Sheridan Hawks Junior Hockey Team To Tune Up For 2025 Showcase Event With Home and Home Series Vs. Rapid City

Now that the Sheridan Hawks Junior Hockey team has swung the pendulum the other way in their rivalry against Gillette, players are now shifting their focus to a new thorn in their side.

The team will play a home-and-home series vs. Rapid City this coming Friday and Saturday.

The Sabres have won 3 of 4 head-to-head meetings so far this season, and 2 of those 3 have been 1-goal games.

Hawks Head Coach J.J. Santagata says the old sports saying of some teams matchup better than others is true in this case.

“It’s a team that plays a very simple structured game and it’s teams that we kind of struggle against, honestly right now is teams that just do the little details and little things right and that’s kind of what we need to do. We kind of get away from our team game when we play teams like this, so we know it’s going to be a grind. We’re out again another top 6 forward this weekend, so it is what it is, but it’s just a team that obviously we struggle against, just due to their structure and their style of play, so a good test for the boys going into Showcase.”

Friday’s game on the road is scheduled to begin at 7:05pm and the puck is scheduled to drop in Saturday’s home game at 7:30pm.

These will be the last games before the NA3HL’s Showcase Event which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, December 14th in Minnesota.

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Weekend Recap: (Courtesy: Sheridan Hawks)

The Sheridan Hawks started off their two game series vs the Gillette Wild on the road and secured a 4-1 victory at the Spirit Hall in the Camplex.

The contest kicked off with the Hawks taking the lead in the opening frame at the 13:12 minute mark.

Deagan Watson scored on the power play to give Sheridan a 1-0 lead heading into the middle period.

The second frame was scoreless with both teams trading chances but with the Wild outshooting the Hawks 12-10 in the period.

Moving into the final frame, the Hawks quickly capitalized on their lead with another power-play goal, this time by Caden Gleason, one minute into the period.

The Wild would respond four minutes later when they would get on the board for the first and only time of the game.

The Hawks continued their scoring ways midway through the frame when Dante Hunziker scored his 13th of the season.

The scoring would end when Sheridan’s Max Krueger would tally an empty-netter to give the Hawks a 4-1 victory.

Between the pipes for Sheridan, Wyatt Knott turned away 28 out of 29 shots, securing his team a victory.

Saturday night, the Hawks hosted the Wild at the Whitney Rink in the M&M’s Center and controlled the pace from start to finish, overwhelming the Gillette Wild with a massive shot advantage and pulling away late for a 3–1 win.

Despite a scoreless first period, Sheridan set the tone early by outshooting Gillette 23–8, foreshadowing the pressure that would define the night.

The game opened up in the second, when Sheridan finally broke through at 16:14.

Elijah Farris finished the chance for his ninth of the season off a setup from Evan Scholl, giving the Hawks the 1–0 lead.

Gillette answered just under three minutes later on the power play with a tying goal at 13:40, sending the teams into the intermission knotted 1–1 despite Sheridan’s 20–10 shot advantage.

The Hawks’ relentless pressure paid off in the third. On a power play at 6:21, Farris struck again—this time the game-winner—set up by Caden Gleason and Deagan Watson to restore the Sheridan lead.

Gillette never found a response, and with 50 seconds left, Ernie Allen sealed the win with an unassisted empty-netter.

Sheridan poured on 24 more shots in the final frame for a staggering 67–24 total on the night.

Hawks goaltender Otto Reinhart was steady in a full 60-minute effort and that along with Sheridan’s structure and shot volume ultimately carried them to a well-earned home victory.

The Hawks have another split away-home weekend series coming up, taking on the Badlands Sabres on their home ice in Rapid City, SD, before coming home to host the Sabres in Sheridan. 

The Saturday night game is also the Hawks annual Holiday Toy Drive with free admission with a donation of a new toy in original packaging valued at $10 or more. 

All toys will go to the Sheridan Toys For Tots. 

This will also be the last game before the NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, MN and the holiday break. 

The Hawks won’t play on home ice again until January 16, 2026.