Farmington's top guns showed up in full force in the biggest game of their season.
The result: The Tigers' 16-year state tournament drought is over after a convincing 6-2 victory against top-seeded Lakeville North in the Section One, Class AA boys hockey championship game at the Rochester Recreation Center on Thursday.
The Tigers swept all three games they played this season against North — the defending section and state champion — and saved their best performance for the biggest stage they've played on so far this season.
Now the stage gets far bigger and brighter — Farmington will open play in the Class AA state tournament on Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. It's the Tigers' first-ever trip to the Class AA tournament; they qualified for the Class A tournament in 1994 and 2000.
En route to the state berth, Farmington beat Rochester Century, then took out both Lakeville teams. They did to North just what they did to Lakeville South in the semis — strike quickly and leave their opponent wondering what just happened.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the 5-3 victory against South, Farmington scored three times in 4 1/2 minutes in the second period to pull away. On Thursday, The Tigers pummeled North into submission with four goals in 4 minutes, 55 seconds in the second period, and they left the second period with a 4-1 lead.
North pulled within 4-2 just more than five minutes into the third period, but that's as close as the Panthers (21-6-1) could get.
Andy Meyer scored a pair of empty-net goals in the final 2:14 for Farmington (18-8-1). Grady Hauswirth, John Siebenaler, Wyatt Jensen and Tyler Jette also scored once each for the Tigers.
Reed Smith and Taylor Schneider scored for North, which had its streak of three consecutive state tournament appearances snapped.
The pairings for the Class AA state tournament will be announced this weekend.
