Girls Hockey: Lightning hits Tigers early

Megan Stivers scored both Tiger goals against Eastview (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers bid to extend their win streak to two games ended early in a 7-2 loss to Eastview Friday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The visiting Lightning struck for two goals in a dominant first period that saw the Apple Valley school hold Farmington (1-4) without a shot on goal.

Eastview stretched its lead to a commanding 6-0 in the second period before Megan Stivers got the home team on the board with a goal on assists from Michaela Tonsgare and Maddi Oines.

Stivers, who scored the game-winning goal in the Tigers' 1-0 win over Northfield on Tuesday, lit the lamp again in the third period for her third goal in the last six periods.

The Farmington offense managed just nine shots on net in the non-conference contest while the Lightning rang up 29.

Maddie Bowe patrolled the Tiger goal and finished with 22 saves.

This week the Tigers will be looking to improve their fortunes with a two-game set against Section 1AA competition. Tuesday they entertain Rochester Mayo at Schmitz-Maki; Thursday they head to Rochester to take on Century.

Girls Hockey: No.2 Red Wing tops Tigers 6-1

Halea Wright (No. 10) scored her first varsity goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers had their chances against No. 2 (Class A) Red Wing but in the end the Wingers lived up to their ranking with a 6-1 Missota Conference win Tuesday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Red Wing won for the 12th time in 13 games and moved to 3-0 in conference play while Farmington fell to 1-8-1 and 0-3.

The Wingers led 2-1 after the first period, and although Farmington came back to outshoot  their guests 14-9 in the second, they added two more for a commanding four-goal lead with 17 minutes to play.

"The difference in every period was their shooting ability versus ours." Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. 

"We did hit our fair share of posts and cross bars that really could have changed the game early, but they have a couple snipers on their team that when they shoot, they shoot hard and accurate. That was the single biggest difference."

Halea Wright (from Rachael Peroutky) tallied the lone Farmington goal in the third period but the Wingers' all-Missota Conference forward Nicole Schammel responded with two of her own to account for the final score.

Wright's goal was the first of her varsity career.

Schammel had an outstanding night for Red Wing, finishing with a hat trick and a pair of assists.

Red Wing outshot Farmington 32-28 but the Tigers managed to get just one shot by the Wingers Ashley Corcoran who ironically served as Farmington's back-up goaltender during the 2011-12 season.

The Tigers continued their scoring drought. They have averaged 1.25 goals in eight games since beating Rochester Mayo 7-0 on Nov. 15.

Eighth-grader Molly Singewald drew her second start in goal for the Tigers, stopping 26 of 32 shots.

"I was very pleased with our ability to control the puck and the pace of the game," Holmes said, " but we must get over the small breakdowns in our defensive zone that led to a couple of their goals....Hopefully we can get back on the winning track Thursday and take that into our holiday tournament.

The Tigers close out the pre-holiday portion of their schedule with a road game Thursday night at New Prague. They host their annual holiday tournament Dec. 27-29 at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Molly Singewald makes one of her 26 saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Girls Hockey: Royal pain in Hopkins

Perennial Lake Conference power Hopkins scored six goals in the first two periods on the way to a 7-0 win over the Tigers Tuesday night at Minnetonka Arena.

The Royals who lost their season opener, 3-2 to Bloomington Jefferson last week, evend their record at 1-1 while Farmington fell to 1-2.

The game was scoreless for the first six minutes before Nina Rodgers scored the first of her two goals to give Hopkins the lead. Two more scores, coming in a lightning-quick 15-second span late in the period, gave the Royals a thee-goal cushion.

The visitors, outshot 13-1 in the opening period, put seven shots on net in the second, but the result was the same. Hopkins led 6-0 with a period to play.

The Farmington offense that had scored 10 goals in its last four periods managed just 11 shots on goal while Hopkins peppered Tiger goalies Maddie Bowe and Molly Singewald with 38.

Penalties, a game-breaker in the season-opening loss to Hastings, came into play again. The Tigers piled up 12 minutes of penalties, resulting in two power play goals for the Royals.

Bowe finished the night with 23 saves, giving her 68 in three games for the season.Singewald, making her first varsity appearance, stopped eight of nine shots in the final period.

The girls take a short holiday break before returning to action Saturday with a non-conference matinee game against Eastview. Face-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Apple Valley Sports Arena.

Girls Hockey: Big turnaround in Rochester

Madeline Oines  2 goals, 1 assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)

What a difference a couple of nights can make.

