Tigers Blank North: Lose to No. 9 Maple Grove in OT

By Pat Rupp

Farmington 3 Lakeville North 0

Farmington started the new year on a high note with a 3-0 shutout win over Lakeville North Thursday might at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The victory was the fourth straight for the Tigers who went a perfect 3-0 in the annual Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic played in Farmington last week.

“This game was another no call game where there could have been 10 or more calls on North and we certainly should have been flagged more too,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “But we kept our mindset and played our own game and did not once let the things outside of our control affect our play.”

The big news from the rough and tumble contest came in the goaltending department where sophomore Ryleigh Furlong posted her first varsity career shutout with a 23-save effort. In doing so Furlong lowered her goals-against average to 2.33 and upped her save percentage to .889.

“It was great to see her get her first varsity shut out,” Holmes said. “She has been getting more relaxed and playing very well the last few weeks so it was very well-deserved.” 

The winners backed up Furlong’s strong performance with three scores, two coming from the potent one-two punch of ninth graders Claire Enright and Samantha Moehle.

Enright broke the scoring ice at the 12:25 mark of the opening period with an unassisted goal and Carly Lancaster (from Brenna Fuhrman) made in 2-0 for the home team less than two minutes later.

Moehle re-tied Enright for the season lead in goals with No. 14, an empty-netter with just over a minute left to play in regulation which was redemption for a back hand shelf that went unnoticed by officials in the first from Moehle.

The win was important for many reasons, not the least of which is the post-season seeding for Section 1AA. Farmington swept the season series with the Panthers and also owns wins over section rivals Northfield and Lakeville South. A win over South later this month would give the Tigers a perfect 5-0 against section competition heading into the seeding meeting.

“We opted to play a very tough non-conference schedule adding more top metro teams this year and not being able to play some of the other section schools with limited games available,” Holmes said, “so beating North is big for us as far as the section goes.”

Maple Grove 3 Farmington 2 (OT)

Two days after the big win over North, Farmington made the trip to the northwest Metro to take on ninth-rated Maple Grove coached by former Farmington and University of Minnesota athlete Amber Hegland.

The Tigers played the Crimson tough but for the third time this season came up a goal short against a state-rated opponent, this time 3-2 in overtime.

“Amber is still their coach and if only for that reason this is such a great game for us,” Holmes said. “She is such a class act and has her teams so well prepped. We love playing her teams.”

While Holmes may have not liked the outcome of Saturday’s match-up he was pleased with his squad’s effort.

“All in all we played a really good game,” he said. “We had lots of chances and we limited Maple Grove to the outside of the rink which is key on their big Olympic-sized ice.”

After a scoreless opening period the Crimson struck first with an early power play goal in the second frame before the Tigers’ Kelley Zimmer knotted the count at 1-1 at 11:04 of the second. Maple Grove edged back ahead in the closing minutes of the second to take a one-goal lead into the final intermission.

Enright re-tied it with her 15th goal of the season midway through the third period to set up a wild and wooly finish, one that saw Farmington spend much of the time playing shorthanded.

The Tigers picked up three of their game total of five penalties at the end of the second period and the start of the overtime session to put themselves at a big disadvantage. They skated off a 5 on 3 and then a 5 on 4 situation during that span but eventually lost the game midway through overtime, ironically when owning a player advantage of their own.

The Crimson’s Tristana Tatur sealed the deal for her team with a shorthanded score at 4:34 of the scheduled eight-minute mini-period.

“This was by far the most physical game we have played all year,” Holmes said. “Nothing was called until later in the game and that hurt us…After we skated off those penalties we were a little gassed and we gave up a bad one.

“I would have loved to see the game continue 5 on 5 as it was back and forth and we had momentum on our side,” Holmes said. “In the end we played three solid periods against a top-ten team and we definitely felt like we should have walked away with a win.”

Farmington (8-6-1) gets back to South Suburban Conference play this week with a home game against Prior Lake on Thursday and a road contest Saturday at Burnsville.