Raiders Skate Past Husky Boys; Girls Lose in OT to Mayo

Tuesday was a tough night for the Owatonna hockey teams. Northfield had a strong start at the Four Seasons Centre on their way to a 6-2 win and season split with the OHS boys. The Huskies' girls lost in overtime to Rochester Mayo at Graham Arena, their second OT loss to the Spartans this season.

The Raider boys scored twice in the first period. After their leading scorer, senior Jacob Halverson notched his 13th goal of the season, freshman Carson VanZuilen converted a power play 11 seconds into the man advantage. The Huskies pulled within a goal late in the period. Luke Kubicek knocked in Landon Thurnau's shot off a breakaway. Nick Smith also got an assist.

Northfield added two goals late in the second period just over 90 seconds apart to take a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. The Raiders extended the lead to 5-1 early in the third. Tyler Wencl scored with about five minutes remaining on assists from Nate Smith and Mitch Wiese to make it 5-2. The Raiders finished the scoring with a power-play goal with under two minutes to go for the 6-2 final. NHS outshot Owatonna 28-12.

Northfield (13-5, 10-3 Big Nine) is in a first-place tie in the conference. Owatonna (9-8-1, 6-3-1) plays at Rochester John Marshall Thursday at 7:15PM on Kat Kountry 105FM. Tuesday was "Stick it to Cancer" night at Four Seasons with t-shirt sales and the 50-50 drawing going to benefit the "From the Heart" run in Owatonna and Brian Wencl and his family as he battles cancer.

For the second time this season, the Owatonna girls hockey team lost a late lead against Rochester Mayo and fell in overtime. The Spartans evened the game at 2-2 with about three minutes to go and won 3-2 five minutes into the extra session. The Huskies had opened the scoring 4:12 into the first period on a goal by Chloe Schmidt with an assist to Maylynn Prokopec.

Mayo tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period. OHS retook the lead at 1:59 of the third period when Olivia Herzog scored. Owatonna dropped a similar result to Mayo during a holiday tournament in Blaine and beat the Spartans during their other conference match-up. Mayo outshot Owatonna 32-17.

Owatonna hosts Rochester John Marshall Thursday and goes to Wayzata Saturday to wrap up the regular season. Playoffs begin Wednesday, February 7.