By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State Jackrabbits club hockey team will start its season over the weekend with a pair of home games against North Dakota State at the Larson Ice Center.
If Jacks fans want a chance to cheer on the blue and gold against the Bison this season, they need to head to the ice rink.
The Jackrabbits are coming off a season where they went 18-9. SDSU head coach Justin Kirchhevel said the Jacks are off to a great start as they prepare for the season.
“We’ve had a great couple weeks of practice. We got the team finalized and these boys have bonded and it’s awesome to see. These kids come from all these different towns and have come together and grown as individuals and as a team,” Kirchhevel said.
The Jacks have 20 players from South Dakota on their roster. Kirchhevel said it’s been fun to see players that grew up as rivals, come together as teammates.
“We kind of joke around that this is the South Dakota all stars because we have a lot of the top players from South Dakota. It’s awesome to see these guys be able to come together that you know, competed and had hatred for each other growing up. Now, you can’t separate them,” Kirchhevel said.
Specifically, SDSU has nine players from Brookings on its team and they played under Kirchhevel for the Brookings Rangers varsity team in high school. Those players include senior Zach Struck, juniors David Brink and Addison Ronning, sophomores Owen Schneider, Egan Jensen and Jacob Kahle and freshmen Breck Hirrschoff, Ren Jacobsen and Jay Harris.
Ronning said it’s been great to reunite with some of his high school teammates and Kirchhevel played a big part in that.
“It’s super nice. We obviously still talked a lot and went to the same college and still hung out and stuff. When [Kirchhevel] decided to be the coach, it’s kind of a no-brainer to want to come back and play for him. … It’s been huge [to have familiarity with those guys]. Hockey is a chemistry sport and if you have no chemistry or blend in the team, it’s not going to work out,” Ronning said.
Kirchhevel took over with 8 games left their first season back in action in 2023-2024 and led the team to a 20-2 record the 2024-25 season that really was the catalyst that pushed the Jacks Hockey Club to the next level. Kirchhevel then moved on to coach the Watertown Shamrocks of the NAHL (North American Hockey League) while still being the general manager for the Jacks. Last year, they continued to climb the rankings after an upset of a top 10 nationally ranked team in St. Thomas and look to solidify their spot on the national stage with a highly touted recruiting class.
Kirchhevel said there’s a lot of talent from Brookings on the team and those players have made it easier for him to show the other players what the culture is like under him.
“Owen Schneider is one of the best Rangers to ever go through the program,” Kirchhevel said. “He won four straight state championships in varsity and never lost a state tournament game. I mean, we have a lot of guys who have been successful throughout the years. Jacob Kahle, Breck Hirrschoff, Zach Struck, David Brink, Addison Ronning and Ren Jacobsen.
“I mean, the list goes on. They’re great culture guys and really set the tone and make it a lot easier on myself to kind of create that family atmosphere and get the message across and set the standards and the expectations.”
This will be SDSU’s fourth season back as a club hockey team. The Jackrabbits used to be in the Division III club hockey level but are now in Division II. They play under the American Collegiate Hockey Association umbrella.
This year, SDSU will take on the likes of NDSU, Jamestown, Minnesota Crookston, Creighton, Augustana, Minnesota State-Moorhead, St. Thomas, Nebraska and Minnesota State-Mankato.
Ronning said the goal for the team this year is to make the regional tournament. They then want to finish in the top 16 of the Central Region and that would punch their ticket to nationals.
SDSU’s long-term goal is to make the jump to Division I in the next couple of years. Moving up to Division I is an application process.
Ronning said SDSU club hockey participated in One Day for STATE last week and raised around $5,000. The Jacks also earn money from ticket sales and beer sales on game day.
“Support has for sure grown over the past couple years,” Ronning said. “We have interns now with photographers, videographers, people that want to run ticket operations. We have athletic trainers and recruitment managers.
“We’re getting recognition from the students that want to be a part of this, even if they’re not hockey players. … We were averaging around 500 fans per game last season and for the NDSU games we averaged around 500 and the max capacity at the Larson Ice Center is around 1,200.”
Puck drop between the Jacks and Bison on Friday night will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday’s game is set to start at 1:30 p.m.
