The Sheridan Hawks have established themselves as the team to beat in the NA3HL’s Frontier Division, and now the team is preparing to face some other top level competition.
The team will compete in the 3-day NA3HL Showcase Event beginning on Sunday, December 14th in Blaine, Minnesota, which is a northern suburb of Minneapolis.
All teams in the league will play 3 games against teams from other divisions that are in the same position that they’re in.
For Sheridan, that means the team will take on 3 other top tier teams, and first up on Sunday, is the undefeated Louisiana Drillers, based out of Lafayette, who lead the Southeast Division and are also the defending NA3HL Champs.
The Hawks then play on Monday, against the Long Beach Sharks, who are based out of Long Island, New York and are in 1st place in the East Division.
Sheridan will conclude the Showcase Event on Tuesday at 11:15am, against the host team, the Minnesota Moose, who are in 1st place in the West Division.
Hawks Head Coach J.J. Santagata says these next 3 opponents should be able to provide the different type of challenges that the team has been looking for.
“I think we’re just trying to accomplish that we can play with other teams outside of our division. We’ve done really well in our division this year and the Tuesday 10 obviously kind of reflects that yeah, we’re a good team, but are we that good? So I think right now, we’re just trying to go in to prove to some people that no matter what, whether its in our division or outside, we can play against any team.”
In the NA3HL’s weekly 10 rankings, the Hawks are ranked #7.
The Drillers are ranked #1, the Sharks #5 and the Moose #2.
The Louisiana Drillers lead the league in goals scored with 263 after 23 games, and have only allowed 19 pucks into their own net.
Goalie T.J. Wonnacott says Sheridan just needs to worry about themselves and not get caught up in the hype regarding their opponents.
“I think the team’s just got to play their game, play simple and I think we have a good fighting chance against all the teams we can play against. We’ve done really well in our division and so going outside of the division, playing other top teams, is going to be great to gauge ourselves and I’m just excited to close the door against these high octane teams.”
After the Showcase Event, Sheridan will return home, take a break for the holidays and then play again on January 2nd and 3rd at Bozeman, Montana.
The next scheduled home games are not until January 16th and 17th, also against Bozeman.
