Mitchell scores hat-trick in Huskies’ win

Owatonna boys’ hockey finished opening week 1-1 after splitting two non-conference games with New Prague and Tartan.

The Huskies made the trek north to Tartan over the weekend and returned home with their first win of the season after taking down the Titans 4-2.

After a quiet 0-0 first period, Owatonna found its opportunity to strike in the second period when sloppy play from Tartan resulted in four power-play chances for the Huskies.

Owatonna senior captain Andrew Mitchell punished the Titans for their mistakes by scoring two power-play goals featuring assists from teammates Seth Johnson and Zachary Klecker.

The tallies put Owatonna up 2-0 heading into the third period.

With two goals to his name and 17 minutes left to work, Mitchell didn’t take long to complete his hat-trick after scoring just one minute into the third period.

Making the feat more impressive was the fact that Mitchell’s final goal came short-handed with the senior taking the ice for the final shift of Owatonna’s penalty kill.

The Johnson-to-Mitchell connection proved deadly as the former assisted on all three of the hat-trick goals.

Tartan managed to score soon after to apply some pressure on the Huskies, but sloppy hockey cost the Titans again when Owatonna managed to score its second short-handed goal of the game off the stick of Isaac Mobley with less than five minutes left to play.

Tartan went on to score once more, but could not close the deficit before the final buzzer.

Owatonna’s Brekxton Nelson earned the win in net by saving 15 of 17 shots.

Earlier in the week, the Huskies hosted New Prague at home for the team’s season debut, but came up short in a 3-5 loss that slipped away from the team in the second period.

Owatonna’s Mitchell brought the crowd to its feet early in the first against the Trojans with a highlight-reel tip-in goal to put the Huskies up 1-0 just 2:44 into the game.

A shot from defenseman Blake Davison was headed for the upper left corner of the net before Mitchell’s stick changed its flight path to the lower portion of the net – sinking under the goalie’s raised blocker and sending the Owatonna faithful into pandemonium.

Owatonna looked primed to hold onto its lead through the first period, but New Prague eventually answered with just 33 seconds left in the period by stuffing home a loose puck in front of the Huskies’ net.

The Trojans’ momentum carried over into the second period with the opposition scoring just 18 seconds in on an even-strength goal to take the lead at 2-1.

Owatonna didn’t take long to respond when Mitchell scored his second goal of the game just 1:52 later, but disaster struck almost immediately afterward.

Before Owatonna could even finish celebrating its equalizer, New Prague won the ensuing faceoff, blitzed down the ice and scored just six seconds later to regain the lead at 3-2.

The Trojans followed up the goal with another five minutes and led 4-2 with just under 10 minutes left in the period.

Owatonna’s Klecker gave his team life with a goal 48 seconds before the second intermission on a play assisted by Mitchell, but it would be the Huskies’ last goal of the game.

New Prague was the lone side to score in the third, potting the final goal halfway through the third to eventually win 5-3.

Player Stats

vs. Tartan

                    G    A    P

Mitchell    3    0    3

Johnson  0    3    3

Mobley    1    0    1

Klecker    0    1    1

                    SV  SA  GA

Nelson     15   17   2