Farmington scored three unanswered goals in the first period enroute to a 6-4 win over Cedarburg, Wisconsin, Friday night, December 3, at Schmitz-Maki Arena. The victory was the first in three tries for the Tigers; Cedarburg is 1-1.
"We saw some nice things early and some old problems late," coach Keith Revels said. "We didn't play defense in the second and third periods like we did in the first."
Farmington outshot its guests 12-5 in the opening period with goals by Andrew Peterson, Zak Payne and Grant Hauswirth giving the home team what looked like a commanding 3-0 lead.
The three-goal edge lasted 18 seconds into the second period, however, as the Tigers reverted to a familiar pattern of giving up early scores.
"That was really frustrating because it has been a point of focus for us," Revels said.
Fortunately, Dan Handberg and Kevin Olund responded with goals for a 5-2 advantage heading into the third period.
Nothing much happened in the final frame until the final two minutes when the visitors scored two goals in a span of 38 seconds to cut the deficit to one with 1:19 to play in regulation.
Jake Sorenson's empty-netter from his own blue line finally iced the Tigers first win of the season.
All in all, six different Farmington players scored goals and five more had a least one assist. Hauswirth, whose goal was the first of his varsity career, also had an assist and Tyler Grubb chipped in with a pair of assists for two-point outings.
Victor Simones drew his first varsity start in goal, claiming the win with a 21-save effort. The Tigers outshot the Bulldogs 40-25.
"We need to do a better job of knocking out teams when we have them on the ropes," Revels said. "It's not a new issue for us. We just have to be better at maintaining our focus whether we are up or down on the scoreboard."
