Momentum heading to the Post-Season

by Pat Rupp

After a win and a tie to close out the regular season, Farmington (16-8-1) will take a five-game unbeaten streak into the Section 1AA tournament slated to begin later this week..

The Tigers extended their victory streak to four games Thursday with a 4-3 squeaker over Metro South at the Burnsville Ice Center before skating to a 2-2 tie at Rosemount Saturday night.

The win and tie gave Farmington sole possession of third place in the final 10-team South Suburban Conference standings with an 11-6-1 record.

“Third place in the South Suburban is quite an accomplishment for this young team,” coach Jon Holmes said. “That was not on our radar as the season began.”

Farmington 4 Metro South 3

Thursday’s see-saw affair in Burnsville saw wild swings of momentum with the Tigers scoring the winning goal late in the final period.

Early on, the contest looked like a breeze for the visitors as they outshot their hosts by a 19-5 margin and scored three unanswered goals in the opening period.

The shots evened out (13-12) in the second period and so did the score as Metro South scored three times in less than a six-minute span to make it a game. One of South’s goals came on the power play as the Tigers were whistled for a pair of penalties in the period.

“We didn’t play all that well in the first period and still scored three goals and that was the worst thing that could have happened as far as our motivation goes,” Holmes said.

“We did a lot of puck watching in the second period and had to grind out a goal in the third to pull it out.”

Farmington regained control in the final frame, outshooting the opposition 17-5. Morgan Mitchell provided the game-winner on an assist from Amelia Goblirsch.

The Tigers doubled up in the final shot totals department (48-23) with Farmington goaltender Kena Underwood finishing with 20 saves to earn her eighth win of the season.

Farmington 2 Rosemount 2 (OT)

Saturday’s regular season finale at the Rosemount Community Center was close throughout although the Tigers found themselves constantly playing from behind.

Rosemount’s Annalee Holzer’s goal in the first three minutes of the opening period provided the only scoring of the evenly-played first 17 minutes.

Amelia Goblirsch gave the Tigers immediate life in the second, scoring on assists from Josey Empey and Katie Klotz to send the teams to the final break knotted at two apiece.

The Irish struck first in the third period on a goal from Breanna Maas before Johnson scored a clutch power play goal on an assist from Meier in the final minute of regulation.

“We were much more disciplined in this game,” Holmes said.  “We just couldn’t seem to buy a bounce and get the puck to the back of the net.

“Defensively though we had trouble transitioning from end-to-end and that’s something we have to address heading into the section.”

Rosemount got the better of play in the extra eight-minute extra period, outshooting the Tigers 9-2 , but Farmington goalie Addison Moudry stood tall as she and her mates kept the Irish off the scoreboard.

“We had a nice comeback at the end of regulation but couldn’t come out with the same fire in the overtime,” Holmes said.

Rosemount outshot Farmington 42-28 for the night with Moudry tallying 40 saves.

The Tigers drew the third seed in the Section 1AA tournament and will host sixth-seeded Rochester Mayo  (10-11-2) in opening round play Wednesday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

“We have some nice momentum heading into the tournament,” Holmes said. “That should help build out confidence.”

A Bounce Back Week

By Pat Rupp

After a disappointing stretch in which it lost four of five contests the Farmington used a strong defense and some solid goaltending to post a pair of hard-fought South Suburban Conference wins last week.

Tuesday night at Eastview the Tigers had to work overtime but still managed to come out with a 2-1 win. Back home on Saturday evening the locals led from start to finish in a 3-1 win over Eagan.

Farmington 2 Eastview 1 (OT)

Morgan Mitchell scored both of the Farmington goals as the Tigers got back in the win column.

Mitchell opened the scoring with a first period goal on an assist from Katie Klotz. Eastview answered minutes later and then the teams skated through a scoreless second and third period.

Mitchell netted the game-winner just 21 seconds into the extra session on assists from linemates Jenna and Amelia Goblirsch.

“Morgan has been playing really well,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “She is using her speed and physical game and she’s taking advantage of the attention being paid to the twins (Goblirsch)…It has been great watching her embrace this role and getting rewarded for it on the scoresheet.”

Holmes said the game-winner that came on the first shift of the extra period looked like a play the team has worked on in practice.

“We won the faceoff, got the puck deep and worked a couple of cycles,” Holmes said. “Amelia got the puck to Jenna who fed Morgan in the high slot.

“We eked one out, but we needed to after losing that last game to Prior Lake like we did…We had some problems with penalties again, but it was nice to get out of there with a win.”

Makena Underwood helped the cause with a strong performance in goal, racking up 30 saves as the Lightning outshot its guests 31-27.

Farmington 3 Eagan 1      

The Tigers made it two in a row with another strong outing Saturday afternoon at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Farmington outshot the Wildcats by a one-sided 27-8 over the first two periods but headed to the final break nursing a 1-0 lead thanks to a first period goal by Lexi Giller (from Katie Klotz and Josey Empey).

“We dominated play offensively,” Holmes said, “but just couldn’t find the twine. We had some amazing looks but their goalie came up big.”

Amelia Goblirsch (from Mitchell) upped the lead to 2-0 early in the final frame before Mitchell notched her third in two games on assists form the Goblirsch twins.

Eagan scored its lone goal of the game with under two minutes to go in regulation.

“Defensive-wise we made some good progress,” Holmes said. “We hated to give up that late goal. We have to learn to play all the way to the final horn.

“Overall though it was a solid performance. We need some work on special teams but even though we didn’t score on the power play, I thought that unit looked more cohesive.”]

Netminder Addison Moudry stopped 13 of the 14 shots sent her way to earn the win. The Tigers finished with a robust 41 shots on goal.

Farmington closes out the regular season with a three-game agenda this week: Tuesday at Hastings; Thursday at Metro South (Burnsville) and Saturday at Rosemount.

“These are important games to build momentum as well as working on our skills and system development,” Holmes said. “A lot of our focus will be on the mental aspect of the game as we get ready the section tournament.”