Oien starts hockey season on scoring tear
Owatonna senior captain Ezra Oien winds up to send a shot on net against Rochester Century last week. Oien had four goals and one assist in the game, moving her season point total to 13. Staff photo by Sevy Enter
After starting the 2022-2023 season on a four-game point streak, Owatonna senior forward and captain Ezra Oien has no plans of slowing down.
The senior now owns 13 points through her first four games of the season and has helped catapult her squad to a 3-1 overall record.
“I didn’t know how many points I was going to come out and get to start the season, but we’ve been able to make plays happen, and I’ve really connected with my linemates. Whether it’s showing on the stat sheets or not, we’re winning games, and my goal is to just go out and give it all I’ve got,” she said.
According to Oien, her abilities to see the ice and light the lamp this season come as a credit to the work she did in the off-season, as well as the chemistry she and her teammates have been able to forge across many seasons of playing together since their childhood.
With 10 of her 13 points coming as goals, Oien has set herself up with a prime opportunity to break the season record of 30 goals that she set back in the 2019-2020 season.
No stranger to scoring points, Oien also is currently on pace to smash her career points-per-game mark, as she is currently averaging 3.25 points per contest.
In her 97 career games donning the royal blue and silver, the senior now sits with 155 points and is on track to potentially break the 200-point mark if she collects 45 more.
This will be no small task for Oien, whose career points record was set at 46 back in 2019; however, signs do point in a favorable direction for the senior to make her mark on the Owatonna record books.
With 18 regular season games remaining, she will need to average 2.5 points per game – comfortably lower than her current mark of 3.25.
Numbers as such have been part of why Oien has been watched closely by college coaches since she made her varsity debut five seasons ago.
Recently, Oien made her commitment to play for the University of Vermont Catamounts at the Division One level this coming winter.
According to Oien, when it was time to make a decision, she knew she had found the right place.
“In June, I went to play at a prospects tournament, and I was actually coached by a Vermont coach. After the tournament, they reached out and said that they were interested in me and asked if I’d like to come out and visit. I went out there, and I fell in love with the campus. I also got to meet some more of the coaches and some of the players, and it just felt right.”
Fans looking to watch Oien and the Huskies continue their fast start will have the opportunity to watch the team at home for their next game when they take on Winona at the Four Seasons Centre on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.