UPDATE: OHS Girls Hockey Postponed
UPDATE: Owatonna girls hockey at Dodge County is Postponed on Monday and will be played on Tuesday, March 16 instead.
Don't look at the teams' records to explain the seedings for Section 1AA girls hockey. Don't consider the Let's Play Hockey rankings, or the QRF rankings, or the conference standings. Look at who played whom and how they fared. Owatonna (15-3) opens the playoffs at Dodge County (10-8) Tuesday, March 16 at 7 pm. The game is at Kasson.
Unbeaten Northfield (No. 19, 15-0) is the third seed. Lakeville South (No. 8, 13-4-1) has a better ranking, a better record and a better QRF than Farmington (No. 20, 9-8-1). But the Tigers tied and beat the Cougars and earned the top seed. Farmington will host the Owatonna/Dodge County winner. South awaits the winner of Century-JM/Northfield. The semifinals are Wednesday. The finals are Friday. All games are at the high seed.
OWATONNA VS DODGE COUNTY
The Wildcats played ten ranked teams, more than half from Class AA, including five top five teams overall. While just going 3-7 in those match-ups, four other games were decided by two goals or less. The Huskies played six ranked teams, beating Mankato East and Albert Lea a total of four times and losing to Northfield twice.
Dodge County's results against rated teams, based on March 10 Let's Play Hockey poll:
- No. 4AA Benilde-St. Marget's, lost 7-2
- No. 16A Luverne, won 4-1
- No. 13A Breck, lost 4-1
- No. 5AA Hill-Murray, lost 7-1
- No. 1A Warroad, lost 7-0
- No. 20A Simley, won 2-1
- No. 2A Gentry Academy, lost 1-0
- No. 16AA Holy Family, lost 3-1
- No. 3AA Minnetonka, lost 4-2
- No. 15A New Ulm, won 3-2
The only common opponent between the Huskies and Wildcats is New Prague. OHS lost 2-0 last Friday. The Wildcats won 3-1 in late January.
The top three scorers for Dodge County are Lyndi Schubert (9 goals-8 assist=17 points), Anna Braun (6-10=16), and McKenna Freerksen (6-8=14). In goal Sky Hughes is 9-6 with a 2.32 goals against average, .927 saves percentage, and two shutouts. DC has converted 30-percent of power plays and killed off 77-percent of penalties.
Owatonna is led by Olivia Herzog (19-20=39), Samantha Bogen (20-17=37), and Ezra Oien (18-19=37). In goal Ava Wolfe is 15-3 with a 1.06 goals against, .926 saves percentage, and seven shutouts. OHS is about 42-percent on the power play and a staggering 96-percent on penalty kill.
Stats are from the Hockey Hub at Star Tribune. Dodge County beat Owatonna 3-0 last season and topped the Huskies twice in the 2018-19 season including a 2-0 playoff victory in Kasson.
See the full Section 1AA girls hockey bracket.
Owatonna boys hockey will host Farmington as the three seed. See the Section 1AA bracket.
OHS girls basketball drew the fourth seed and will go to Rochester John Marshall on Tuesday, March 16. OHS just beat the Rockets in Rochester less than two weeks ago. See the Section 1AAAA bracket.
Huskies boys basketball got the third seed behind Lakeville South and Farmington. Owatonna begins the playoffs against New Prague Wednesday night at 7 pm. See the Section 1AAAA bracket.