The SDSU men’s hockey club is finishing up its second year with a record of 2-6. The club is a part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) where they have played a number of teams from the surrounding area.
This semester, the team gained a new head coach, Justin Kirchhevel. His first game with the team was against Bemidji State where the Jacks won game one 9-2 before losing 6-4 in the second game.
“It’s an evaluation period right now, with this year being our probation period and next year being added to a league,” Kirchhevel said. “We are just making sure that everybody is ready for the commitment and figuring out what players are ready to start next year and to really come together as a team to make sure this is a successful adventure for SDSU.”
Kirchhevel is also a coach for the Brookings Rangers, the city’s youth club hockey team.
“We are trying to be more involved with the youth teams, especially when it comes to coaching the Brookings Rangers at their practices,” Kirchhevel said. “Another big thing we have been doing is trying to give back to the hockey community to thank them for the support we have been show this year.”
Next year the Jackrabbits will be joining the Western Collegiate Club Hockey Association (WCCHA), where they will play a wider variety of teams and have more home games.
“I’m really looking forward to next season, but not trying to look too far ahead,” Kirchhevel said. “We are going to be in a league, so a lot more home games and school backing. We have work in the future and some great ideas in figuring out what we need to fix from this year.”
Though this season hasn’t been what they wanted due to being in their probation period, some players have been able to overcome these challenges.
Maxwell Kjelden, in eight games, has posted six goals and seven assists throughout this season.
“It’s been good knowing that we’re heading in the right direction and we have a good future ahead of us,” Kjelden said.
Quintin Steindl has played seven games and has recorded four goals and six assists. This is also his second year as club vice president.
“My expectations this year were to just grow our fan base, which kind of got shut down after a bunch of our home games got canceled,” Steindl said. “We originally had five extra home games and all of them got canceled due to other teams not having enough guys or double scheduling.”
The club practices on Tuesdays from 9 to 10:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11 p.m. with a lot of players putting in extra work outside of those times.
“Balancing school with previous sports other than hockey helped me to gain a good work ethic which in turn helps me run the club as well,” Steindl said.
With the team having a total of four games left in their season, club vice president Steindl says, “Come out with some friends because games are free for students to enjoy a higher level of hockey and to support the university at the same time.”
Upcoming games:
@ MSU-Moorhead, Feb. 10 at 8:30 p.m.
@ MSU-Moorhead, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m.
@ UW-La Crosse, Feb. 16 at 7:15 p.m.
@ UW-La Crosse, Feb. 17 at 6:15 p.m.