An Unwanted Christmas Present

by Pat Rupp

Four days before Christmas the Tigers received a a gift not on their list, a 1-0 South Suburban Conference loss to Eastview at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The defeat was the second straight for Farmington, coming on the heels of a tough 3-2 overtime loss at Eagan five nights earlier.

Nora Stepan’s goal midway through the opening period provided the only offense of the night for either team as the Tigers, winners of eight straight games from November 18 through December 14 dropped to 8-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play. Eastview is 4-7 and 3-5-1 respectively.

“This was one of those games you only see happen in the game of hockey,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “We controlled play. We had all the scoring chances. We killed every penalty and gave them nothing all game other than the one goal. That came off an odd-man rush and that normally doesn’t even get to the net, let alone past Abby (Bollig).”

Trailing by a goal, the Tigers spent much of the second period skating shorthanded after being whistled for three penalties. Farmington managed just five shots on the goal in the second stanza.

There were plenty of scoring chances over the final 17 minutes, 15 to be exact, but none resulted in a goal. The shutout loss was Farmington’s first since a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Lakeville North last December 10.

Bollig absorbed her second loss of the season despite another quality performance in the nets. She stopped 21 of 22 shots, lowering her goals against-average to 1.61 in the process.

“We did face a hot goalie but we didn’t have a lot of shots on net as we were hitting the glass and having near misses all night,” Holmes said. “It was somewhat reminiscent of last season early in the year.. .The only answer I have is that you play the game long enough and you run into games like this.”

Despite the final outcome, Holmes offered that there were still positives to take from the contest.

“All in all we played well and executed our passes and neutral zone nicely,” he said. ”We just couldn’t find the twine.”

The Tigers will be hoping for better puck luck this week when they host their annual Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic December 27-29. They open tournament play Thursday evening against River Lakes (Paynesville). Face-off is 6:00 at Schmitz-Maki Arena.