BROOKINGS — When the Brookings Ice Skating Association kicks off another hockey season tonight at its annual Hot Hockey Nights fundraiser, it will also induct two of the best hockey players — and all-around athletes — to ever wear a Rangers sweater into their Hall of Fame.
Aaron Krogman and Jesse Rounds will be honored and take their place among Brookings’ all-time greats.
“We’re honored as an organization to celebrate both these guys — both for their outstanding playing careers and for all their efforts to continue the growth of hockey in Brookings,” BISA Hockey Director Justin Kirchhevel said.
Krogman, a standout two-way center who graduated in 1999, and Rounds, a physical defenseman who was also a playmaker for the class of ‘02, were both exceptional athletes whose play and leadership helped launch the Rangers program from perennial also-ran status to the top of South Dakota hockey.
Krogman fell in love with hockey at an early age — in the street and on the old outdoor rink at Larson’s Hill.
“I started skating when I was 6,” he said. “I grew up with a bunch of kids — Mansheims and Hirrschoffs and Schliessmann and Charlson and we were in that neighborhood that was walking or biking distance to the old outdoor rink, and then we’d play street hockey in the summer. We just played a ton of hockey.”
Even playing against older competition, he was a standout right away.
“I think I just got hooked on scoring goals, right? That’s it for a little kid,” Krogman said. “That’s everything. And I loved every second of it from there. I loved to practice. I just loved to play.”
Rolfe Behrend coached Aaron from squirts through bantams, and didn’t mince words about the player Krogman was.
“Just as an all-around player, he was the best. There were probably faster guys, or better pure scorers, but as far as doing everything from one end of the ice to the other, he was the best I saw. I had never seen anyone that good at everything.”
And it showed, on the stat sheet and in the standings.
“His first year of bantams I had him, and he led the state in scoring so much that just his assists covered the total points of the guy in second place,” Behrend said. “Just one of those Wayne Gretzky-type numbers.”
And with a talented first group of youth Rangers to skate on indoor ice, Krogman helped hang the first banners in BISA history.
“For sure the championships,” Krogman said when asked what he remembers most about his playing career. “We were lucky enough to win four in a row, two in pee-wee and two in bantam. And then we won one more when I was a junior in high school in 1998.
“Also just the guys I played with. I got to play with so many good teammates, so many great hockey players. Just so many great hockey families,” Krogman said.
It didn’t go unnoticed in Brookings, either.
“The two biggest crowds I remember,” Krogman continued, “I remember the bantam regional we played at home at the old Larson, against Grand Forks. That was a big deal. And that place was packed, man. Just seemed like eight people deep all around the glass and full in the bleachers. And we skated right with that team. And then when I was a freshman, I don’t think anyone would have picked us to win state that year but we made the final against Watertown, and the rink was LOUD that day.”
In fact, a brand-new squirt named Jesse Rounds was standing along the glass at the old Larson for that regional final in 1995.
Though a young Krogman fell in love with scoring goals — and he scored them in piles — his contemporaries remember him most as a standout teammate who played hard at both ends of the rink — and could tilt the ice without ever touching the puck.
“Aaron Krogman was the best player in South Dakota back in our time, and I was lucky to get to play on a line with him. He made everyone around him better,” according to Brad Ellingson, captain of the 1997 Rangers. “His passes were always on the tape, and he had that quick wrist shot that tortured opposing goalies. The guy was always positive, a natural leader, and I don’t know anyone who ever had a bad word to say about him.
“Had every tool, but what always amazed me you couldn’t knock him off the puck, so strong on his feet and skilled with the puck,” Ellingson said. “I think everyone would agree with how great of a teammate he was on and off the ice. He led by mostly by example, but when he did speak up you listened. It was an absolute honor to be his linemate and teammate.”
Dave Schliessmann, who along with Krogman helped Brookings win its first varsity state title in 1998, agreed.
“Aaron is the ideal teammate and an elite athlete. Aaron can score, he can assist and he can play defense. Just a coach’s dream player,” Schliessmann said. “My favorite thing about playing hockey with Aaron was, he always knew where to be on the ice, the game just flowed for him. His hockey mind was incredible.”
Behrend, who coached the first three Rangers youth teams to win state titles, tells a story that sums things up.
“I reffed for a few years after I coached, and I remember I was in the locker room one time after a game, there were four of us in there. And another ref asked me who the best player I had ever seen play in South Dakota was. And I immediately said Aaron Krogman. He might have been a freshman at the time,” Behrend said.
“And this guy had never seen Aaron play I guess, but he asked the other two guys. Mike Reger was in there, and another guy. And Mike Reger said he agreed, Aaron Krogman. And then he asked the third guy, and he said the same thing. Aaron Krogman.”
Rounds started playing hockey a little later, but he, too, was hooked from the start.
“I think I started to play in fifth grade, I wrestled before that,” Rounds said. “But I knew some guys who played, Michael Martin, my cousin Elliot Nelson. So I went out and that was it. The next year I didn’t wrestle. Just focused on hockey.
