Host Watertown and Aberdeen each drop state hockey openers in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena
WATERTOWN — Despite a near-upset in the first game, the opening day of the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity boys state tournament went pretty much as expected on Thursday in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena.
The top four-seeded teams all recorded first-round wins in the tourney, which is being held in Watertown for the first time since 2006.
Thursday's results included No. 3 seed Sioux Falls West Flyers 5, No. 6 Aberdeen Cougars 4 (2 OTs); No. 2 Brookings Rangers 8, No. 7 Mitchell Marlins 0; No. 4 Sioux Falls East Flyers 2, No. 5 Yankton Bucks 0; and No. 1 Rushmore Thunder 9, No. 8 Watertown Lakers 2.
Friday's schedule included Mitchell vs. Aberdeen at 1 p.m. and Watertown vs. Yankton at 3:30 p.m. in consolation semifinals. Four-time defending champion Brookings meet Sioux Falls West in the first semifinal at 6 p.m., followed by Rushmore vs. Sioux Falls East.
The tourney is scheduled to conclude with three games on Saturday, starting with the consolation championship at 1 p.m. The third-place game will follow at 4 p.m. and the championship at 7 p.m.
Here are highlights from Thursday's first-round games:
Sioux Falls West 5, Aberdeen Cougars 4
West (19-4 in SDAHA play)led 3-1 after two periods and appeared to be in full control when Jackson Breuer scored with 11:17 remaining in the third period for a 4-1 advantage.
Wrong. Aberdeen rallied with three goals in less than 2 1/2 minutes (Devon Fischbach with 10:09 left, Trayke Roehrich with 8:15 left and Carter Vilhauer with 7:45 remaining) to pull even.
Neither team scored the rest of regulation or through the first 10-minute period. It seemed likely that a third overtime might be needed by Sioux Falls' Beckett Halde scored on a slapshot with 1:16 left in the second overtime.
Halde scored twice in the first period and finished with the hat trick. Jackson Henry added a second-period goal for the Flyers, who got two assists from Breuer and one each from Jack Campbell and aleander Carlson. Easton Mescher made 33 saves.
Aiden Posthumus also scored for Aberdeen (12-11), which got two assists from Fischbach and another from Mich Kranzler. Goalie Carson Hundstad made 27 saves.
Brookings 8, Mitchell 0
A five-goal third period closed out the one-sided victory for the Rangers (19-4), who got two goals apiece from Cooper Deatherridge and Maxten Jensen and one each from Jackson Heller, Mauer Bartley, Mason Diers and Cooper Schneider.
Luke Honkomp and Riley Lindstad each recorded two assists and Tre Christopherson, Talon Hyde, Caleb Johnson, Heller and Bartley one each. Egan Jensen stopped 12 shots.
Ian Vaughan finished with 36 saves for Mitchell (11-12).
Sioux Falls East 2, Yankton 0
Yankton (15-8) outshot Sioux Falls 33-21 but just couldn't get the puck past Sioux Falls goalie Trey Salonen. Salonen had 33 saves and Luke Moeller 19 for Yankton.
Vincent Thill opened the scoring in the first period and Tyler Webb added a seond-period goal for East (17-6). Andrew Sislo, Jaxson Roesler, Christopher Post and Hayden Hansen each had assists.
Rushmore 9, Watertown 2
Rushmore (23-0) didn't wait around to left Watertown form an upset bid, scoring four first-period goals. The Thunder led 6-0 after two periods. Watertown opened the third period with two goals before the Thunder closed it with three more goals.
Wyatt Reeder, the state's leading scorer, tallied four goals and an assist for Rushmore. Mason McGregor and Colton Merchen each contributed a goal and an asssits. Wyatt Balliew, Remington Mann and Cameron Ritter also found the net.
Parker Hoffman and Jackson Hep0per each notched two assists. Others came from Cohen Williams and Hudson Beert. Brody Lee made six saves.
Colton Kasuske and Jake Root each scored for the Lakers (7-16). Quinten Jorgenson and Nicholas Noelder assist on the goals and goalie Kohl Nygaard made 39 saves.
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: Top four seeds advance in first round of state boys hockey tourney
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