Thursday, the USA National Hockey Tournaments begin across the country and two Oahe Capitals Boys Varsity players, Carter Sanderson and Jarron Beck will participate on their respective teams on Team South Dakota.
Sanderson will be on the U14 team once again this year. He was part of the team last year which fell just short of the national championship but are poised to make a run at this year. Sanderson is joined by several Aberdeen players who also got plenty of varsity playing time for the Cougars this year including Carson Hundstad, the Cougars goalie.
Beck is on the U16 team which is coached by Curtis Egan, a former coach for the Oahe Capitals. Beck is the lone Capitals player but his team also sees plenty of varsity experience heading into the national tournament. Head Coach of the Oahe Capitals Steve Steele says it’s fun to see these guys play in national tournaments against teams all over the country…
Steele says a big benefit to playing on Team SD is seeing different styles of hockey…
While a national championship is what everybody wants to see, Steele says for the Capitals standpoint, you want to see growth for both Sanderson and Beck…
Team SD U16 will play at 10:15 on Thursday morning against the Bozeman Icedogs while Team SD U14 will play at 7:30 Thursday night against the Alaska Oilers. You can see a full list of their schedule below.
Team SD Schedule
Boys U14
Thursday – 6:30 vs. Alaska Oilers
Friday – 10:30 vs. York Devils
Saturday – 12:45 vs. Irish Rovers
Sunday – 9:00 or 9:15 – Quarterfinals
4:00 or 4:15 – Semifinals
Monday – 9:00 – Championship
Boys U16
Thursday – 9:15 vs. Bozeman Icedogs
Friday – 5:15 vs. Tri Cities Jr. Americans
Saturday – 3:15 vs. Providence HC
Sunday – 10:00 or 10:15 – Quarterfinals
5:00 or 5:15 – Semifinals
Monday – 10:00 – Championship
