Faribault (overall 3-7-0; Section 1A 4-11-0; Big 9 11th place 2-9-0): If it was a good win for Austin, it was not a good loss for the Falcons.  The Falcons have lost their top four scorers from last season’s 17-7-1 team and with their leaving went 162 points/70 goals.  In their 15 games this season, the Falcon’s offense has struggled scoring 58 points/30 goals.  The Falcon goaltending has been tough and has kept Faribault in their games.  Sophomore Adam Vos (3-5-0 giving up 3.8 goals a game while stopping 88% of the shots on net) has started the last three games.       

The Faribault Arena is unique.  It is not old school.  It has a feeling of newness and when one enters, the action is right there or there are multiple corners to sit and watch games.  With Shattuck/St. Mary’s two sheets of ice a half mile away, Faribault is very much a hockey town.  Last season, the Falcons flew high driven by a strong offense and, as often happens, the following season becomes a struggle.  Two Falcon penalties thirty seconds apart didn’t help the Faribault offense.  In the opening minutes of the first period, Faribault’s defense faced a 90 second 5-on-3 penalty kill.  With 30 seconds left in the 5-on-3 Austin drew a hooking penalty.  Both teams killed their penalty, but three minutes 5-on-5 returned, Austin’s Jace Greenman scored to put the Packers up 1-0.  After being pressured in the opening minutes of play, Faribault’s forwards started to gain possession of the puck in Austin’s zone but were continually bodied off the puck trying to shoot or make the critical pass.  Austin’s Isaac Arnold scored to open the second period.  The 2-0 Packer lead lasted until the last five minutes of the period.  Faribault’s Brady Whitney scored to cut the lead to 2-1; Arnold came back a goal a minute later to put Austin up 3-1; and a minute later the Falcons’ Brett Kelly scored to cut the lead to 3-2 going into the third period.  Kelly got his second goal six minutes into the second period to tie the game 3-3.  Five minutes later Brayden Merritt scored the game winner.  Austin won 4-3.  Austin’s forwards moved the puck well, making some nice passes, but it was the Austin defense that won the game with sophomore goalie (and 2013 Top 50 peewee A pick) Noah Bawek stopping 24 of 27 shots on the Packer net. 

Albert Lea (overall 5-10-0, Section 1A 4-5-0, Big 9 eighth place 4-8-0): The good thing about the Tiger loss to Northfield Saturday is it was not a surprise.  It was expected.  Northfield had beaten Albert Lea at Albert Lea early in the season 3-2.  Though expected, the game was a warm up for the games that matter beginning this week.  Albert Lea has 10 games remaining before sectional play starts.  In the Section 1A playoffs, the first two games are played at home.  To get home ice a Section 1A has to be seeded 1-4.  The Tigers’ remaining 10 games includes six Section 1A foes.  Three of those sectional games are with teams currently likely to be seeded above the Tigers including Tuesday’s game with Red Wing (the other two are Rochester Lourdes and Mankato West).  Winning the majority of those six games could put the Tigers at home their first two games and at the Rec Center in Rochester for a semifinal game.  After that who knows?  

Farmington (overall 9-5-1, Section 1AA 3-1-0, South Suburban third place 6-3-1): If there is one group of senior players who’s youth hockey team was devastated by the loss of players, it was Farmington.  The seniors graduating this year lost the 2011 State Peewee Championship to an Edina team led by Kieffer Bellows and Ryan Zuhlsdorf.  That Farmington peewee A team lost two players that currently playing for the USA U17 team and are considered top players for the 2017 NHL draft, defenseman Nate Knoepke and goalie Jake Oettinger.  A third player from the 2010-2011 peewee A team, Bennett Norlin is skating for Shattuck/St. Mary’s this season.  Despite those losses, the Tigers this year are one of the favorites to make state.  The loss to Burnsville may have cost the Tigers a shot at the South Suburban title, but their next two games will mean more in the race to state.  The Tigers host Benilde/St. Margaret’s Tuesday and play Lakeville North at Ames Thursday.  A win or two changes their season.  

