Sioux Falls West ousts four-time defending champion Brookings in the semifinals
WATETOWN — For the first time five years, there is going to be a new South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity boys champion.
The top-seeded Rushmore Thunder and third-seeded Sioux Falls West Flyers won semifinal games on Friday night and are slated to meet for the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena.
Mitchell and Yankton meet for the consolation championship at 1 p.m. and Sioux Falls East and four-time defending champion Brookings for third place at 4 p.m.
Friday's Games
Semifinal (Sioux Falls West 3, Brookings 2) — Sioux Falls West scored two goals in 11 seconds late in the third period to rally for the win. Talon Hyde's goal with 3:02 left put Brookings ahead 2-1. Carson Edwards tied for the game for West by scoring with 2:01 left and Jack Campbell added the game-winning goal with 1:50 remaining off an assist from Alexander Carlson.
Jackson Breuer also scored for Sioux Falls, which got 31 saves from Lewis Jerke. Jackson Heller added a goal, Mason Diers an assist and Matthew Botke 20 saves for Brookings.
Semifinal (Rushmore 4, Sioux Falls East 1) — The top-seeded Thunder scored four third-period goals to rally for the win. Brixton Steen, Colton Merchen, Wyatt Reeder and Easton Knoll each found the net for Rushmore. Steen, Reeder and Cameron Ritter added assists.
Hayden Hansen scored in the first period for East. Ryan Fenton and Maxwell Kallas assisted on the play. Trey Salonen stopped 58 shots.
Consolation Semifinal (Yankton 6, Watertown 3) — Kaden Hunhoff, Jack Pedersen, Tucker Renken, Rylan Murphy and Kylen O'Connor each had a goal and an assist for the Bucks. Connor Perakslis also scored and had two assists. Jace Sedlacek and Easton Vellek also had assists. Goalie Luke Moeller made 19 saves.
Waterrtown, which finished 7-17 in SDAHA play, got goals from Mylan Evans, Kowynn Muhl and Sawyer Knopf. Evans had two assists and Jack Elshere, Jacob Holgate and Muhl one ach. Kohl Nygaard recorded 18 saves.
Consolation Semifinal (Mitchell 6, Aberdeen 2) — Parker Denne's two goals and two assists lifted the Marlins, who also got a goal and an assist from Cooper Guenthner, Everett Morrison and Brody Huls. Lukas Jerke also scored and Connor Degen assisted on two goals. Ian Vaughan finished with 34 saves.
Devon Fischbach and Micah Kranzler each had goals for Aberdeen, which finished 12-12 in SDAHA play. Carter Vilhauer assisted on two goals and Jack Podoll one. Colton Townsend had eight saves and Carson Hundstad four.
Academic All-State Teams
Ten Watertown Lakers (boys and girls) and nine Aberdeen Cougars have been named the 2024-25 Academic All-State teams. Players must be seniors, have participated in SDAHA hockey for at least three years and maintained a cumulative grade-point average of 3.3 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
Watertown honorees include Mylan Evans, Tucker Marko, Kowynn Muhl, Nicholas Noeldner and Caleb Schmaltz (boys) and Jada Jenkins, Janel Lloyd, Kayla Randall, Rachel Skott and Meg Sunde (girls).
Aberdeen players honored are Cameron Backous, Micah Kranzler, Colton Townsend and Boyd Willems (boys) and Kalin Hepper, Raniesa Mattke, Alyssa Roehrich, Madeline Sandvig and Allison Woehl (girls).
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: Wrapping up the final two days of the SDAHA state boys hockey tourney
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