Faribault Girls Hockey Falls to Hottest Team in Big Nine

The Austin Packers picked up their ninth straight win Saturday in a 4-0 victory over the Faribault Falcons at Riverside Arena in Austin.

With the loss Faribault falls out of first place in the conference, a spot they have enjoyed for nearly the entire season.

There are only four games left for the Falcons. Three of them are at home, where they have not lost this season.

Rochester John Marshall and Red Wing now have a two-point lead over Faribault in the standings even though Faribault has the equal number of conference wins with John Marshall and has five more wins than Red Wing.

Tuesday they host co-league leader Red Wing. Thursday they entertain Mankato East, then go to Albert Lea before finishing their season at the end of this month against Owatonna at home.

After a scoreless first period in which Austin had 14 shots on goal and Faribault 10, the Falcons outshot the Packers 15 to 12 but saw Austin score three goals.

In that period, Faribault was 0 for 3 on the power play and in the game went 0 for 6. Austin was 1 for 4.

The Falcons now have a power play percentage of 13.3 on the season. They are 21.1 percent in Big Nine play.

Faribault had more shots on goal: 37 to 35.

Senior goalie Mara Overby has been very good in net for the Packers during the nine-game winning streak, including two shutouts of conference opponents in their past five games.

With the win, Overby takes over the league lead in that category with 13 wins on the season and is just behind Faribault's Lauren Werner in save percentage.