All-Missota Conference
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Farmington didn't stretch its Missota Conference championship streak to three years but coach Jon Holmes said the 2011-12 season was a pleasurable one nonetheless.
"It was fun," he said. "The girls on this team are so unique and genuine that it made this season a coaching experience I will never forget.
"No matter what the record or outcome of a game they always kept their heads up. I had a blast coming to the rink every day."
The Tigers finished with an overall record of 9-17, including a 5-7 mark in the Missota Conference, good enough for a fifth place finish in the league standings.
Twenty-one players and three student managers received varsity letters for their work, including four seniors: captains Molly Friedlund, Katie Burgess, Betsy Anderson and Jessica Erchul.
Other players receiving varsity monograms, included juniors Grace Gavin and Haleigh Zwart; sophomores Grace Vincent, Shaye Jenrich, Haley Doll, Scootie Donnelly, Alexis Smrekar, Brooke Raske, Breanna Raske, Rachael Welzin and Maddie Strid; freshmen Michaela Tonsager, Chloe Batta, Morgan Medved, Emily Johnson and Ashley Corcoran and eighth-grader Madeline Oines.
Maddie Kohlbeck, Sophie Kohlbeck and Amy Pietsch received letters for their work as student managers.
Anderson and Erchul won all-Missota Conference honors and both were selected to play in the Senior All-Star game played this past weekend in Blaine. Batta and Doll received all-league honorable mention.
Erchul, a four-time all-conference selection, leaves the program ranked among the leading Tiger netminders of all time. She's first in career minutes played (5570); shots faced (2922) and saves (2682) and tied for first in save percentage (92%). Erchul also ranks second in shutouts (27); third in win-loss record (66-40-2) and fourth in goals-against average (2.20).
Holmes listed defeating Lake Conference powers Eden Prairie and Hopkins, the trip to the Iron Rage for scrimmages and winning the school's first ever Academic State Championship Award as the most memorable moments of the season.
"We had a rocky road on the ice, winning some games we probably shouldn't have won and losing some we should have won," Holmes said. "We would have liked to get to the top half of the conference and to the semifinals of the section because both were attainable.
"But all in all, it was a good experience and hopefully we all learned from both our accomplishments and our shortcomings."
With only two juniors from this year's team slated to return for 2012-13, Holmes is optimistic about his team's future.
"The young players will have had another year under their belts," he said. "The big thing is that we need to develop some scorers. Scoring goals (1.5 per game) was definitely our nemesis this year.
"Chloe (Batta) started to put the puck away after the holiday break but the bottom line is that we need more out of the offensive zone."
Holmes closed his look back on the 2011-12 season with some positive words about the quartet of departing seniors.
"It is sad to see this group go," he said. "They have been with the program for five and six years and have grown from middle schoolers to adolescents to young women.
"They will always be remembered for their uniqueness and their many contributions. They have helped put up a lot of banners at Schmitz-Maki (Arena)."
