BROOKINGS – The State Boys Hockey Tournament kicked off with quarterfinal action at the Larson Ice Center on Friday morning as Sioux Falls West, Rushmore and Oahe advanced to Saturday’s semifinals.
The Flyers will face Rushmore in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday while the Capitals will face the Brookings Rangers at 7 p.m.
Brady Huff scored the first goal of the tournament as the Aberdeen forward scored with an assist from Lleyton Kleffman 27 seconds into the game.
While the Flyers tied the game on Carson Sarahan’s power play goal from Carson Edwards and Keegan Clancy at 3:20 of the second period, Aberdeen took the lead back with Micah Kranzler’s unassisted goal at 9:07 of the second period.
But Alex Carlson tied the game for the Flyers with a goal from Jack Campbell and Ashton Eining at 14:58 of the third period and Nathan Renken scored the game winning-goal from Sarahan at 3:17 of overtime to advance to the semifinals.
Cole Langston earned the win for Sioux Falls West, stopping 17 of 19 shots while Colton Townsend took the loss with 35 saves on 38 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play while Aberdeen went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The second-seeded Thunder cruised past the Marlins in the second quarterfinal on Friday morning.
Rushmore scored four times in the first period beginning with Carter Kirk’s goal from William Simmons and Wyatt Reeder at 4:52. Alexander Dietrich made it a 2-0 game with his goal from Mason McGregor at 6:02 and Reeder put the Thunder up 3-0 with a shorthanded goal at 8:51 before Cameron Ritter scored on the power play from Colton Merchen and Reeder at 15:32.
Rushmore scored the first two goals of the second period to make it a 6-0 game with Dietrich scoring his second goal of the game from Ritter and Reeder at 21 seconds and Reeder scoring his second goal of the game from Wyatt Balliew and Andrew Welling 26 seconds later.
Levi Loken scored a power play goal from Parker Denne to put Mitchell on the board at 5:31 of the second period and Coy Olson scored an unassisted goal at 16:50 to make it a 6-2 game at the second intermission.
Damien Pongklub capped the scoring with his goal from Simmons and Reeder at 5:15 of the third period.
Brody Lee earned the win with 14 saves on 16 shots while Ian Vaughan took the loss with 39 saves on 46 shots.
Rushmore went 1-for-4 on the power play while Mitchell went 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
The Capitals used a three-goal second period to advance to the semifinals on Friday afternoon.
Aidan Dozark scored the first goal of the game shorthanded at 6:22 of the first period and Oahe built a 3-0 lead thanks to Devin Dodson’s goal from Barret Schewitzer at 4:31 of the second period and Dozark’s second goal of the game from Ayden Behm at 5:01 of the second period.
Ben Vermeer put the Flyers on the board with an unassisted goal at 7:22 of the second period but Dozark completed the hat trick with assists from Luke Miller and Jayce Anderson at 8:38.
Max Mohr capped the scoring for the Flyers with an unassisted goal at 1:54 of the third period.
Spencer Anderson earned the win for Oahe with 29 saves on 31 shots while Trey Salonen stopped 24 of 28 shots for Sioux Falls East.
The Capitals went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Flyers went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
