30 December 2010

Girls Hockey: Tigers blank Park; reach finals of Schmitz Classic

Jessica Erchul makes one of her 26 saves (below left)
Krystal Baumann, 3 goals, 1 assist vs. Park
(photos by Jim Lindquist)


Farmington blanked Park of Cottage Grove 5-0 Wednesday night, Dec. 29, to advance to the finals of the eight-team Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic played at Schmitz-Maki Arena.
The Tigers will play Hastings in the title game. Face-off is scheduled for 7:00 Thursday night.
Krystal Baumann collected her third hat trick of the season and also had an assist to pace the Tigers to the win over Park (7-5-1).
The first line of Baumann, Hannah Alexander and Chloe Batta accounted for all of the Farmington goals. Alexander had a goal and two assists while Batta scored one goal and assisted on another. Rachel Peroutky and Betsy Anderson also had assists for the winners.
"Park is a solid team and this was a big win for us in many ways," coach Jon Holmes said. "In the past couple of games we had played well in every way except scoring. Tonight we added the scoring factor against a good team and a good goaltender."
Holmes praised the production of his potent top line but was quick to point out two other factors that played heavily into the impressive win.
"Our other lines are playing very well and Jessica Erchul had an outstanding game," he said. "If she wouldn't have been locked in, the game would have been much closer."
Erchul finished with 26 saves in a busy night between the pipe. The Tiger junior has allowed just two goals in her last three starts.
The Tigers (8-5) will face another quality team in Hastings (8-4) in the championship game. The Raiders advanced to the finals with a pair of one-goal wins, 2-1 over Rosemount and 3-2 over Lakeville North.