Brian Kimmes

The men’s hockey club plays three games in the next week.

Thursday, Nov. 30, the Jacks travel to Yankton, taking on the school’s old rival, the University of South Dakota, at 8 p.m. USD had difficulties with its club hockey team and SDSU did not play the Coyotes last season.

After traveling to Yankton, the Jacks host Creighton University for two games. The Jacks play Friday, Dec. 1, at 7:45 p.m., and then again on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 10 p.m.

The Jacks look to continue their strong play, as they took fifth in their tournament in Rochester, Minn., on Nov. 17-19. They finished the tournament 2-1.

SDSU lost its first game of the tournament to eventual tournament champions Kennesaw State (Georgia). The Jacks jumped out to an early lead, but penalties killed the Jacks.

“They (Kennesaw State) really exploited us on the power play,” said senior Jake Gustafson. “Penalty trouble really cost us the game.”

The Kennesaw team scored seven goals on the power play.

The Jacks battled California State-Northridge in their second game. This time, the Jacks stayed out of the penalty box and won the game, 3-1.

“We dominated possession,” Gustafson said.

Head coach Nate Bofenkamp said, “The team starting playing pretty good after the first game.”

In the final game of the tournament, the Jacks defeated Colorado State 6-4. Senior Roy Sando netted a hat trick for the Jacks. Again, the Jacks avoided penalty trouble and were able to dictate the flow of the game.

“We really controlled the tempo of the game,” Gustafson said.

However, Bofenkamp said, “We just handled them.”

Overall, the tournament went well for the Jacks. Gustafson said the team started out a little shaky, but by the end of the tournament the team was playing well and everybody was happy. He also said goalie Dan Ingemansen was in net all weekend and played well.

Bofenkamp said, “They played great. Our fore-checking was good. All around it was pretty good.”

Heading into the weekend home series with Creighton, a team that has not played many games, Gustafson is optimistic the team will do well.

“Everybody is healthy and everybody is back,” he said. “We hope to pick up where we left off. We look to pick up the scoring some.”

Bofenkamp said he expects his team to play as well as they did at the end of the Rochester Tournament, and feels his team has a good chance of winning.

“I’m looking forward to beating them (Creighton) twice,” he said.