Sports
The 20 Favorites series continues with a look at Watertown girls hockey
Editor's Note: Sportswriter Roger Merriam is putting together a “20 Favorites” series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school and other sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December 1984. The series focuses on northeastern South Dakota athletes, but some played at colleges across the state and others have moved to other areas.
One of the things I really wanted to get done before the new year was the “20 Favorites” series, but there are a few more in the works that will run in the spring.
The two weeks of vacation will feature “20 Favorites” stories about girls and boys hockey in Watertown. I can honestly say that the two stories probably took the most research time than any other in the series and I have to thank coaches Don Meyer, Adam Sullivan, Curt Kranz, Vince Foley and Travis Young who were directly or indirectly involved in the process.
Now to girls hockey in Watertown. Did you know that Watertown was the first city in South Dakota to form a girls hockey team. Watertown's program began in 1994, but the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association girls' varsity competition did not begin until 1997. The first girls state tournament was held in 1999.
As always, don't worry about order until we reach the last spots. Let's get started.
20. Others
With only a short 25 years of Watertown girls hockey, the list of eligible players was certainly not as large as the boys', and all of these stories left out the concern that an obvious choice had been left out. While there may have been others that could have been mentioned in the various sports, I haven't forgotten Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth until now.
It was interesting to remember that Brittany Page, one of the best track sprinters in Watertown High School history, and Jessica Fox, one of the best distance runners in track and field and cross country for the Arrows, each played hockey for the Lakers . Photos of some other Laker players are included in the online gallery.
I also usually try to stay away from current players unless they have a family connection, but sophomore Harper Hendricks and freshman Emma Schleusner are two up-and-coming players who might be on the list if the story were written ten years from now.
I'm sure there are many worth mentioning, but I can't list them all.
19. Kayla Piorkowski
Piorkowski had 12 goals and 19 assists in the regular season and state tournaments for the Lakers' runner-up state team in 2013-14.
18. Amanda Flint
One thing I've mostly tried to do with all the stories is that I've been represented through the decades and Feuerstein passed the ball well as a second-team all-state defenseman in 2004.
17. Amanda Bullene
Same era as Feuerstein, but a different type of player. Bullene earned second-team all-state honors as a forward in 2006-07. She was definitely a key player on Watertown's first two state runner-up teams in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, scoring over 100 goals in SDAHA games during her career.
16. Emily Klein
Little was also a talented soccer goalie in high school and is now head coach of the Watertown High School girls soccer team.
She was also a pretty good goaltender on the ice and was named second team all-state in 2007-08.
15. Cassie Broussard
Broussard was a teammate and co-second-team all-state selection with Little in 2007-08. Broussard earned the nod on defense.
I haven't verified it, but I suspect Little and Broussard were on the state runner-up team in 2006-07 and maybe even 2005-06.
14. Kaitlyn Kunkel
Kunkel made the all-state second team as a defenseman in 2017-18 and later played club hockey at North Dakota State University for at least a few years.
13. Paige Falk
This one deserves one
asterisk since Falk was one of the top two goaltenders for the Watertown Lakers' varsity boys' hockey team in 2013-14. Last year she also saw duty in net.
Earlier in her career, she played goalkeeper for the Laker girls.
I doubt it actually happened that a girl served as a goalie for a varsity boys hockey team in South Dakota. She played club hockey for at least a year for the North Dakota State University women's team.
12. Jordan and Amanda Robin
Jordan Robin is another Laker girl who scored over 100 career goals in SDAHA games for the Lakers and even had a pair of 37-goal seasons between 2007 and 2010.
Her sister Amanda was a teammate on the team from 2007-2008, if not longer.
11. Kelsey Beebe
Beebe was a six-year varsity player for the Lakers from 2012-18 and finished her career with 22 goals and 16 assists (against SDAHA teams) in 2017-18.
She later played college hockey for a few years at Midland Lutheran in Fremont, Neb.
10. The Kranz family
Curt Kranz is in his second term as head coach of the Watertown Lakers varsity girls team. He has been involved in hockey in Watertown for many years, playing on the 1996 Watertown Boys State Championship team.
He also has three daughters (McKenzie, Kendra and Jayda) who played for the Lakers from 2013 through 2023.
