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| Wyatt Jensen moves the puck up the ice (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
Lakeville North, the top-rated Class AA team in Minnesota, halted the Tigers school-record 18-game winning streak with a workmanlike 6-0 victory Thursday night in the Section 1AA championship game played at the Rochester Recreation Center.
The loss ended a dream season for the Tigers who finished with a school-record 23-4-1 record, a Missota Conference title and an unmatched unbeaten streak that lasted a remarkable 72 days.
"It's always tough when the end is so abrupt," coach Keith Revels said. "The boys took it pretty hard. They have grown pretty close over the season.
"The pain will fade over time. Young kids are pretty resilient that way. The memories, accomplishments and bonds they formed with each will be lasting. I am very proud of this group of young men."
The Tigers got off to a quick start against the talented Panthers, controlling the puck much of the opening 10 minutes in which they outshot their neighbors to the west by a dominating 7-2 margin. Unfortunately, none found its way into the Panther net.
The tide began to turn when the South Suburban Conference champions capitalized on their first power play opportunity at 11:55 of the period to take the lead.
The Tigers got a man advantage of their own two minutes later but could not muster a shot against a stifling North penalty kill.
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| Alex Aubrecht delivers a hit (photo by J. Lindquist) |
"The difference between giving up a power play goal or killing off a penalty is intensified in high stakes games. That was a big momentum shift."
Early in the second stanza, the Tigers' had a golden opportunity to knot the score when Wyatt Jensen picked up a loose puck deep in the North zone and bounced it off the goalie's pads.
North's Angelo Altavilla scored twice in a 32-second span midway through the second period to make it 3-0 and then the Panthers repeated the bang-bang feat in the final two minutes of the period with two more scores in a 31-second period.
"The puck seemed to have eyes on some of their tips," Revels said, "but give them credit. They came hard after them."
As if anything else could go wrong, Tigers' leading scorer Justin Novak was whistled for a five-minute major for slashing 47 seconds into the final period to all but take the air out of the Farmington side of the building.
"Somehow North talked the official into a five-minute penalty," Revels said. "Not sure how that happened.
"I'm am pretty sure that's Justin's first-ever major. He's not the type of player who takes penalties like that. It didn't decide the outcome, but having him on the shelf for five minutes sure didn't help."
The Tigers killed off the penalty time but never generated much in the way of an offensive attack the rest of the way.
Altavilla completed his hat trick with 3:58 remaining to start running time and the countdown to the end of the Farmington season.
The shots on goal numbers were respectable with the Panthers finishing the night with a 33-25 edge.
Gage Overby patrolled the Tigers nets for the first two periods and surrendered the first five goals. He finished with 18 saves. Nick Schoening worked the final 17 minutes and stopped nine of the 10 shots he faced.
"North will probably be the first or second seed in the state tournament," Revels said. "They have wins over Hill-Murray and Duluth East and won the South Suburban which is no small feat. I expect they will do well."
The section title game, Farmington's first-ever as a Class AA school, marked the final appearance in a Tiger uniform for seven seniors: Schoening, Landon Nielsen, Alex Aubrecht, Tanner Grubb, Jack Erickson, Chris Fitzgibbons and Dallas Tucker.
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| Tiger leading scorer Justin Novak drew a crowd all night (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
