Hockey Day Rematch Rescheduled For Faribault vs Owatonna

Today was designated Hockey Day Minnesota in the great State of Hockey with games from high school through the professional level scheduled. The Faribault Falcons boys and girls high school teams were scheduled to play Owatonna. The Huskies boys game was moved to February 10 and the girls game is scheduled to for Monday, January 20.

The girls game features two of the top scoring teams in Minnesota high school girls hockey. Faribault has the third most goals in the state with 109 in 18 games. Owatonna ranks fifth with 107 goals in 18 games.

The last time the two teams played the Huskies scored a 5-4 overtime win in Owatonna.

The current Big Nine Conference Standings according to the league website:

Conference Overall
School Wins Losses Ties Points Wins Losses Ties

Northfield	9	0	0	32	12	7	0
Owatonna	12	1	0	30	12	5	1
Faribault	11	2	0	26	15	3	0
Albert Lea	7	6	0	20	10	11	0
Mankato West	6	5	0	18	9	10	0
Mankato East	4	8	0	16	8	12	0
Red Wing	6	5	1	15	6	13	1
Austin	5	10	0	10	7	11	0
Rochester Mayo	3	9	1	7	4	12	1
Rochester John Marshall	3	9	0	6	5	15	0
Rochester Century	1	12	0	2	1	17	0

The Big Nine scoring system calls for teams that play conference opponents once to get 4 points for that win. If you play a team twice a victory is worth 2 points. That's why Northfield with 9 wins has 32 points, Owatonna with 12 wins, 30 points and Faribault with 11 conference victories, 26 points.

Does this system really make sense? Should one team be able to win the conference while playing fewer league games than another?

The Big Nine needs to tell teams they HAVE to either play ALL conference opponents twice or once so the conference schedule is uniform and fair for all teams.

Choose once if you want teams to reschedule more non-conference games or twice, but every team should have the same number of conference games.

Falcons senior Olivia Williamson is currently third in the state in points with 54 and fifth in goals scored with 31. Classmate Abigail Goodwin has 31 points and 20 goals. Five Faribault players have 20 or more points and 8 players have double digit points. Four Falcons have scored a double digit number of goals.

Owatonna has eight girls with double digit points. Six players with 20 or more points and two with a double digit number of goals.

Both teams have had excellent goalie play also. In Big Nine play the Huskies goalies have a combined 1.53 goals against average and .917 save percentage. The Falcons conference goalie statistics are 1.69 goals against average and .929 save percentage.

In Big Nine action Faribault has scored 6.46 goals per game. Owatonna 7.77 in conference competition.

Monday's game will be broadcast on KDHL, 920 AM and worldwide on the FREE KDHL app.