Calculating the odds of Sonny Heil accomplishing the feat he did in Thursday’s Big South Conference boys hockey game are off the chart.
The Windom Area senior forward Heil scored a natural hat trick for the Eagles as they earned their first win of the season, a 10-1 victory over Redwood Valley.
For those unaware, a natural hat trick is when a player scores three consecutive goals, uninterrupted by any other player scoring for either team. That’s rare enough.
Add to that the fact that all three of Heil’s goals were shorthanded. And to top it off, they all came on the same penalty as Windom was killing a five-minute major in the first period.
As a comparison, the NHL started with the 1917-18 season and only once has a player scored three shorthanded goals in a game. That was Theo Flury of the Calgary Flames in an 8-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on March 9, 1991.
But wait, there’s more. Heil would also record three assists for a six-point game.
And he wasn’t the lone Eagle to score six points. Senior Karson LaCanne had two goals and four assists for a six-point night.
Wriley Haugen had five points on two goals and three assists. Ian Nelson had two goals and Landon Pilatzki had two assists.
Charlie Smith had a goal and Jessy Gentry recorded an assist.
Adam Dahna made 16 saves for Windom Area, which had 47 shots of its own.
The Eagles are at Fairmont Tuesday.
WINDOM AREA BOYS HOCKEY SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Mon., Nov. 27: Austin, L 4-3 (OT)
Fri., Dec. 1: Prairie Centre, L 3-1
Tues., Dec. 5: at Marshall, L 6-0
Thurs., Dec. 7: Waseca, L 11-1
Tues., Dec. 12: at Luverne, L 9-4
Thurs., Dec. 14: Redwood Valley, W 10-1
Tues., Dec. 19: at Fairmont, 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 22: New Ulm, 7 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 27: Austin at Rochester, 5:15 p.m.
Thurs., Dec. 28: at Rochester Lourdes, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 29: Albert Lea at Rochester, 1:15 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 5: at Becker/Big Lake, 7:15 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 6: at Sauk Rapids-Rice, 3:30 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 8: Marshall, 7 p.m.
Thurs., Jan. 11: Minnesota River, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 13: Faribault, 3 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 15: Fairmont, 7:30 p.m.
Thurs., Jan. 18: Worthington, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 19: at Waseca, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 26: Morris/Benson, 7 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 29: at Redwood Valley, 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 2: at New Ulm, 7 p.m.
Mon., Feb. 5: Luverne, 7 p.m.
Tues., Feb. 13: at Minnesota River, 7 p.m.
Thurs., Feb. 15: at Worthington, 7 p.m.