Andrew Peterson 16th goal of the season
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Call it a moral victory or just a solid performance. Whatever the description of Farmington's 5-2 loss to league-leading Holy Angels Tuesday night, Feb. 1, at Schmitz-Maki Arena it gave some satisfaction to coach Keith Revels.
"This was my sixth time playing Holy Angels," Revels said, "and it's the first time the clock wasn't running at the end and we were still in the game.
"We played well all things considered and the biggest thing was that we kept fighting. Even when we were down three at the end, we were putting heavy pressure on and getting the puck to the net."
Tyler Grubb shocked the visitors when he scored just nine seconds after the opening face-off to give his team a rare lead against the perennial state power.
The Stars tied it late in the opening period and thanks to some brilliant goalie play by Victor Simones (22 saves) the teams hit the first intermission deadlocked at 1-1.
Holy Angels took the lead at 8:41 into the the second period but it didn't last long as Andrew Peterson re-tied the contest with a nifty individual play just 22 seconds later.
The Stars countered later in the period to take a one-goal lead to the final break and then ran their conference record to a perfect 9-0 with two more scores in the third period.
Revels credited his team's defensive play, especially the work of Blake Weinand and Jake Sorenson who used what he termed "clean physical play" to put a drag on the Stars high-octane attack.
"Our blue-liners did a nice job against a very good offensive team," Revels said.
Simones, drawing his first start in two weeks, had a busy and productive night, registering 41 saves.
Farmington hopes to build on its showing against Holy Angels Thursday night when it travels to Northfield for another Missota Conference contest.
"We didn't get the win (against Holy Angels), but we got the kind of effort that we are looking for in the final weeks of the season," Revels said.
