Penalty-Prone Tigers Upset by Eagles

by Pat Rupp

A season-high 10 penalties led to three Apple Valley power play goals as the Eagles (9-11-1) upset the Tigers 4-2 Saturday afternoon at the Apple Valley Community Center.

“In my biased opinion we were the ones getting grabbed, clutched, hooked, speared, and even open ice-checked,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “But it was the retaliation penalties they were calling and that is something we have to be much more disciplined in controlling. Even with that going against us, there was no reason we could not keep our focus and grind out a win.”

The first period gave a good preview of what the game would look like. Farmington was whistled for three infractions over the first 17 minutes and was fortunate to hit the first break trailing by one goal that predictably came on the power play.

The Tigers rallied early in the second period, taking the lead on goals by Jenna Gerold and Claire Enright. Both came in the first seven minutes of the period and both were assisted by Ellie Moser.

Shortly after Enright’s goal, however, the whistles started to blow again and Valley responded with a pair of scores, one on the power play, to take a 3-2 lead to the final break. Farmington was assessed three penalties in the second half of the period.

Period three was more of the same with the visitors tagged with four more penalties, the last directly leading to an insurance power play goal by the Eagles.

“Apple Valley came out hustling for every puck and grinding out every battle,” Holmes said. “I have to give them a lot of credit for how hard they worked. They deserved to win the game.”

Emily Auge worked the Farmington nets and finished with a credible 28 saves considering she opposition was constantly playing with a man advantage. Farmington finished with a 36-32 advantage in the shots on goal department.

The stingy Tigers who had given up less than two goals an outing through their first 16 games, surrendered four scores for the fourth consecutive contest.

“We have not been executing our systems and game plans the way we should be,” Holmes said. “Most of it has been due to mental mindset and not getting ourselves ready for every race, every shift, and every zone battle.  Even just a minor break in mindset will expose us. 

“We have to deal with playing every opposing team at their best. With the team we have and the success we have had, we definitely have a target on our back. Every game we go into we are going to get the opponents very best effort.”

The defeat coupled with Lakeville South’s overtime loss to Shakopee left the Tigers in second place in the South Suburban Conference standings, one-half game ahead of Lakeville South.

Next Tuesday the Tigers entertain Burnsville at Schmitz-Maki Arena and Thursday they head to Hasse Arena in Lakeville to take on South.

“South has been playing better after the holiday tournament and has had a few big wins” Holmes said. “We will need to right the ship in our final few weeks of the regular season and keep climbing the ladder toward playoffs.”