Burnsville and Farmington are twins in a hockey sense.  Players on both teams had success as peewees and bantams and both lost good players to other programs.  And both put on the ice a senior/junior dominated team Saturday night.  The only underclassman on either bench was sophomore Farmington goalie Kenneth Lacroix.  Burnsville went on the power play 30 seconds into the opening period, but could not score, but the Blaze kept the pressure on the Tigers keeping the puck in the Farmington zone and scored.  Roman Ahcan got the goal with Cade Bochardt and Eric Otto getting the assists.  Ninety seconds later came one of the key plays of the game.  Burnsville drew a cross-checking penalty at the same time they had too many men on the ice.  The Tigers were handed a 5-on-3 two minute power play and could only break even.  In the first minute of the power, Farmington controlled the puck eventually scoring from the slot.  Tiger defenseman Tyler Jette got the goal; Erik Holmstrom and Grady Hauswirth got the assists.  With the first Tiger goal scored, Farmington went to a 5-on-4 power play and gave up a shorthanded tie-breaking goal.  Otto got the goal with Cade Brochardt getting the assist.  Burnville led 2-1.  The second period was scoreless and Farmington tied the game on a John Siebenaler score with three minutes gone in the third to send the game into overtime.  Erik Holmstrom and Darby Grengs got the assist.  Cade Borchardt scored the game winner with one minute left in the overtime to give the Blaze the win.  Otto and Nolan Sawchuk got the assist.  Otto and Borchardt figured into all three Blaze scores with each scoring one goal and assisting on the other two.  Burnsville won 3-2.   

Eagan (overall 8-8-1, Section 3AA 2-3-1, South Suburban ninth place 1-8-1): Eagan really played well two short weeks ago beating Jefferson 6-3 to win the South St. Paul Premier Tournament.  That win capped a six game wnning streak.  The Wildcats were 8-4-1 and seemed on their way to a good season until they lost six straight January games (two losses were to Section 3AA foes Apple Valley and Rosemount).  The South Suburban crown is long gone for the Wildcats, but the Xcel ticket is still there and it starts with their game against Burnsville Thursday.  The Wildcats control their own destiny in Section 3AA playing four sectional foes in their last eight games and can post a 6-3-1 record.  Two Section 3AA teams (St. Thomas Academy 2-0-1 and Jefferson 2-2-0) have no more Section 3AA games on their schedule.  A win over Burnsville Thursday could propel the Wildcats from the bottom half of the sectional rankings to the top half avoiding a play-in game and gaining home arena advantage in the quarterfinals. 

Rosemount (overall 8-6-0, Section 3AA 4-2-0, South Suburban seventh place 4-5-0): The dichotomy between section rankings and conference placement really shows up with the Irish’s record this year.  While the potential top South Suburban team struggles to get a three, four, or five seed in one section, the Irish (a team struggling to stay above .500 in South Suburban conference play) is in the running for a #1 seed in Section 3AA.  In other words, a potential seventh place team could win a ticket to the Xcel and the conference champs could be “one and done”.  Some would say if the Irish show up for the big party, they didn’t earn it.  But not here.  Teams always evolve during the season and should be at their best at playoff time.  Those that are and win earn it regardless of overall play during the season. So that said, Saturday night’s loss to Prior Lake does not impact the Irish’s season since it had little impact on their state tourney chances.  The Irish along with St. Thomas Academy, Jefferson, Burnsville are the current top contenders in Section 3AA  Eastview, East Ridge, Apple Valley, and Eagan are not that far behind.  Only Section 3AA teams Park/Cottage Grove and Hastings are struggling.  Section 3AA is wide open this year.

Prior Lake 7 Rosemount 1

Prior Lake leads in the South Suburb in one statistic, goaltending save percentage.  In any of the other statistics they do well, but don’t lead.  In Saturdays game, the Lakers took a 3-0 lead against the Irish, add four more in the second period, and cruised to a 7-1 win on chilling below zero Minnesota night outshooting Rosemount 35-24.  With just short of the halfway mark in the opening period, Laker senior defenseman Matt Denman, on a power play, moved from left to right along the blue line and snipped a shot at the Irish net beating goalie Mason Lovich in the upper left corner.  Thirty seconds later freshman Jackson Jutting scored the game winner scoring off a pass from Jake Cohn on the end boards.  Prior Lake led 2-0.  Cohn added a late period score with just under two minutes left putting a rebounding puck past Lovich to make it a 3-0 game.  With four minutes gone in the second period, the Irish’s Griffin Lanoue scored the only Rosemount goal to cut the lead to 2-1 but Prior Lake broke the game open with four goals in the next eight minutes of play.  Kevin Fellows, Jutting, Curt Hansen, and Connor Clemons each scored.  The Lakers won 7-1.