Austin Packers girls’ hockey falls to Owatonna 5-4 Saturday evening

The Austin Packers girls’ hockey team traveled to Owatonna to take on the Huskies in a Big 9 Conference matchup at the Steele County Four Seasons Centre Saturday evening, and despite a hat trick from Kate Holtz, a third-period tally by the Huskies’ Samantha Bogen proved to be the game-winner in a 5-4 Owatonna win.

The Packers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on two goals from Holtz, one only eight seconds into the game and the second at 4:57 of the first period with an assist to Izzy Heman.  Owatonna cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal by Ezra Oien at 12:55 of the period, and they surged into the lead at 4-2 with three goals in the second period from Madelyn Simon at 3:26, Macy Stanton at 6:00 and Kendra Bogen at 11:25.  Holtz finished off her hat trick with an unassisted goal at 7:26 of the third period to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Samantha Bogen’s even-strength tally at 8:08 of the period with assists to Kendra Bogen and Madelyn Simon restored the Huskies’ two-goal lead at 5-3.  Freshman Allie Davidson cut the deficit back to one goal at 5-4 with a goal at 15:51 with assists to Heman and Holtz, but the Huskies were able to hang on from there to pick up the win.

Holtz wound up with four points in the game with the three goals and an assist, Heman wound up with two points with two assists and Davidson’s first goal of the season gave her one point in the contest.  Kyia Radford-Garcia turned aside 38 of the 43 shots she faced in the game between the pipes for Austin, while Huskies netminder Ava Wolfe made 22 saves in facing 26 shots for the win.

With the loss, Austin is now 1-4 in the Big 9 Conference and 2-4 overall on the season.  The Packers are back on the ice at Riverside Arena Tuesday with for a non-conference matchup with New Prague, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m.