The SDSU club hockey team will light the lamps once more, with the 2024-25 American Collegiate Hockey Association returning with high hopes and greater expectations following their shortened 8-game season last year.
The majority of the team is slated to return for this season, including the team’s points leaders in forwards Maxwell Kjelden, Quintin Steindl and Dominick Palumbo.
The trio racked up 32 points, with Kjelden leading the team in assists, dishing out seven on the season and Kjelden and Palumbo tying with a team lead of six goals. More than 25% of the team’s points came from the forward group.
The squad had four bouts with the NDSU Bison, dropping all four.
Bemidji State and Waldorf took one a piece to give the team a -5 point differential to end off the season.
Despite the record, the Jacks showed grit, with the majority of their losses coming from down-to-the-wire shootouts.
Contributor Forward Gavin Brunmeier, who put up 4 goals and 5 assists in his eight games played, is not returning for the season and the team will look to veterans including Ashton Witte and Cooper Vanoverbeke who scored 15 total points in their combined 15 games, right behind Brunmeier in points, who was fourth on the leaderboard.
The majority of the team’s goalies are to return this season with Lance Nelson and Thomas Elliot on the team again. The duo are joined this year by the freshman Addison Ronning.
“He definitely has a place on this team,” defenseman Wyatt Hanson said. “We haven’t played any games yet, but through practices, he’s been really solid and I can’t wait to see how he performs this season.”
With their offense driving home 5.3 goals a game on average, the pieces are set in place to have an efficient and dangerous offense.
They will also look to bring down their 6 goals against average, hoping to avoid losses like the 10-8 and 9-5 games against the Bison a year ago.
“We’re focusing on improving consistency, especially in closing out games… Last year, we saw how crucial power plays and penalty kills are in tight games, so we’re working to improve both,” Palumbo said. “Being more effective in those situations can really swing momentum, and we want to capitalize on every opportunity.”
The Jackrabbits will face off against the Bison again this season, who were ranked 7th out of 35 teams in the Men’s Division 2 Independent conference last year.
Overcoming the Bison will prove to be an important part of staying competitive in the Independent conference.
Waldorf will also prove to be a challenging opponent, with SDSU matching up with the Warriors four times.
The Jacks will also face off against Augustana’s club team during a key four-week stretch, during which SDSU will face off against NDSU twice along with Augie and Waldorf.
The season opener will be played this Friday at the Larson Ice Center against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Huskers ended last season with a 9-21-3-2 record, placing fourth out of five teams in the Division 3 Macha Silver Central Division.
The two-game series starts Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a 2:30 p.m. game on Saturday.