SDAHA tournament opens Friday in Brookings with four first-round games

BROOKINGS — Neither the eighth-seeded Watertown Lakers or sixth-seeded Aberdeen Cougars are considered to be among the favorites but that doesn't mean they can't have successful weekends in the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity boys state tournament.

The three-day tourney opens on Friday with four first-round games.

Aberdeen (12-10 in SDAHA play this winter) meets the third-seeded Sioux Falls West Flyers (17-5) at 9 a.m., followed by the second-seeded Rushmore Thunder (19-3) vs. the seventh-seeded Mitchell Marlins (11-11) at 11:30 a.m., the fourth-seeded Sioux Falls East Flyers (14-7-1) vs. the fifth-seeded Oahe Capitals (12-9-1) at 2 p.m. and Watertown (12-14 overall and 8-14 in the SDAHA) vs. the top-seeded and three-time defending champion Brookings Rangers (21-1) at 4:30 p.m.

"I think it's a little bit of an open field where anything could happen," Watertown head coach Devon McMullen said. "Those top four teams are all good and Sioux Falls East beat Brookings 5-0. We took East right down to the end.

"We can play with those teams. There's an opportunity for us to go there and compete. We just have to make sure we play to the best of our ability and that's all I can ask for."

Consolation semifinal games are scheduled for 9 and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, followed by semifinals at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Three games are slated for Sunday, starting with the consolation championship at 9 a.m. The third-place game is set for noon and the championship for 3 p.m.

Lakers facing long odds, but hopeful

The odds aren't in Watertown's favor against a Brookings team that has posted 7-0 and 10-1 wins over the Lakers during the regular season.

History also hasn't been kind. The Lakers haven't won a state-tournament game since they beat Oahe 5-4 in the consolation semifinals in 2019 and haven't won a first-round game since they beat Oahe 2-1 in 2017 on the way to a third-place finish.

History and the regular season won't matter come Friday for a Lakers' team that, at the least, would love to be playing some time on Sunday.

"We're going to take each game one at a time. It's been our goal since the start of the season for us to try to make it to Sunday," McMullen said.

The strength of the Lakers' is a top line spearheaded by senior forwards Jake Bramer (18 goals, 17 assists in SDAHA play), Tommy Foley (14 goals, 12 assists); senior defender Austin McBride (6 goals, 10 assists) and junior forward Mylan Evans (10 goals, 16 assists).

Junior forward Kowynn Muhl (6 goals, 3 assists) and senior defender Hudson Hendricks (5 goals, 4 assists) are other top scorers for a Watertown squad that features senior goalie Kohl Nygaard (375 saves, 4.39 goals allowed per game). Junior Caleb Schmaltz has also seen action between the pipes, recording 126 saves.

"We're really rely heavily on our top line and they've produced," said McMullen. "Depth is an issue and we kind of knew that. Our other lines are not really scoring lines but we're hoping they can be shut-down lines and give us a chance to see if our top line can produce like we know it can."

What about the Cougars from Aberdeen?

Aberdeen has to feel good about its chances to compete favorably on Fiday with a Sioux Falls West team the Cougars beat 5-4 on the final week of the regular season. Sioux Falls West won the previous matchup 6-4.

The Cougars have a variety of scoring options led by senior forward Brady Huff (14 goals, 10 assists) and junior forward Devon Fischbach (nine goals, 15 assists).

Other key contributors are senior forwards Lance Siefken (12 goals, 8 assists), Quincy Madsen (11 goals, 10 assists), and Talan Dutenhoeffer (7 goals, 8 assists); junior forwards Jack Podoll (10 goals, 6 assists) and Lleyton Kleffman (9 goals, 8 assists); junior defender Aiden Posthumus (7 goals, 6 assists) and sophomore defender Jaxon Danielson (2 goals, 16 assists).

Junior goalie Colton Townsend had made 522 saves in league play and allowed 3.63 goals per game.

Other teams and players to watch

Brookings outscored its foes by a 157-30 margin in SDAHA games, followed by Rushmore 162-40, Sioux Falls West 125-60, Sioux Falls East 106-56, Oahe 116-80, Aberdeen 95-84, Mitchell 105-103 and Watertown 67-109.

Senior forwards Owen Schneider (33 goals, 30 assists), and Jacob Hale (27 goals, 22 assists) and junior defender Luke Honkomp (6 goals, 42 assists) are among the leaders for Brookings, which features senior Addison Ronning (157 saves, 1.73 GAPG) and junior Egan Jensen (138 saves, 0.91 GAPG).

Sophomore defender Wyatt Reeder (22 goals, 48 assists), sophomore forward Colton Merchen (27 goals, 34 assists), sophomore forward Cameron Ritter (32 goals, 16 asssits) and senior forward Alexander Dietrich (21 goals, 22 assists) led the way for Rushmore. The Thunder also use two goalies, sophomore Brody Lee (176 saves, 1.66 GAPG) and Wyatt Simmons (145 saves, 1.80 GAPG).

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Mason Schramm (15 goals, 34 assists), Nathan Renken (22-17) and Keegan Clancy (14-14) top the stat sheet for Sioux Falls West, which has goalies Cole Langston (267 saves, 3.09 GAPG) and Easton Mescher (154 saves, 2.2 GAPG).

Sioux Falls Falls East's lineup includes Max Mohr (20 goals, 16 assists), Nick Gray (15-15) and goalie Trey Salonen (422 saves, 2.35 GAPG).

Seniors Jarron Beck (23 goals, 31 assists), Barret Schweitzer (23-22), Devin Dodson (22-17), Aidan Dozark (19-16) and goalie Spencer Anderson (442 saves, 4.06 GAPG) carry the load for Oahe as do Levi Loken (21-28), Parker Denne (28-1), Tyson Sabers (11-18), Mick Dailey (15-12) and goalie Ian Vaughan (671 saves, 4.68 GAPG) for Mitchell.

"We ran through a little bit of sickness but everyone is healthy and we've had two weeks of practice," McMullen said. "Against the top-end teams, we just want to make sure we hold them off so we can build confidence. When we've played well against good teams, we've just gained confidence by hanging around."

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: Preview of the SDAHA state varsity boys hockey tourney at Brookings