Sheridan Hawks Junior Hockey Team Sweeps Cody; Preparing For 2024 NA3HL Showcase

The Sheridan Hawks Junior Hockey team won both home games vs. Cody this past weekend by scores of 10-0 and 7-4.

In the latter game, Head Coach J.J. Santagata says he was not pleased with how the team did not play as a team, and that’s something that isn’t needed heading into the Showcase event.

“A lot of individual play, very sloppy hockey, guys trying to do things on their own, not sticking to systems and structure and just trying to play above the team and it’s not something we want going into showcase right now, playing 3 really good teams, so just putting Saturday past us and just trying to build off of 3-4 good days of practice right now, so that’s really our biggest concern. We’ve just been doing a lot of systems, a lot of o-zones, a lot of d-zones, a lot of neutral zones, so just trying to fine tune some details of where we need to be better and hopefully it just comes together at Showcase.”

As for the Showcase event, that’s where every team in the NA3HL will be at, beginning this Sunday in Blaine, Minnesota, which is just north of Minneapolis.

Outside of the Frasier Cup tournament, this is the only other time that teams will play other teams from outside of their division.

All teams play 3 games vs. teams that either have a similar record or are in a similar place in their own division, as of the end of November.

For example, first place teams play other first place teams, 2nd place teams play other 2nd place teams and so forth.

On Sunday at 5:15pm, Sheridan will play the Texas Brahmas from North Richland Hills, which is northeast of Fort Worth.

On Monday at 11:15am, the Hawks go up against West Bend, Wisconsin, which is north of Milwaukee.

Then on Tuesday at 10:45am, Norwich, Connecticut will be the opponent.

Coach Santagata says he’s been studying the teams on film and explains what can be expected.

“Texas is an extremely offensive team, they’re very high powered, they have good depth, so we’re going to see a team that plays very well offensively, so that’s going to be a good test for us and then West Bend on the flip side of that, they’re a team that’s extremely structured, they play simple, they play heavy, they play physical, so we’re just going to have to play a little bit higher paced, a little bit simpler game for them and then Norwich is another team that plays a very good structured game, so whatever we did well Monday vs. West Bend, just carry that onto Tuesday and just finish off the weekend well, but 3 really good teams. We’ve watched a ton a film on Texas and West Bend, so we know what we’re facing, we just got to put it together and execute now.”

After the Showcase Event, Sheridan will return home, take a break and resume practice sometime after the Christmas Holiday.

The first games of the 2025 calendar year are on Friday and Saturday, January 3rd and 4th at home vs. Butte.

Hawks Vs. Cody Recap: (Courtesy: Sheridan Hawks)

The Sheridan Hawks took the first game of the weekend series against the Yellowstone Quake with a shutout.

Leading scorer Josh Serino scored in the first minute, followed by Anthony DiCola for his first of the season.

Ernest Allen and Kiefer Dunham would end the period for the Hawks with a 4-0 lead.

The second period saw that lead extended quickly, three goals in ten minutes from Gavin Elliott, Serino for his second, and Vlad Zubriichuk. Serino secured his hat trick with the Hawk’s eighth goal soon after, his fifth of the season so far.

Dunham and DiCola each scored their second goal of the game in the third period, capping off a ten goal night for the Hawks.

Serino and Elijah White each led the Hawks in scoring with four points, the former now the third leading scorer overall in the NA3HL and top in number of goals scored.

Hawks goaltender Ryan Rainey blocked all 30 shots faced in the shutout.

Saturday didn’t go quite as easy on the Hawks, as the Quake struck first with an early goal in the first period from Wesley Amos. 

The Hawks responded 6 minutes later with a power play goal from Logan Hume, assisted by Vincent Leaf (his 30th assist of the year) and Kiefer Dunham, to end the period tied up. 

But the Quake didn’t let the score stay even long, and potted one from new addition to the team Jordan Murray to regain a one point lead. 

The Hawks regained the initiative at just over three minutes later though, with a Elijah Farris goal, helped by Connor Hulett and Charlie Stow to match up the scoreboard with 2 apiece for the teams and 86 seconds later bumped up to a one goal lead off a Derek Laite goal assisted by Ernest Allen and Kadin Edwards. 

Just past the midpoint of the seconds, Farris solidified the lead to two goals with another in the net, with help from Hullett and Andrew Arthur. 

The Hawks left the second with a 4-2 advantage and at ten minutes into the third, the Hawks moved up to a 3 point lead with Kadin Edwards’ first goal of the season, assisted by Laite. 

The Quake wasn’t out of gas however, and scored on a odd man rush to bring it back to within two with just 2 minutes and 13 seconds remaining in the game. 

Yellowstone pulled their goalie to get the extra man advantage but allowed Vlad Zubriichuk to skate one in and leave a puck in the empty net. 

But still in the game, the Quake got by the Sheridan defense and brought it to 6-4 before once again pulling their netminder. 

Sheridan’s Tyler Kemp took advantage of that though to throw and long saucer from the Sheridan zone that ended the game 7-4.

The Hawks, currently 18-6-2-0, head to Blaine, MN this weekend for the NA3HL Showcase. 

While in the Minneapolis area they will play three out of division games with top teams from the South, Central and East divisions. 

Sunday the 15th the Hawks take on the Texas Brahmas, the South division second seed with a 19-3-2-0 record and coached by former Hawks coach Chad Bailey. 

The puck will drop at 5:15 pm local Sheridan time. 

On Monday morning, at 11:15 MST, Sheridan takes on the Central division’s top ranked team, the West Bend Power (16-7-1-0), followed by a game another morning game on Tuesday the 17th vs the 15-5-2-0 Norwich Sea Captains, the number one seed from the Central.

After their formidable Showcase schedule the Hawks get a couple weeks off for the holiday break and return to home ice on Jan 3 and 4, when they host the Butte Irish a the Whitney Rink in the M&M’s Center.