Huskies take on Schmitz Holiday Classic

Owatonna girls’ hockey took down Simley 3-1 to kick off the Schmitz Holiday Classic in Farmington last week but fell by the same 3-1 scoreline in the team’s next game against the host Tigers.

The Huskies’ first goal of the tournament against Simley was a memorable one, as Owatonna junior forward Anna Mollenhauer crashed to the net from the right wing and potted a shot top shelf right under the crossbar to beat Spartan goaltender Sydney Ries.

Mollenhauer’s highlight-reel shot got the crowd on its feet and swung the momentum in Owatonna’s favor; however, a fortunate bounce and a shot that found its way over Huskies’ goaltender Leah Spencer resulted in a Simley goal with just under five minutes to play in the period.

The goal tied up the score at 1-1 and continued Owatonna’s recent trend of playing in tightly contested first periods.

Despite both sides earning power plays in the second period, neither team was able to score, maintaining the 1-1 tie into the third period.

The game looked to be anyone’s up until the late stages of the final period, when senior captain Samantha Bogen was the hero once more with a clutch late goal.

Bogen’s score came on the powerplay with 6:43 remaining and put the pressure on an already frustrated Simley side.

The Spartans’ last real opportunity came on a late power play stemming from an interference call on Owatonna defenseman Kendra Bogen, but the Huskies managed to kill off the penalty.

After being sent to the box, Bogen returned to the ice as the hero and scored the final goal of the game on an empty net, to push the scoreline to 3-1.

Samantha Bogen led the Huskies with two points while Spencer picked up the win in net with 30 saves on 31 shots.

The following day, Owatonna played Farmington and fell 3-1 in a game largely controlled by the Tigers.

This time the first period was not nearly as close, with Farmington jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead 1:11 into the game, followed by a late score at 14:59, putting them ahead 2-0 at the first intermission.

Owatonna fought back with a second-period goal by Genevieve Froman to cut the lead to 2-1 heading into the third, but Farmington successfully closed out the game with a goal 10 minutes into the third to extend the lead to 3-1.

Owatonna faced New Prague in the final game of the tournament on Friday; however, stats and results from the game were not available at the time of press.

Player Stats

vs. Simley

                        G    A    P

S. Bogen          1    1    2

Mollenhauer      1    0    1

K. Bogen          1    0    1

Vetsch              0    1    1

Macy                0    1    1

Mitchell             0    1    1

                                SV  SA  GA

Spencer            30   31   1