16 Teams converged on Iron Creek Lake this past Saturday to compete in the 2nd Annual Iron Creek Classic Pond Hockey Tournament. Play started at 9 AM with round-robin play to determine which teams advanced to the championship round.

In the Upper Division consisting of 10 Adult A and B teams, the semifinals featured the Dekes of Hazard vs the Dakota Jackalopes and BES Lighting vs the Ch’Nookies. Last year’s champion BES Lighting and the Dekes of Hazard would move on to the title game after a pair of close contests. In the championship game, the Dekes of Hazard played the defending champs close, but BES Lighting was able to repeat their title and hoisted the Chinook Cup with a 9-7 win.

In the Lower Division, 6 teams battled to determine the seedings with the CPA’s (Certified Public Assassins) and No Regretzkys earning the 1 and 2 seeds respectively. In another close contest, the No Regretzkys claimed their 1st Chinook Cup with a hard-earned 8-5 victory.

“The real winners are our area youth skaters though”, Blake Dunfee, President of the Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association pointed out, “With sponsorships, registration fees, and the silent auction, we will have raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,000.”

Preparation of the rinks and ice began a couple of weeks prior to the tournament to ensure a great day on Iron Creek. “We pre-assemble sections of our side boards prior to taking them out to the lake”, said Dennis Servaty, Tournament Director, “and then we had about 10 days of ice prep. One of our board members and ICC sponsor Gregg Fullerton even built a homemade Zamboni. The volunteers were amazing”. After a couple of weeks to regroup, planning for next year will begin next month.

We are always looking for more volunteers”, add Servaty, “this is a great group to be a part of – we’re having fun and helping youth hockey at the same time.

Those youth skaters take back the spotlight as the Association’s youth clinic restart on Saturday the 28th and skate every Saturday through March 4th. “This is why we do it”, says Dunfee, “Several of our youth skaters were up here on the kid’s rink we prepared. They want to play hockey and we want to make that happen for the Northern Hills community”.

Thanks again to our Sponsors - without them, this event does not happen. Their generosity and commitment, not just to youth hockey but to the entire community, is truly a blessing. Please consider patronizing these businesses that give so much to  the Northern Hills area: Wolff's Plumbing & Heating, Gregg Fullerton - State Farm Agent, Neiman Enterprises/Spearfish Forest Products, Black Hills Title, Black Hills Equipment Rentals, South Dakota Army National Guard, Real Estate Center of Spearfish, Spearfish Public House, Fast Lane Autos, Nelson Chiropractic Clinic.

There will be more thank yous coming because the great people of the Northern Hills just keep coming and helping. Watch our website and Facebook pages for those updates.

We will start planning for the 3rd Annual Tournament next month, so make your plans now to join us in 2024!