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Class 2A girls hockey: Andover’s depth sinks Farmington in state quarterfinal

By Buy images from this gallery By JACE FREDERICK | jfrederick@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press, 02/20/20, 5:11PM CST

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Andover’s top line has received plenty of attention this season. It has helped power one of the state’s most potent offenses.

It didn’t produce a goal in Thursday’s Class 2A girls hockey state tournament quarterfinal game against Farmington at Xcel Energy Center.

But it didn’t matter.

Andover, the No. 2 seed, flexed its depth, with its other lines producing six goals in the Huskies’ 6-0 victory over unseeded Farmington.

“A lot of teams just have that one line,” said Andover junior forward Madelynn Jurgensen, who scored twice. “But we have a solid three, four lines that always go hard.”

Farmington fell 7-1 to the Huskies in last year’s state quarterfinals, but Tigers coach Jon Holmes thought his team could play with this Andover team if everything went right.

“They knew we had to play close to perfect. They knew,” Holmes said of his players. “But they also knew that if they did play that perfect game, they’d give themselves a chance. And they knew they didn’t.”

Too often the Tigers failed to clear the zone. They also took four penalties, and while they killed each of those Andover power plays, Holmes said the effort required to do that drained his team, which probably helped lead to a few costly mistakes.

“We didn’t get beat by anything we didn’t know was coming,” Holmes said. “It just wasn’t our day.”

Madison Kaiser scored five minutes into the game for the Huskies, who will meet third-seeded Minnetonka in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday back at the X. Josie Hemp, Ella Boerger and Kennedy Little added goals for the Huskies (26-2), who scored twice in each period.

Andover coach Melissa Volk said her team got jitters stepping onto the ice before Thursday’s contest, but it didn’t take long for those to settle down.

“We got our flow going with everyone contributing, that’s the type of hockey we want to see at this stage of the game,” Volk said. “Not relying on one person, but everybody contributing.”

Though Thursday didn’t go the way Farmington (18-11) wanted, the fact that this is the Tigers’ third state tournament appearance in four years is a feat nonetheless. Holmes said the success has helped feed the Tigers’ hockey-hungry community. He noted Farmington has four under-8 teams and three at the under-10 level.

The Farmington varsity team has plenty of youth, as well. There were just two seniors on this year’s team. In all aspects for this program, the future is bright.

“Getting here is awesome,” Holmes said. “But at some point we want to have the seniors and juniors to be able to hold our own.”

https://www.twincities.com/2020/02/20/class-2a-girls-hockey-andovers-depth-sinks-farmington-in-state-quarterfinal/