A weekend winter storm didn't slow down the early portion of the 2025-26 South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association for the Watertown Lakers and Aberdeen Cougars' girls and boys varsity teams.
The Watertown teams entered foes as part of the Watertown Hockey Association's homecoming weekend in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena. The girls improved to 3-1 in the SDAHA by beating Aberdeen 3-2, Sioux Center (IA) 6-3 and Rushmore 2-1. Watertown opened Nov. 22 with an 8-1 loss to defending state champion Sioux Falls.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGracelyn Webb scored twice and Harper Hendricks once and Sheylin Stricherz, Emma Schleusner and Piper Krueger each had assists against Aberdeen. Sloane Allard had two goals, Lily Murray and Schleusner each one goal and two assists, Webb one goal and one assist, Hendricks two assists and Keagan Stolp a goal against Sioux Center. Schleusner and Allard each scored against Rushmore. Nylah Vannelli had 33 saves against Aberdeen and 16 against Rushmore. Kira Reppe made 17 saves against Sioux Center.
Watertown's boys (now 2-1) beat Sioux Center 7-1 and lost to Sioux Falls West 7-1. Aidyn Melville notched a hat trick and also added an assist against SC. Jack Elshere, Colton Kasuske, Grady Bodsberg and Kolten Sutten also scored. Tyler Roberts had three assists, Elshere two and Melville, Kasuske, Jett Van Gilder and Sutten one each. Melville also scored against Sioux Falls. Kohl Nygaard had 22 saves against SC and 45 against SF for Watertown, which opened league play Nov. 22 with a 3-1 win over Huron.
Aberdeen's girls (now 1-3 in the SDAHA) also had a three-game weekend, also beating Rushmore 4-3 and falling to Mitchell 2-0 at home along with falling at Watertown. Addyson Keller and Rachel Siefken each had a goal and an assist and Kaylee Dixon an assist against Watertown. Siefken had two goals and an assist, Olivia Sandvig one and one, Ashton Hadrick one goal and Kylie Herman, Calley Gage and Chloecherie Heagley each assists against Rushmore. Chloe Vikander has made 91 saves in four games for the Cougars, who also lost 1-0 to Oahe on Nov. 23.
Aberdeen's boys beat Brandon Valley 4-3 in OT and lost to Oahe 6-2 on Nov. 22-23. Brady Oswald scored the game-winner and Wheeler Malsam, Briggs Medill and Jaxon Danielson also found the net. B. Medill made three assists and Teegan Medill, Malsam, Carter Vilhauer and Trayke Roehrich each one. Vilhauer and Oaklee Wurtz each scored against Oahe with Danielson tallying two assists and Austin Schmit and Remington Hosley each one. Andrew Weisenburger had 31 saves against BV and 26 against Oahe.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTo follow all varsity and other levels of SDAHA hockey, visit sdaha.org.
Kaylee Dixon of the Aberdeen Cougars, left, and Harper Hendricks of the Watertown Lakers attempt to gain control of the puck during a South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity girls game on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena. Host Watertown won 3-2.Here's more on the Watertown and Aberdeen teams:
Watertown Lakers (Boys)
Head Coach — Mason Lloyd, first year.
Assistant — Bubba Spiering. JV coaches are Donny Meyer, Jesse VanHeel and Gunner Van Gilder.
2024-25 SDAHA Record, State — Watertown went 7-15 in SDAHA and qualified for state as the No. 8 seed before losing 9-2 to eventual state champion Rushmore and 6-3 to Yankton.
Top Returnees — Seniors Jack Elshere (4 goals, 11 assists), Quinten Jorgenson (0-7), Jett Van Gilder (0-1), Jake Root (1-2) and goalie Kohl Nygaard (626 saves); juniors Tyler Roberts (8-5), Aidyn Melville (7-2), Bailey Dorneman (2-9), Remington Redlin (0-1) and Tyson Lawrence (0-1).
Remaining Scheduled Home SDAHA Games — Dec. 27 vs. Brandon Valley, Dec. 28 vs. Mitchell, Feb. 7 vs. Brookings, Feb. 21-22 vs. Rushmore, Feb. 27 Aberdeen, Feb. 28 Oahe and March 1. State tourney is March 12-14 at Sioux Falls.
Coach Lloyd's Comments — "After Rushmore, two Sioux Falls teams and Brookings, the rest of the league is going to be a dogfight. I would definitely like us to try to get to state as a No. 4 or No. 5 seed. I think that is where we want to be." .... "A lot of our system is just going to come down to execution and playing as a team. We've already proven we can play at a high rate of speed, now we just have to execute our system off of that and just really bring that all together as a team."
