) home game, this one a Tuesday non-conference affair with Rochester Lourdes. Saturday the Tigers entertain Eden Prairie in a matinee contest at Schmitz-Maki Arena.