...and the band played on
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
In the championship game of the Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic played in late December the Tigers roared to a five-goal lead and cruised to an easy 6-2 victory over Hastings.
In a regular season rematch played Thursday night, Jan. 27, at Schmitz-Maki Arena the Raiders made things much more interesting.
"In many ways this game was similar to the last one with them," Tiger coach Jon Holmes said, "but this time they didn't make the mistakes that we were able to turn into goals. Their goalie also played very well with 36 saves."
Farmington eventually prevailed thanks to another clutch goal by senior forward Hannah Alexander who scored the game-winner in the 3-2 victory with just 3:05 remaining in regulation.
The winners finished with a solid 39-26 shots on goal advantage but could never shake Hastings (7-6-2) who brought a much more physical brand of hockey to the arena for the re-do of the tournament title game.
A very physical game
"The officials called the game like it was a boys' game," Holmes said. "There were many checking situations they let go on both sides. I was glad to see that both sides stepped up their play and minimized compromising situations along the boards."
The visitors got on the board just two minutes into the game on Brittney Huenke's goal with the Tigers tying the count later in the period on a goal by Haleigh Zwart (from Emily Severson).
Krystal Baumann's 38th goal of the season gave the locals their first lead of the night 27 seconds into the second frame but the Raiders responded midway through the period on a score by Sami Claussen to set up a pressure-packed final 17 minutes.
Alexander ended the suspense with her second game-winner of the season at 13:55 on an assist from Baumann.
Tiger goalie Jessica Erchul continued her stellar play between the pipes, rejecting 23 shots while earning her 15th win of the season.
The Tigers will take a 15-6 record into Friday night's Missota Conference home game with Shakopee where a victory would sew up their second straight conference championship. Face-off is 7:15 at Schmitz-Maki Arena.
