Hockey Team Gets Its Wish, Will Face Century in the Playoffs

The Owatonna High School boys' hockey team has lost a pair of one-goal games to Rochester Century this season. The Huskies get another chance to knock off the Big Nine champion Panthers Thursday, February 21 in the quarterfinal round of the Section 1AA tournament.

Coaches, players and parents all expressed the desire to get another game against Century. The Huskies (15-9-1) are the sixth seed and Century is third seed. Game time is 7 pm at Graham Arena. The winner will advance to Saturday's semifinals for a 2 pm game at the Rec Center.

Century edged Owatonna 1-0 on January 10th and scored a come-from-behind 5-4, overtime victory at Four Seasons Centre February 8. The Panthers ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak to secure their second straight conference championship. Owatonna finished as Big Nine runner-up.

Hastings (19-4-1) earned the top seed in the coaches' vote despite being behind Rochester Century (20-3) in the QRF rankings at minnesota-scores.net. Lakeville North (12-12-1) also slipped ahead of Century in the coaches' tabulation. Lakeville South (11-12-1) landed in fourth even after Saturday's 1-0 win over North.

Section 1AA boys' hockey tournament schedule:
Tuesday, February 19
No. 9 Dodge County at No. 8 Rochester JM, Rec Center, 7 pm
Thursday, February 21
No. 6 Owatonna vs No. 3 Century, at Graham Arena
No. 7 Farmington at No. 2 North
No. 5 Mayo at No. 4 South
Dodge County/JM winner at No. 1 Hastings
Saturday, February 23
quarterfinal winners, 11:30 am and 2 pm at Rec Center, Rochester
Thursday, February 28
semifinal winners, 7 pm at Rec Center, Rochester

Owatonna wrapped up their regular season Saturday, February 16 with a 6-3 loss to South St. Paul at the Four Seasons Centre. It was the final home game for seniors Drake Gieseke, Evan Steinberg, Andrew Munns, Jacob Stoykovich, Luke Kubicek, Mason Oland, Mathew DeHaan, Tommy Lehrer and Easton Sletten.