The new-look Farmington girls' hockey team kicked off its 2021-22 season Tuesday night with a 6-4 non-conference loss to Eden Prairie at the Eden Prairie Community Center.
 
The Tigers lost seven seniors from last year's Section 1AA championship team, including five of their six top scorers, their defensive core and starting goaltender.
 
"All in all, it was a pretty good first game for us," veteran Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. "We had some successes and some things we can learn from…We got better with each period.
 
"The shocking part was giving up five goals (the sixth was an open-netter). We came out extremely flat and got caught up in the lights and the speed of high school hockey."
 
The slow start translated to a pair of Eagle goals and a 2-0 deficit after a period and a half of play.
 
Then Kenna Kadrlik (from Abby Gehrke and Sam Moehle) and Moehle (from Kadrlik and Gehrke) scored lightning back-to-back goals in a 24-second span to knot the score.
 
The lead didn't last long, however, as Eden Prairie responded with a score 15 seconds later and then added a back-breaker goal with one second left in the period.
Madison Kadrlik netted an unassisted goal less than three minutes into the final period to again make it a one-goal contest before the Eagles stretched it to a 5-3 lead with six and a half minutes remaining.
 
Moehle slapped home her second goal of the night on an assist from Gehrke with a little more than three minutes to go to cut the lead in half and then bounced a potential tying goal off the post in the closing minutes.
 
"That would have made it 5-5, but that's the way it goes in sports," Holmes said. "We needed to buckle down and get one that counted."
 
Eden Prairie scored its empty-netter with 19 seconds showing on the game clock.
 
"We had a number of scoring chances," Holmes said. "I am confident we will get better at finishing as the season goes on."
 
"The big thing we need to do now is learn a defensive zone that is different than we have played the past several years. We need to make it a more balanced with the forwards playing a bigger role…It's not an easy change but I am pleased how we are adapting to it."
 
Moehle (2 goals and an assist) and Gehrke (3 assists) each finished with three-point games; Kenna Kadrlik had two with her goal and assist).

For a complete box score, click HERE.

Tweet #WeAre192