Sheridan Hawks Split Road Games To Start 2024-25 Season; Gillette Up Next

The Sheridan Hawks started the 2024-25 season last weekend with a road split at Great Falls.

The team won the first game 4-3 and dropped the second game 3-1.

Head Coach J.J. Santagata explains what went right and what went wrong.

“I think the positives, Friday night was the group battled back. We went up 1-nothing, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, we walked away with a 4-3 win, so there was no quit, there was no taking a step back, maybe getting punched in the face a little bit early on in that game Friday and they didn’t stop, they didn’t quit and then Saturday I thought we did well 5-on-5. We only let up one 5-on-5 goal on Saturday, so I think 5-on-5 looked good, our D zone looked good. I think our transition game is atrocious right now, our offensive game is not great either, so just a lot of things to work out on both sides of the puck.”

Up next for the Hawks is a home and home series vs. Gillette.

The Wild played in the Frasier Cup tournament last season as the league’s lone wild card team, and made it to the semi-finals.

After one weekend of play this season, Gillette is off to an uncharacteristic 0-2 start and lead the NA3HL in penalty minutes with 76 compared to Sheridan’s 24.

Coach Santagata says when it comes to playing the Wild, those stats usually don’t matter.

“Completely putting aside what Gillette did this past weekend, it doesn’t really matter. Like I tell our guys, you’re only as good as the weekend coming up, so we’re both 0-0 against each other this year, so that’s really all that matters. They may be 0-2, we may be 1-1. At the end of the day Friday night, it’s a rival game, they’re going to come at us with absolutely everything they got, so we’re playing as if this is our first time ever playing them, and this is what we’re going to do. We’re just going to be ready to take these games, roll with the punches and play our best hockey.”

The puck drops Friday at Gillette at 7:05pm.

Saturday’s home opener is scheduled to start at 7:30pm.