It was a typical season opener for the Albert Lea Tigers and Faribault Falcons.

Monday, December 13, 1999

It was a typical season opener for the Albert Lea Tigers and Faribault Falcons.

For Albert Lea, it was also a typical outcome.

The Tigers, who almost always are among the top boys’ hockey teams in the Big Nine Conference, skated past the Falcons 2-1 in the 1999-2000 opener at Faribault Saturday.

According to coach Roy Nystrom, who enters his 27th season as the Tigers’ head coach, the game was every bit as close as the score indicates.

&uot;It was a pretty even game, no question about that,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;They played very hard against us. It was the season opener for both teams, and there were a lot of mistakes on both ends of the rink. Neither team was really able to capitalize on the other teams’ mistakes.&uot;

Jason Solberg had a stalwart game in goal for the Tigers, according to Nystrom, stopping 20 of 21 shots he faced. The Faribault netminder was also tough, turning away 22 of the Tigers’ 24 shots on goal.

Dusty Wangen netted the first goal for the Tigers, scoring unassisted in the first period.

Kellen Schulte scored to make it 2-0 in the second stanza. Wangen assisted.

The Falcons’ lone goal came on a third-period power play.

The Tigers were called for six penalties on the day – twice as many as Faribault – and that’s just one area where Nystrom would like to see improvement.

&uot;We’re not going to be able to survive getting six penalties a game,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;We need to cut it down to three or less.&uot;

The Tigers have their home opener Tuesday, facing Owatonna in a Big Nine game at the City Arena.