Girls Hockey: Building some momentum

Ellie Moser scored the game-winner with 29 seconds to play (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers limped into the Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic with an anemic offense, sagging confidence and a 2-8-1 record.

They left Schmitz-Maki Arena with two more victories, a third place trophy, renewed self-esteem and a little momentum heading into the 2014 portion of their schedule.

The highlight of the three-day tournament came Saturday evening when Ellie Moser's goal with 29 seconds left in regulation gave Farmington a hard-earned 4-3 win over Rosemount in the third place game.

"We played three solid games in the tournament," coach Jon Holmes said. "As a team we certainly have been establishing a reputation as a group that works hard, is aggressive, and will play until the final buzzer.

"Our biggest challenge is now to add the description that we finish as well... If we continue to work on the finishing part, the outlook for the second half of our season could be very optimistic."

In the third place contest, Breanna Raske gave the home team the first lead midway through the opening period on an assist from Dani Wright before the Irish tied the count late in the period.

Moser (from Scootie Donnelly) and Maddi Oines found the net early in the second  period to give the Tigers some momentary breathing room but Rosemount once again rallied to tie on a pair of scores by Hannah Enright. With the clock ticking, overtime looking very much a possibility.

Scootie Donnelly made the six-player all-tournament team (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Moser re-wrote that script when she skated through the slot and put the game-winner top shelf to the glove side of the Irish goalkeeper. Raske and Tyler Words assisted on the game-winning goal.

"It was nice to score four goals and really nice to see Ellie put the puck away with time running out," Holmes said.

Rosemount put a lot of pressure on Molly Singewald throughout the game but the sophomore netminder was up to the task, stopping 29 of 32 shots. The Tigers finished with 25 shots on goal.

Holmes and his team got more good news after the tourney when they learned Donnelly had landed a spot on the prestigious, six-player all-tournament squad.

"It's been a few years since we've had someone do that," Holmes said.

Farmington will try to extended its recent strong play Monday night when they entertain St. Louis Park in a non-conference game at Schmitz.Maki Arena.