Brian Kimmes

The men’s club hockey team traveled to Mankato for two games versus the Mankato club hockey team. SDSU came away with one win and one tie.

Friday night’s game ended in a 7-7 tie. The Jacks were ahead until late in the game. Mankato scored a controversial goal with eight seconds left, tying the score at seven apiece. SDSU argued that the puck was kicked in, but it was ruled a goal.

Ryan Nelson scored two goals to lead the Jacks. Dan Ingmanson saved 33 shots in goal.

The Jacks won Saturday night’s contest, 7-3. The game was close for a while, but the Jacks scored the final four goals of the game to put it out of reach. Roy Sando led the team with two goals, while Ingmanson saved 24 shots.

The Mankato squad is a division above the Jacks, so Sando was pleased with how the club played.

“I would say we played real well.”

The victory was the first one against Mankato since 2003.

The weekend series brings the Jacks’ record to 12-6-2. This weekend the Jacks host Dordt College. Dordt has started to become a rival of SDSU. The Jacks are attempting to rank high enough to qualify for the national tournament.

“They should be good games,” said Sando. “They tend to get pretty rough most of the time.”

Sando believes the team has learned from their last home series, where they crushed Carlton Friday night only to lose on Saturday night.

“We learned not to take it lightly and play up to our ability, not to the level of our opponents,” said Sando.

The Dordt games will be the final regular season games at home for the Jacks.

The team will host the Great Plains Hockey Association League Tournament the last weekend in February. The league members will play for the league traveling trophy, the Walnut Cup.