Owatonna girls hockey catches fire on the ice

Owatonna’s Grace Mitchell (28) skates down ice past two Lakeville South defenders. Mitchell has been the Huskies’ leading scorer this season with 36 points. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
To say that Owatonna girls’ hockey has found the answers they’ve been looking for after an 0-4 start would be an understatement.
The Huskies look borderline unstoppable.
Since Nov. 21, Owatonna has compiled a 14-2-2 record and currently stands on a four-game winning streak.
According to Owatonna Head Coach Tony Cloud, the catalyst was a win over Apple Valley early this season.
“The girls are buzzed. It’s a great win for us. We started off the season playing some tough teams, so getting a tough road win is huge for us. We know our record doesn’t define us, and we know we can hang in there with anybody,” said Cloud following the 6-5 win over Apple Valley earlier this season.
Fast forward two months and the Huskies are heading into the final weeks of the regular season as one of the state’s hottest teams.
Over the course of the past two weeks, Owatonna has won four straight and outscored opponents 19-5.
Wins included a 4-1 road game against Rochester Mayo, an 8-1 home thrashing against Austin, a tight 3-2 comeback over Lakeville South and a comfortable 4-1 matchup against Mankato West.
Defense has played a huge role in the team’s success with senior goaltender Leah Spencer acting as a brick wall in net.
Spencer has backstopped the Huskies to a 10-3-2 record while starting in the crease and boasts an impressive 1.93 goals-against average with a 91.2% save percentage.
On offense, nobody’s been on a hotter streak than Grace Mitchell.
The sophomore standout has a team-high 36 points and actually has more games with multiple points (nine) than she does games with zero points (five.)
The Huskies’ final two games of the season pose some big tests.
Owatonna took on Big Nine Conference leaders Albert Lea on Tuesday, Jan. 28 before hosting Mankato East on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
Stats and results from the Albert Lea game were not available at the time of press.
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Final |
Owatonna |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
Mayo |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Player Stats
vs. Mayo
G A P
Mitchell 3 1 4
Vetsch 0 3 3
Bogen 1 1 2
Mollenhauer 0 1 1
Kubicek 0 1 1
SV SA GA
Spencer 16 17 1