It's been a good winter for Owatonna High School hockey. The boys are contending for their first Big Nine title in 25 years. The girls are solidly in the top three in the conference with playoffs set to begin Wednesday, February 6.

Each team can look to balanced scoring as one reason for success. A total of four players between the two teams have recorded hat tricks this season. Two of them have gone one step further by adding a fourth goal. Just one of the four is a senior, leaving hope this could be the start of many goals to come.

With these impressive notes, OHS hockey players are this week's H & R Block Stat Sheet Stuffers.

On the girls' side, Maylynn Prokopec had a hat trick November 20 against Mankato West. She has four other games this season with two goals and leads the Huskies with 14 goals and seven assists for 21 points as of January 30. Junior Chloe Schmidt, who started her prep career as a defenseman, just put in four goals at Rochester John Marshall on January 24.

For the boys, junior Collin Pederson had a four-game game against Red Wing January 17. Sophomore Dom Valento netted a hat trick versus North St. Paul December 22. He has three other games with two goals and leads the team with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points.

Goaltending has been strong for each club as well. The girls feature the tandem of junior Asia Buryska and freshman Ava Wolfe. The boys are led by senior Easton Sletten and junior Zach Wiese.

Check out previous H & R Block Stat Sheet Stuffers.

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