Boys hockey: In the win column

• Boys hockey

Farmington junior forward Michael Giebel keeps the puck away from a defender during a recent road game.

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A hot start was enough to overcome a sluggish finish and net the Farmington boys hockey team its first win of the 2010-11 campaign Friday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The Tigers, coming off lopsided losses to Hastings and Rochester John Marshall, hung five goals on Cedarburg (Wis.) in the first 23-plus minutes before having to hang on for a 6-4 victory.

“Saw some nice things from us early and some old problems returned late,” coach Keith Revels said. “We stopped moving our feet and we were turning cirles away from loose pucks. The second and third periods were not the type of defensive play we saw in the first.”

“We need to do a better job knocking out teams we have on the ropes. Not a new issue for us, and we just have to be better at maintining our focus whether we are up or down on the scoreboard.”

Six players lit up the scoreboard for the Tigers, starting with Andrew Peterson just 2:31 into the opening period. Zach Payne quickly added a goal and Grant Hauswirth tacked on his first career score to give the home team a 3-0 advantage after one.

“We had a great start, had them on their heels from the drop of the puck,” Revels said. “We were playing solid defensively and gave them very little time and posession in our end.”

Goals from Dan Hanberg and Kevin Olund put the Tigers in front 5-1 just over six minutes into the second, and it was still 5-2 when the clock ticked away on the second period.

The Tigers were able to maintain their three-goal advantage for the first 15 minutes of the third period before Cedarburg made a game of it with two goals in a 38-second span to make it 5-4 with under 90 seconds remaining.

Jake Sorensen quickly halted the rally, however, flipping the puck into an open net from the opposite blue line to seal the victory.

Victor Simones got the start in the net for Farmington and stopped 25 shots. The Tigers held a 40-29 advantage in shots on goal.

It was Rochester John Marshall dominating from the opening face-off in last Tuesday’s contest in Rochester. The Rockets led 7-0 after 25 minutes of play and cruised to a 7-1 win.

The Tigers got on the board when Tyler Grubb scored (assists from Jack Buss and Blake Weinand) 11 minutes into the third period.

“Very few things went right and a whole lot went wrong,” Revels said. “It started on first shift, not focused ready to play, player in slot left unaccounted for and rebound found him and the puck found the back of the net.

“We have to be ready to play at the start of a period and bear down near the end of a period. We have not been great at either yet this season. Blame is for all to share, coaches included.”

The Tigers had a 31-29 advantage in shots on goal, but couldn’t capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

“Right now the mistakes we are making are catostrophic in nature and the type that most often end up as goals for the opposition,” Revels said. “We had 31 shots and forced them to make mistakes as well. They were just better at making our mistakes count on the scoreboard.”

Michael Moser started in goal and gave up four goals before giving way to Aaron Dahl.

The Tigers continue a six-game home stand this week with games against Winona on Tuesday and Owatonna on Thursday.

Tags: boys hockey, sports, farmington, tigers, prep