“It just clicked, it’s a fast-paced and physical game, I always really enjoyed the sport itself,” Rounds said.
“Things were a little different back then, it was a much smaller thing, but we had a tight knit group. All the travel together, going to the summer camps with your buddies. And I enjoyed the sport so much.”
Rounds joined a second wave of Rangers teams — most of which were in attendance for those two packed houses at the old Larson — to have sustained success throughout their careers.
“We had a big class, 12 guys or so — Robb McClemans, Clark Nelson, Tony Honkomp. Aaron Carsrud was our goalie. We had a lot of success all the way up, starting in pee wee.”
Randy Honkomp coached that group up through pee wee and bantam and through varsity, and said Rounds was always a team leader and go-to player.
“It’s not like football, right, where you can draw up a play,” Honkomp said. “But when you needed a stop late in the game? If you had a faceoff in your own end, big draw? Jesse Rounds was going to be on the ice.”
A big, strong, physical defenseman in an era where big, strong defensemen truly mattered, Rounds was also a playmaker, routinely leading the Rangers in plus-minus.
McClemans, already inducted into the BISA HOF, said Rounds was the heart of those teams that won three straight league titles in varsity, on and off the ice.
“All the way through, Jesse was always our top defenseman, and he was a defensive defenseman that could also make a play,” McClemans said. “I think that’s what separated him in my mind. There were guys who were more offensive and there were guys that were all defense, but he was at the top at both — he could kind of do everything.
“Jesse was the one who helped get other people to the weight room, he was always pushing people in practice, he was definitely a leader by example,” McClemans continued. “And if he needed to say something, he for sure would, but otherwise he just put his head down and did the hard work, and other people followed.”
Honkomp agreed.
“You were never going to catch Jesse not giving 100 percent. And that’s the thing, people see the games, but he was like that all the time. He respected the game, he respected his teammates, and he was never not going to work hard. Both he and Aaron, those are the kind of guys, if they had a bad practice? Everyone had a bad practice,” Honkomp said.
“He was a really good playmaker,” Honkomp continued. “He was physical, just in terms of moving guys in front of the net, but also, he could put a lick on you, and you knew it was him if he did. He was a big, strong guy and he was hard to get around. Guys would think they had a step on him but he was strong enough, even if they did, he would knock them off the puck.”
Both Krogman and Rounds expressed discomfort at being singled out for recognition, but felt honored to accept on behalf of the teams they played for.
“It’s really humbly that I am sitting here,” Rounds said. “I don’t like recognition. I was lucky to be surrounded by a ton of great hockey players. And I know there are better hockey players than me that could be sitting here. But I do take pride in my mentality, how I pushed, how I was a good teammate and a good leader. That’s the biggest thing to me. The hockey community.”
Krogman concurred.
“You give 100 percent all the time. You play for the team and your teammates. And you respect the game,” he said. “That was the kind of player I tried to be, that was my personality and that’s where I fit. And if the coach says ‘I need you to do it this way,’ then you do it that way. You give what the team needs as a player. And that was the only way I knew how to play the game.”
The common theme between the players was: high-level athletes who might have gotten by on ability, but chose dedication instead.
“Jesse has been around hockey for a long time now, he has coached up and down, and his kids are involved, and he has always given back to the sport,” Honkomp said. “A lot of people play and then hang it all up, but he has been so loyal. He was like that when he played, he was loyal to his teammates, he was loyal to the game. And the leader you see him being now for the program, that’s the leader he has always been.”
They’re both players who current Rangers should admire, which makes them perfect for the Hall of Fame, according to those who played alongside them.
“Aaron is the player that every young Ranger should model his or her game after. Selfless and dedicated to his teammates and coaches. Aaron and his family’s continuing contributions to the program are what makes Brookings Ranger hockey so successful,” said Schliessmann, who is also a member of the BISA HOF.
“He’s been very good to the program, as well. He’s always been a leader. And he got into coaching when we were done, he was our captain all the way through,” McClemans said of Rounds. “And the fact that he sponsors the mites and termites to try the sport is just so fantastic. It’s awesome.”
"Krog was the definition of a true two-way center," said Rob Hirrschoff, who played baseball and hockey with Krogman nearly his whole career. "Whether it was digging the puck out of the corner, locking up the other team's top line, or creating offense all by himself, Aaron could do it all."
Both Honkomp and Behrend said that Krogman deciding to stick with hockey through his high school years was a key moment in Rangers history, elevating the sport both on the ice and in the community’s estimation.
“When I played, if the best athletes in the class had stuck with hockey, I probably wouldn’t have gotten much playing time,” Behrend said. “And I played with Aaron’s older brothers when they played hockey. And Aaron sticking with hockey, that was huge. He probably could have played four different sports at a high level in college, and him sticking with hockey was just THE turning point for the Rangers program.”
Linehan is the Register’s managing editor and welcomes tips and comments to jlinehan@brookingsregister.com.
