Krystal Baumann (No. 23) 3 goals, assist
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Make room for a new addition to the trophy case. The 2011 Missota Conference girls hockey hardware is bound for Farmington.
The Tigers ground out a 6-4 win over Shakopee Friday night, Jan. 28, at Schmitz-Maki Arena to claim their second straight league championship. Farmington, 16-6 overall, is a perfect 10-0 in league play with two games to play, three games ahead of Shakopee.
"I think this is the first time Farmington has won back-to-back Missota championships, so the girls are really proud of that," coach Jon Holmes said. "That was one of our goals at the start of the season."
The win over the Sabers was the Tigers second in as many nights and although they got the better of the play most of the night, it wasn't decided until Haley Doll's open-net goal with 16 seconds to play in regulation.
"We were a little tired aafter playing a very physical game with Hastings the previous night," Holmes said. "But we played well enough to win against a good team that had been playing very well lately."
The teams traded goals twice in the wide-open first period with the high-octane duo of Krystal Baumann and Hannah Alexander each scoring for Farmington.
The pace slowed a little in the second frame with each team finding the net once. Alexander registered the Tiger goal, her 19th of the season, to set up an exciting final 17 minutes.
Baumann got the third period off to a flying start with two goals, one on the power play, in the first 1:53 to give her team a 5-3 lead that would hold until the game's final minutes.
Shakopee's Amy Menke netted her second goal of the night with 1:54 remaining to make it a one-goal game and set up a final rush by the Sabers. But goalie Jessica Erchul and the defense weathered the storm and Doll's empty-netter added an exclamation point to victory.
Baumann's hat trick ran her season goal total to 41 and with an assist matched linemate's Alexander's game total of four points (2 goals, 2 assists).
Jessica Erchul 27 saves
Betsy Anderson 3 assists
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Defender Betsy Anderson assisted on three of the Farmington goals. Chloe Batta added two and Rachel Peroutky one for the winners.
Erchul finished with 27 saves to record her 16th win of the season. Through 22 games the junior netminder owns a save percentage of .912 and a goals against average of 2.30.
The Tigers close out their regular season the week of Jan. 31 with a road game Tuesday at Holy Angels and a home contest with Northfield on Friday. Section 1AA play begins at home Friday, Feb. 14.
"We will be working at getting better each game to make the transition into the playoffs," Holmes said. "We'd like to make it a perfect season in the conference."
