It was a tale of two halves on Thursday night as Owatonna held off Northfield to win 13-10 in a game that featured a little bit of everything from penalties to big saves and big goals.
In the early going it was Northfield jumping out to a quick 4-3 lead after the first quarter but penalties in the second quarter would plague the Raiders as Owatonna raced out, responding to what had been a back-and-forth affair, to post a 6-0 second quarter scoring streak.
Justin Beman was solid in net all night for the Huskies as he posted a 15 effort to backstop an aggressive offensive attack. Northfield struggled to keep possession in the second quarter and could not stay at even strength for most of the first half. In turn it was no surprise that Owatonna was able to make the most of the possession, taking a 9-4 lead as the game hit the halfway point.
It was a different story in the second half though, Northfield bouncing back to respond with a flurry of goals in the third quarter to cut the deficit to just one goal, trailing 10-9 through three quarters. Much like the Huskies, it was Northfield posting a lopsided quarter, outscoring Owatonna 5-1 in the opening frame of the second half. The quarter marked an impressive comeback effort for a team that had lost all of its early momentum heading into halftime, trailing by a challenging five goal margin.
The comeback victory wasn’t to be though as Owatonna once again asserted its dominance on both ends of the field to outscore Northfield 3-1 in the final quarter to seal the deal on the eventual 13-10 victory. Owatonna was led by a four goal, one assist effort by Jack Strom who got supporting efforts on the offensive end from Wyatt Macy and Caleb Hullopeter who each scored three goals in the winning effort.
The victory puts Owatonna two points ahead of Northfield in the Big 9 standings while bringing the Huskies to a 5-5 overall record while the Raiders drop to 6-6 on the year. The loss marks just the third defeat in the last nine games for the Raiders but the third loss in the last four, coming off a lopsided defeat to Mankato just days earlier. Meanwhile, the Huskies have now won five-straight games after opening the season on a five-game losing streak including an 11-8 defeat to the Raiders.
Northfield will return to action next week for the regular season finale against Rochester while Owatonna has three games left on the schedule starting with a Saturday meeting at home against Simley before closing out the regular season with two-straight road contests.
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