Jett Van Gilder of the Watertown Lakers (4) tries to knock the puck away from a Sioux Center (IA) player during their South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity boys game on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Watertown's Prairie Lakes Ice Arena. The Lakers won 7-0.Watertown Lakers (Girls)
Head Coach — Stephen Vannelli, first year.
Assistants — Brandon Henman, Kaitlyn Kunkel and Kelsey Beebe.
2024-25 SDAHA Record, State — After going winless in SDAHA play in 2023-24, the Lakers improved to 2-17-12 and entered state as the No. 8 seed. They lost to eventual champion Sioux Falls 7-0 in the first round, beating Mitchell 3-1 in the consolation semifinals and fell to Sioux Center 4-2 in the consolation championship. Sioux Falls capped a 24-0 season against SDAHA foes by beating Brookings 3-2 in four overtimes for the state championship.
Top Returnees — Senior goalie Kira Reppe (411 saves); junior Harper Hendricks (second team all-state, 24 goals, 8 assists) and goalie Kira Reppe; sophomores Lily Murray (1-2), Mikenna Knof (1-2), Alyssa Mathews (1-1), Emma Schleusner (3-9) and goalie Nylah Vannelli (518 saves); freshman Gracelyn Webb (1-1) and eighth-grader Sloane Allard (0-2),
Remaining Scheduled Home SDAHA Games — Dec. 8 vs. Mitchell, Dec. 26 vs. Sioux Falls, Jan. 17 vs. Oahe, Feb. 7 vs. Brookings, Feb. 20 vs. Aberdeen and Feb. 21-22 vs. Rushmore. State tourney is March 5-7 at Mitchell.
Coach Vannelli's Comments — "Sioux Falls, for sure, is going to be the team to beat again this year and Brookings also. I think that the middle of the pack is going to be a little more even this year and hopefully we can play up into that pack." ... "We're still young, but that gives us some time to keep getting better. We graduated six seniors. We're backfilling with some younger players and our sophomores will have to grow into becoming our mainstay group."
2025 SDAHA STATE BOYS HOCKEY: Rushmore Thunder concludes 25-0 season with championship win over Sioux Falls West
Aberdeen Cougars (Boys)
Head Coach — Dana Myhre, first year.
Assistants — Kevin Hundstad and Landon Danielson.
2024-25 SDAHA Record, State — The Cougars went 12-9 in SDAHA and were the No. 4 seed at state. They beat Mitchell 3-2 in the first round, lost 1-0 to eventual champion Sioux Falls in the semifinals and then topped Oahe 4-3 for third place.
Top Returnees —Jaxon Danielson (8-8), Logan Fischbach (2-5), Derek Holland (5-2), Wheeler Malsam (5-4), Briggs Medill (7-7), Trayke Roehrich (7-11), Austin Schmit (3-3), Carter Vilhauer (4-3), Brady Oswald (1-1) and goalie Benjamin Bradley (157 saves).
Remaining Scheduled Home SDAHA Games — Dec. 26 vs. Watertown, Dec. 27 vs. Brookings, Jan. 10-11 vs. Sioux Center (IA), Jan. 24 vs. Sioux Falls West, Feb. 20 vs. Mitchell, Feb. 21 vs. Sioux Falls East, Feb. 22 vs. Huron.
Kaylee Dixon of the Aberdeen Cougars skates between Keagan Stolp (11) and Piper Krueger of the Watertown Lakers during a South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association varsity girls game on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena. Host Watertown won 3-2.Aberdeen Cougars (Girls)
Head Coach — Amy Munsterman-Wills, first year.
Assistants — Tyler Herman, Chris Lamont and David Sandvig.
2024-25 SDAHA Record, State — Aberdeen went 12-10 in SDAHA play and entered the state tourney as the No. 6 seed befpore losing 5-4 in double overtime to Sioux Falls West and 6-2 to Mitchell.
2025 SDAHA STATE GIRLS HOCKEY: Aberdeen Cougars take third, Watertown Lakers sixth in SDAHA varsity girls state tourney
Top Returnees — Addyson Keller (10 goals, 7 assists), Olivia Sandvig (6-3), Rachael Siefken (second team all-state, 14-12), goalie Chloe Vikander (second team all-state, 401 saves), Kayleigh Urlacher (1-2), Kylie Herman (1-1), Leah Kranzler (1-1) and Riley Keller (0-1).
Remaining Scheduled Home SDAHA Games — Dec. 27 vs. Mitchell, Dec. 28 vs. Sioux Falls, Jan. 17-18 vs. Sioux Center (IA), Jan. 23 vs. Brookings, Jan. 24 vs. Sioux Falls, Jan. 25 vs. Watertown and Feb. 22 vs. Oahe.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Preview of Watertown, Aberdeen varsity girls, boys hockey teams
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