After dropping a 5-3 decision to Hastings on Tuesday, the Tigers bounced back for an impressive 7-0 shutout win over Rochester Mayo Thursday night at Graham Arena in Rochester.

"Coming back after a tough loss is never easy and it was great to see the girls pick up where they left off in the third period of the Hastings game," coach Jon Holmes said.  

"Hastings was a stronger opponent, but Mayo certainly had some good players and the scoring was great. Even better was our defensive zone play."

Farmington outshot Mayo 31-17 for the game and a suffocating defense made life a lot easier for goalkeeper Maddie Bowe who recorded her first career shutout.

"If we can keep a zero on the board for as long as possible in any game that will surely increase our chances of winning," Holmes said.

Madeline Oines scored twice in the first period and Grace Gavin and Megan Stivers added a goal apiece to give the visitors a 4-0 edge heading to the first intermission.

Grace Vincent added a pair of goals in the second stanza and Shaye Jenrich put a cherry on top of the victory cake with the only score of the third period.

Rachael Peroutky 3 assists vs. Mayo (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Oines added an assist for a three-point night. Defender Rachael Peroutky led a list of six Farmington players to record assists, finishing the night with three. Haley Doll and Brooke Raske each handed out two and Haleigh Zwart and Michaela Tonsager each recorded one.

"Our scoring was very balanced," Holmes said. "Our third line got on the board twice, which is huge. Those that we need to step up are doing it and it is fun to watch them come into their own."

Holmes said his team won't have much time to savor the win because the schedule gets tougher in a hurry. Next Tuesday the Tigers head to Hopkins to take on the Royals, a perennial state power.

"We'll need to be at our best for that one," Holmes said.  

 

 

Girls Hockey: Penalties kill in season opener

Madison Bowe makes one of her 15 second period saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington scored three times in the final seven minutes but it wasn't enough in a 5-3 non-conference loss to Hastings Tuesday night in a penalty-filled season opener at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Tiger coach Jon Holmes said things went reasonably well for a first game, especially against a Raider team that already had a game under its belt. Hastings defeated Eastview 5-4 in overtime its its season opener last weekend.

"We came out a little nervous and tight and we weren't able to adjust to the referees' contact calls as soon as we would have liked," Holmes said.

"But by the third period we settled in and were able to put the puck in the net three times. That is very promising since we only averaged about 1.5 goals a game last season."

Farmington totaled 32 shots on goal in the contest, 18 coming in the third period.

The Raiders scored a power play goal less than a minute into the contest and then added two more scores in the first 3:33 of the second to build a commanding 3-0 lead.

The puck didn't leave the Farmington zone very much in the first 34 minutes, primarily because the Tigers were consistently playing shorthanded. Farmington had 14 minutes of penalties in the second period alone.

"Spending half the game in the penalty box is not a good strategy for winning games," Holmes said.

Haleigh Zwart scored the first Tiger goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The first few minutes of the third period featured much of the same kind of play before a goal-fest broke out with the teams combining for five scores in the final 11 minutes.

Haleigh Zwart (from Haley Doll), Madeline Oines and Bria Donnelly (from Rachael Welzin) accounted for the Farmington goals.

Sophomore Madison Bowe worked the nets for Farmington and according to her coach became battle-tested in a hurry.

"She played well," he said. "She was put in the most difficult position by having to face a huge number of penalties and back door opportunities. I thought she controlled her play very well for her first high school game."

Some of Bowe's best work came in the second period when she made 15 saves and kept Hastings off the board after a five-minute major penalty was assessed to Welzin.

Holmes said that tightening up the defensive zone would be a priority in preparing for Thursday night's non-conference game at Rochester Mayo.

"We began to get out of position which led to us chasing instead of controlling the puck," he said. "But again, much of that was due to having to kill all of the penalties."

Girls Hockey: Tigers draw 5th seed, open on the road Wednesday

by Nate Rowan


The Farmington girls’ hockey team has received the five seed in the nine-team section 1AA tournament.

The Tigers will open the first round on the road. They will travel to the fourth seeded Dodge County Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

In the rest of the section, the Lakeville schools own the top two seeds. North, the top seed, will take on the winner between Rochester John Marshall and Mayo, who compete in the play-in game Monday.

South earned the two seed and will host Owatonna. Rochester Mayo is the third seed and will host Winona with all first round matchups being played on Wednesday.

The complete bracket and the rest of the girls’ hockey section brackets can be found on the Minnesota State High School League website at (http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/showxmlbrackets.asp?tournid=65&bracket=5342)