Sheridan Hawks Junior Hockey Team To Start 2025-26 Season With Change In Schedule Format

The calendar may have just switched over to September, but it’s time for the hockey season to begin.

The Sheridan Hawks Junior Team will start their 2025-26 campaign on Friday and Saturday, September 5th and 6th, with games at Rapid City.

The puck drops both days at 7:05pm.

The schedule this season is different compared to past years’.

There will be some weekends when Sheridan will play one team on Friday and another on Saturday, regardless if it’s at home or on the road.

Kiefer Dunham says off the ice it’s not going to matter much, because the time on the bus will be about the same.

“Those bus trips is where you build a lot of that comradery I guess. Everyone spends a lot of time with each other, small quarters, and it gets boring on the bus. You find fun things to do, fun games, and just learning stuff about your team-mates, so in that aspect it’ll be a great thing. There’s definitely going to be some adversity, to battle, when it comes to having bus legs and long trips and then home games, that definitely adds a new aspect, but I think this team will be ready for it all.”

Head Coach J.J. Santagata says on the ice, having 2 different opponents on some weekends, will help stir the pot.

“Obviously it builds a little bit more rivalries, a builds a little bit more bad blood when you play the same team Friday/Saturday night. The positive is, you get a new team, new fresh look, so maybe you had a bad game Friday, you’re getting a new team, turn the page, go look through Saturday, but it’s just going to put a little bit more workload on our coaching staff with pre-scouting, stuff like that, but at the end of the day it’s still 2 games, so no matter what, you’re playing the all same teams no matter what, so it’s 2 games, you got to do your job, take care of business.”

The Hawks play their first 6 games on the road.

The home opener is on Friday, September 26th vs. Rapid City.