Boys Hockey: Tigers pull one out of the hat

Grant Hauswirth 1st career hat trick vs. Faribault (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Early in the season Farmington seemed to find a way to lose in the third period. In Tuesday's night's 6-4 non-conference win at Faribault it found a way to win.

The Tigers scored four unanswered goals in the final 6:35 of regulation to beat the Falcons, stretching their win streak to four games and running their sesaon record to 9-7-1.

Tiger coach Keith Revels said he was pleased with his team's late rally but added he wouldn't want to depend on it every night.

"It's nice to know we have that potential, but I'm not sure I want to put it to the test again," he said.  "It's kind of like being comforted knowing the airbags work on your car but not wanting to drive into a building to test them out."

The visitors held a decisive 21-10 shots-on-goal advantage and got goals from Grant Hauswirth and Dallas Tucker in the first two periods but still trailed 4-2 with 17 minutes to play.

"It was shaping up to be a disastrous night for us," Revels said. "Nothing was going right. We weren't getting any bounces."

Two of the Faribault goals came shorthanded, matching the total given up by the Tigers through their first 16 games.

Dallas Tucker 2 goals, assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The third period proved to be a different animal, however.

Austin Krause replaced a struggling Gage Overby in goal and the Tiger offense starting peppering the Falcon net. Nothing fell in the first 10 minutes but after Hauswirth opened the floodgates with his second score of the night, the goals came in bunches.

A score by Tucker tied the count and Justin Novak provided the eventual game-winner with 2:12 to play in regulation. Hauswirth completed his first career hat trick with under a minute to play to put a cherry on the victory cake. 

In addition to Hauswirth's three-point night, several other Tigers scored multiple points. Tucker added an assist to his two-goal effort and Novak tacked on two assists to his game-winning score. Jack Erickson assisted on three goals and Devin Bernu recorded two.

Justin Hyytinen, Alex Aubrecht and Grady Hauswirth also had assists for the winners.

Krause picked up the win for working a scoreless third period. The Tigers outshot the Falcons by a one-sided 20-2 in the final frame.

"It was a good comeback win for us," Revels said, "a good character builder."

The Tigers will try to make it five in a row Friday night when they entertain Red Wing in a Missota Conference match-up at Schmitz-Maki Arena.