9. The young family
Travis Young and his brother JD each grew up playing for the Watertown Lakers varsity boys team, and Travis spent two stints as head coach of the Laker girls (1994-97 and 2016-19). If you want to know the Watertown girls' first-ever head coach, he's your answer.
Travis' daughter Sydnie was also the Lakers' leading goalie in the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, making about 1,500 career saves in SDAHA play.
8. Joelle Smykowski
Smykowski would technically be considered the first major scorer in Watertown girls hockey history, with more than 100 career goals in SDAHA play in her five-year career. She joined Feuerstein as a second-team all-state forward in 2003-04.
The 2004 Watertown High School graduate then enrolled in the North American Hockey Academy in Stowe, Vermont, hoping to land a scholarship. Unlike boys, junior hockey did not exist for girls and that is still not the case.
I'm not sure what happened next, but she was certainly a worthy player for this list.MORE:
One last time: Senior standout Jaclyn Lloyd leads Watertown to state girls hockey tournament
7. Jaclyn and Janel Lloyd
Jaclyn was a varsity performer for the Arrows for six years, scoring more than 150 goals in her career before graduating in 2022. She earned first-team honors as a forward in 2022 and has played for Concordia College the past three winters. in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Her younger sister Janel first appeared in varsity games for the Lakers as a sixth-grader in 2017-18 and will conclude her high school career with Lakers this winter.
Watertown's Heather Mullin, left, scores a goal against Sioux Falls goalie Brittany Corcoran during their 2012 varsity girls hockey game at Maas Ice Arena.
6. Heather Mullin
Mullin, another high-scoring Laker player who scored more than 100 career goals in SDAHA play, was a key player for the state runner-up team in 2013-14.
Mullin earned second-team all-state honors as a forward in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.
5. Amanda Norton Go ahead, claim nepotism if you want, but there's more to it than that. Amanda's father Jim was a part-time employee for the Public opinion
sports department for a number of years and his primary job was as a photographer for the Watertown Lakers boys' and girls' hockey games.
His daughter could really play and was a two-time all-state goalie in 2004-05 (first team) and 2005-06 (second team). Her play in net certainly helped the team finish second in the state rankings in 2006.STATE GIRLS HOCKEY 2014:
Title proves elusive for Laker girls
4. The Muhls
Keith Muhl has been a big part of Watetown hockey for several years, even coaching the Watertown girls team to a state runner-up finish in 2014. Daughters Kaitlyn and Kelsey and sons Keenan and Kowynn (current) have each played for their respective Laker played. plowing.
Kaitlyn is the center of this story. She scored more than 150 goals in her career and earned all-national honors as a forward in both 2012-2013 (second team) and 2013-2014 (first team). She scored 46 goals and 30 assists against SDAHA teams during the Lakers' second season in 2013-2014.
Kelsey was also a good player for the Lakers from the mid to late 2000s.
3. The Foleys
You can't talk about Watertown hockey without mentioning the name Foley. Vince Foley played for the Lakers and was then involved for many years as a coach and in other positions.
Several of his children (more on that when the boys' story comes out) all played for the Lakers. Key to this story is his daughter Mary, whose 43-goal season in 2004-05 pushed her career marks past 150 goals.
Tiffany Hamann of the Watertown Lakers (44) pushes the back past Annika Dawes of the Sioux Falls Flyers during their 2016 SDAHA varsity girls hockey game at Maas Ice Arena.
2. Tiffany and Tara Hamann
Can I be honest? At the risk of alienating anyone, but if we were to rank players strictly by hockey ability, the Hamann sisters would probably qualify as #1 on this list.
Tiffany is another Laker standout who scored more than 150 goals in SDAHA play during her career. That included 48 goals and 19 assists in 2014-15, when she earned second-team all-state honors.
Younger sister Tiffany was also on the Lakers that season and eventually played six years on the varsity and also scored over 100 goals. She was a second-team all-defensive player in 2016-17.
1. The Suttens
Kay Sutten passed away in late October, but is the person who helped Watertown create the first girls hockey program in the state in the mid-1990s.
That may be enough to put her at the top of the list, but you should know that her motivation for starting the program was her daughter Lindsey, who became Wartertown's first star girls hockey player.
Lindsey's brothers Jarod and Jake each played for the Watertown Laker boys.Follow Watertown Public Opinion sportscaster Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports
or email: [email protected]
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