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FHS Girls get a curling lesson from some legends in Eveleth.

Tigers Reload for 2018-19 Season

By Pat Rupp, 11/12/18, 11:15AM CST

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Tigers Reload for 2018-19 Season

Tigers Reload for 2018-19 Season

By Pat Rupp

By any measure the 2017-18 season was a banner one for coach Jon Holmes and his Tigers girls’ hockey team.

The Orange and Black finished last year’s campaign with an overall mark of 21-8, placed second in the rugged South Suburban Conference and lost a one-goal heartbreaker in the Section 1AA championship game.

A full dozen seniors dotted that team’s roster and six of them are skating at the collegiate level this winter.

“They were all solid players,” Holmes said. “but what they really had was chemistry. They respected each other for who they were and were able to come together at the rink for a common purpose. They all were with the program for at least four years and they built a ton of bridges and paths for the younger girls to follow.”

Even with the uncharacteristically high turnover, however, Holmes isn’t ready to lower the expectations bar for this year’s squad.

He brought back seven major contributors from last year’s team when pre-season practice began in late October, including senior forwards Bailey Kelly and Jenna Gerold and senior defender Cassi Knutson.

Gerold, the team’s second-leading goal scorer last winter and a co-captain this season, will be out until after Christmas with a knee injury. Kelly had a season full of injuries last year but Holmes is counting on her to return to her sophomore season form when she was among the team’s leading scorers.

Knutson, a quality defender, is the second team captain and will join junior returnees Brenna Fuhrman and Jaden Seifert on what should be a formidable blue line.

Sophomore forward Carly Lancaster and freshman forward Claire Enright are the other veterans returning. Enright matched Gerold’s goal production last season and Holmes said Lancaster had an outstanding off-season.

Amazingly, four of the seven players returning have already committed to play collegiately: Knutson (Wisconsin-Stevens Point); Enright (Minnesota); Fuhrman (Minnesota-Duluth) and Seifert (Minnesota State-Mankato).

Other players expected to vie for varsity ice time include Izzy Zwart, Bailey Zimmer, Grace Auge and Kelsie Vincent. Newcomer Sam Moehle, a leading scorer for the Farmington U-15 team last season, should also see action for the Tigers.

“We have a solid defensive corps,” Holmes said. “Even though they are young they have a lot of varsity experience. We should also be a very quick team, a strength we intend to utilize.”

Holmes added that one of the challenges he and his staff will face is getting the new faces to meld with the old.

“We will need to explore who works well together and find the type of systems and configurations that best suits our style of play,” he said.

Holmes tabbed his team along with Lakeville North and Lakeville South as the team to beat in the chase for Section 1AA honors and said the South Suburban Conference will again be stingy with Eagan returning from a 3rd place finish in AA state, and an overall increase in talent from the middle of the pack teams from last year.

Joining Holmes, who has amassed an impressive 170-116-16 record in his dozen years at the helm of the Farmington girl’s program, on the coaching staff will be assistants Jason Kohlbeck (23 years); Casey Preston (3 years); Steve Sabetti (2 years); Jared Rowan (2 years) and newcomer Steve Mechelke.

The Tigers kick off their season Tuesday, Nov 13, when they entertain South Suburban Conference rival Rosemount, at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

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