Boys Hockey: Depth Charge

Austin Martinsen (24) scored twice vs. the Stars (photo by J. Lindquist)

All season long the Tigers' deep roster has paid dividends. Tuesday night's 9-0 thrashing of Holy Angels at Schmitz-Maki Arena provided even more evidence of what a balanced offense, a suffocating defense and lockdown goaltending can produce.

The Mssota Conference victory, the Tigers' first-ever home win over the Stars, was the 12th straight for coach Keith Revels' squad  (17-3-1 overall) and upped its league-leading record to 9-0-1, a game and-a-half in front of second place New Prague.

"Offensively, we were making plays and converting them into goals as efficiently as we have all season," coach Keith Revels said. "We limited their opportunities and the defenders along with Schoening (Nick) in net played solid throughout.

"We are playing relaxed and focused hockey with no sign of any letdown after the big win Tuesday over New Prague. We hope to continue raising our level of play into February."

Unlike the earlier meeting between the two teams, a 6-4 Farmington win, the outcome of this one was never in doubt. The winners scored three times in the game's first 6:47 and kept piling up the goals the rest of the night.

Nick Schoening recorded 20 saves vs. Holy Angels (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington led 7-0 after two periods and added a couple of exclamation point scores in the final frame to complete the shutout.

The score sheet offered a clear picture of how the Tigers extended their long winning streak to an even dozen. Seven different players accounted for the nine goals and, all in all, 13 registered at least a point.

Austin Martinsen and Erik Holmstrom each netted a pair of goals for Farmington and Grady Hauswirth, Tanner Grubb, Tyler Jette, Chris Fitzgibbons and Jake Trippel had one apiece. John Siebenaler and Justin Novak pitched in with three and two assists respectively.

No less than eight Farmington players had multiple point nights led by Martinsen, Holmstrom and Siebenaler with three apiece. Hauswirth, Grubb, Trippel, Fitzgibbons and Novak had two apiece.

Farmington outshot its guests by a convincing 34-20 with Schoening posting his second shutout of the year. The win raised Schoening's season record to 6-1 and lowered his goals-against average to a stingy 1.14.

Saturday the Tigers look to stretch their win streak to 13 and move a step closer to the conference title when they travel to Northfield to take on the Raiders.

Chris Fitzgibbons had  a goal and an assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)