Laker squads could close out their seasons in the new $36M Prairie Lakes Ice Arena

The Watertown Lakers' varsity girls and boys hockey teams kicked off a what could be a very memorable year for Watertown hockey last weekend with home games in the Maas Ice Arena.

If all goes as planned, the Laker teams are hoping to get the chance to close out their 2023-24 seasons with home games in the new $36 million Prairie Lakes Ice Arena.

"Most definitely, it's going to be exciting," Laker girls coach Curt Kranz said. "This will hopefully be the last season in this (Maas) Arena before we move into the new one. The talk about getting a new ice area has been a long time in coming."

"We might be looking at the middle of January are even a little later," Laker boys coach Devon McMullen added. "That's going to be pretty exciting for these kids to get to play in a facility like that. It could give us a good boost of energy for the last-minute push to end the season."

Here's what to expect from the Watertown teams.

Laker Girls

Kranz is beginning his third season at the helm during his second stint as Watertown's varsity girls coach and will be assisted by Brandon Henman and Tiffany Arends. The Lakers went 2-14 in South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association play last winter and finished eighth of nine teams. They still qualified for state before going 0-2.

Key returnees for the squad include senior goaltender Angelyn Birnell (457 saves last season), senior forward Katelyn Melville (one goal, six assists), senior defender Rylie Redlin (three goals, two assists), junior forward; Janel Lloyd (nine goals, seven assists), freshman forward Harper Hendricks (nine goals, three assists), junior defender Rachel Skott (two goals), junior forward Kayla Randall (three goals, four assists) and sophomore goaltender Kira Reppe (155 saves).

Junior forward Meg Sunde (seven goals, one assist) is out with a knee injury.

Eighth-grader forward Emma Schleusner spearheads a group of newcomers and other rostered players in grades 5-9 that includes freshmen Amerie Serie, Audrey Eide and Molli Schmeling; eighth-graders Lily Murray, Mikenna Knopf and Alyssa Mathews; seventh-graders Patricia Martinsen, Gracelyn Webb, Piper Krueger and Aleyna Hudson; sixth-graders Sloane Allard and Hannah Mathews; and fifth-grader Keira Henman.

"I'm excited for some good things this season," Kranz said. "We definitely have a lot of girls who have really improved over the summer and been improvement. A lot of them have more than a year of varsity under their belt so that should help them be ready for the game speed."

Laker Boys

McMullen, a former junior and college hockey player from Canada, opens his second season as the head coach of the Lakers. Watertown went 7-14 in SDAHA play last winter and also finished eighth out of 12 teams in the league. The Lakers also went 0-2 in the state tourney.

Senior forward Jake Bramer (10 goals, 14 assists), senior forward Tommy Foley (nine goals, six assists), senior defenseman Austin McBride (four goals, nine assists) and senior defenseman Hudson Hendricks (one goal, two assists) are among a group of talented returnees along with classmates Gunner Van Gilder, Jackson Espland, Karter Ragels, Gabiel Holien (one assist) and Carson Hanson.

Other top returnees are junior forwards Mylan Evans (eight goals, 13 assists), Jacob Holgate (two goals), Sawyer Knopf (two goals) and Kowynn Muhl (four goals, one assist) along with junior goalie Caleb Schmaltz (539 assists) and sophomore goalie Kohl Nygaard (20 saves).

Many of the remaining players on the roster will fight for varsity time while also playing for the WHA's junior varsity squad. The group includes juniors Nicholas Noeldner and Tucker Marko; sophomores Quinten Jorgensen, Ty Sullivan, Jack Elshere, Jake Root and Jett Van Gilder; and freshmen Tyler Roberts, Bailey Dorneman, Reminington Redlin, Lane Janssen, Owen Wels, Nolan Eidson, Hunter Kloos and John Schleusner.

"The nice thing is we return out top scoring line (top three scorers) and four of our top six defenseman from last year," McMullen said. "That's pretty valuable in this league when you can return some of your. top guys."

Let's talk about the schedule

The Laker girls opened play last week with 6-1 and 4-2 losses to Sioux Falls and Oahe at home and are also scheduled to host Brookings at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Watertown is also scheduled to host Rushmore on Jan. 20-21, Aberdeen on Jan. 6, Mitchell on Feb. 9 and Sioux Center (Iowa) on Feb. 10. The Laker girls will also play in non-league tournaments Jan. 12-15 in Kansas City (Mo.) and Feb. 2-4 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Lakers will also host the state varsity girls tourney March 1-3.

Watertown's boys opened their season last week with an 8-1 home win over Brandon Valley that included four goals by Foley and a goal and three assists by Bramer.

The Lakers also host the Sioux Falls Flyers West at 8 p.m. on Friday. Other home games on the schedule include Brookings on Dec. 29, Rushmore on Jan. 19-20, Huron on Feb. 3, Sioux Center on Feb. 10, Sioux Falls East on Feb. 16, Aberdeen on Feb,. 17, Mitchell on Feb. 23 and Oahe on Feb. 24. Besides other SDAHA road games, Watertown will also play Jan. 26-28 in a tournament at Dodgeville (Wisc.).

The varsity boys state tournament is slated for March 8-10 on Brookings.

How do the Lakers shape up in the state?

Aberdeen won the SDAHA girls' league title last winter with a 15-1 record, followed by Sioux Falls at 14-2 and Brookings 13-3. Brookings later won the state tournament with a 2-0 victory over Aberdeen.

Kranz expects a more-competitive league this winter even though some of the typical contenders are again favored.

"A lot of the powerhouses lost a lot of good players. I think it will be more equaled out," Kranz said. "I don't foresee as many big blowouts on the girls side this year."

Sioux Falls West went 20-0-2 in league play last winter, topping Brookings (19-2-1), Oahe (18-3) and Rushmore (17-3-1) for top honors. Brookings got even by beating Sioux Falls 5-2 in the state championship.

Rushmore, Sioux Falls and Brookings should each be formidable again, according to McMullen. He also expects some of the lower-end teams to move up (Yankton and Brandon Valley), something that the Lakers appear to also be in position to accomplish.

"Overall, it's going to be a pretty competitive league," McMullen said. "I definitely think we have the top skill to move it, but we'll have to make sure we come ready every night. If we a take a night off, we don't have the depth to compete."

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: A look at the 2023-24 Watertown Lakers' varsity boys and girls teams