Sarah Passick

Like most teams this past weekend, the South Dakota State’s hockey club geared up to play their tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.

After two days of tackling, skating and shooting, the Jacks walked away with a second place finish in the Great Plains Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament, Feb. 22 to 23.

The Des Moines Collegiate Hockey Club walked away with the championship title, outscoring the Jacks 1-4.

The hockey team finished the season 12-12-2.

SDSU opened the tournament Friday night and shutting out the second seeded Dordt College 5-0.

The Jacks came out in full force at the beginning of the game.

“We came out and got after them outshooting Dordt 12-8 and outscoring them 2-0,” Head Coach Marty Schipull said about the first period.

The Jacks kept the momentum going by outshooting 18-4 Dordt during the second period. SDSU scored just one during that period, raising the lead 3-0.

During the third period, the Jacks once again outshot, outscored and outskated Dordt. The Jacks put two more in the net, bringing the final score 5-0.

Scoring for the Jacks during Friday’s game were Tom Foerster, Adam Nelson, Andy Schuster, Billy Schneider and Ryan Taylor had two goals.

The championship game was a different story. DMCHC was the regular season champs with a undefeated record and only one tie early in November against the Jacks.

“First period did not go well,”Schipull said. “We got out shot 15-11, out hussled and out played and got down 0-2.”

The Jacks came back early in the second period. The Jacks generated a few chances of their own. The Jacks put a stop to their break away chances and generated better scoring chances.

DMCHC generated only one goal during that period, but the SDSU’s goalie Heath Isaacson came up with a big save right at the end of the period.

“During third period, we continued the previous effort but had a hard time breaking through and finishing the play to score,” Schipull said.

The Jacks only score of the night came during the third period for a 1-4 final.

“We played the best two and half periods of the year against DMCHC,” Schipull said.