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| Austin Martinsen netted the game-winner (photo by J. Lindquist) |
The Tigers earned their berth in Thursday night's Section1 championship game when Austin Martinsen scored midway through a second overtime for a 5-4 win over Lakeville South at the Rochester Recreation Center.
"Team chemistry with this bunch is top notch.," coach Keith Revels said. "We fought our way back from three goals down to net four in a row after giving up four in a row."
Revels was not using those sort of terms early on when after Tanner Grubb (from Dallas Tucker and Erik Holmstrom) scored the first of his two goals for a 1-0 lead, the Cougars clawed back for three of their own in the opening period.
"The defensive zone play was pretty sketchy early," Revels said, "We got caught up mostly trying to do too much instead of defending from the inside out. We got caught on the perimeter looking in."
Things went from dreary to bleak when South extended its lead to 4-1 seven minutes into the second period before the Tigers started to right the ship.
Justin Novak (from Martinsen and Devin Bernu) connected on the power play and then Jack Erickson scored unassisted late in the second to make it a one-goal game at the second break.
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| Tanner Grubb scored twice for the winners (photo by J. Lindquist) |
"It was our captains and leaders who got us back in it," Revels said. "I think our depth also made a difference."
The drama was far from over, however. The Tigers had to skate off two late third period penalties and played the first 1:03 of the first overtime a man down.
Farmington seemed to get the better of the play through most of the first extra session but could not turn opportunities into a goal.
The game-winner came on a pass from Novak to John Siebenaler who put the puck on Martinsen's stick as he raced up the left side of the rink. Martinsen went top shelf from the top of the circle, rifling the puck past the glove of South netminder Daniel Swail.
Revels summed up Martinsen's deciding goal in a word.
"Spectacular," he said.
Gage Overby worked the Tiger nets and after a shaky start, shut the door when it counted most. He finished with 22 saves and blanked the Cougars over the final 37-plus minutes.
The victory was the 18th in a row for the Missota Conference champions who are 19-0-1 since Dec. 17 and 23-3-1 overall.
Farmington will still go into Thursday night's championship tilt with Lakeville North as the underdog. The Panthers are 22-4-2 and ranked No. 2 among Class AA teams in the most recent state poll.
"North has depth like us and has played top level teams all year long," Revels said. "But after watching us over the last 18 games, I would not count us out.
"This team finds a way to win and has a ton of heart. We'll have to shore up the defensive zone and convert chances more efficiently on offense."
The last time the Tigers played a section title game was in 2000 when they went on to win the consolation championship at the Class A state tournament.
Game time is 8:00 Thursday night at the Rochester Recreation Center.
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| Gage Overby blanked the Cougars for the final 37-plus minutes (photo by J. Lindquist) |
