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| Grady Hauswirth scored 1st Tiger goal (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
The Panthers added to their streak of recent post-season success against Farmington. North has bounced the Tigers out of the post-season four of the past five years.
Top-seeded North dominated puck possession throughout the opening period, outshooting Farmington by a lopided 13-0 count but the teams still entered the first break locked in a scoreless tie.
"North is battle-tested in the South Suburban all year long and would be team to beat if they were in Missota Conference," Tiger coach Keith Revels said. "We hung tough but struggled with a bigger, faster and team.
North scored twice in the first 5:41 of the second period but Farmington bounced right back with unassisted goals by Grady Hauswirth and Jack Erickson in a 31-second spurt midway through the period to set up a pivotal final frame.
Erickson's goal was his fifth in the last three games and gave him a team-leading 14 for the 2012-13 season.
"We needed to put pucks on the net and not be overly selective," Revels said. "Once we started putting pucks at the net, good things started happening."
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| Jack Erickson 5 goals in last 3 games (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
The final stat sheet showed the winners had the better of the scoring opportunities as they outshot the fourth-seeded Tigers by a convincing 44-11 margin.
Gage Overby had a busy night in the nets for the Tigers, finishing with 39 saves.
"Gage kept us in game until late," Revels said. "We were just not able to generate enough offensively.
"The boys fought hard and were in the game late. Nothing to hang their heads over."
The loss left the Tigers with a final season mark of 13-13-1. They finished in a fourth place tie with Chaska in the final Missota Conference standings with a 5-8-1 record.
