Several area teams won’t have a great deal of time in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as they compete in holiday tournaments.
JCC girls basketball
The Jackson County Central girls basketball team will head to Marshall to play a pair of games at the RA Facility at Southwest Minnesota State.
JCC, 6-2 on the season, will play Class 3A seventh-ranked Marshall (6-1) at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Marshall opened its season with a loss to Class 3A No. 2 Alexandria but will enter Wednesday’s game with a six-game winning streak, having defeated Worthington, Class 3A No. 17 Hill-Murray (coached by Sherburn High School graduate Erin Herman), Mankato West, Class 3A No. 18 New Ulm, Class 3A No. 15 Mankato East and South Dakota Class AA (largest class) Harrisburg.
The Huskies then take on MACCRAY at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Windom Area girls hockey
Windom Area’s girls hockey will play two games at the Morris/Benson Area tournament at Benson Civic Center. The Eagles will play Prairie Centre (Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville/Sauk Centre/Royalton) in a first-round game at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Eagles have a 5-8 record, while the Blue Devils are 3-6.
It will be the second meeting of the season between the teams.
On Dec. 16 in Windom, Prairie Centre defeated the Eagles 1-0 behind 85 saves by Blue Devils goalie Kennedy Lemke.
That’s the sixth most ever for a goalie in state history. She had 37 stops in the first period that day, fourth-most in history.
Lemke went over the 4,000 save mark for her career in that game in Windom.
Former Windom Area goalie Brooklyn Drahota holds four of the top nine single-game marks (91, 90, 90, 84) in state history.
She also holds the career saves record with 5,012.
The host Storm play Mankato West in the other opening-round game at noon Wednesday. The championship game is at 10 a.m. Thursday, followed by the third-place game at noon.
Windom Area boys hockey
Windom Area’s boys hockey team plays three games in three days at the Kiwanis Hockey Festival at Graham Arena in Rochester.
The Eagles (2-6) play their first game at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday vs. Austin (2-5).
It will be the second meeting this season between the teams. The Packers won 4-3 on Nov. 27 in Windom.
The Eagles then take on Rochester Lourdes (2-6) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Windom graduate Zach Bartosh, who teaches in Stewartville, is an assistant coach at Lourdes.
To close out the tournament, Windom Area faces Albert Lea (2-5-1) at 1:15 p.m. Friday.
MCW boys basketball
Martin County West returns to the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton tournament in Tyler.
The Mavericks (1-8) take on Hancock (3-3) in the opening round at 2 p.m. Wednesday. That will be followed by host RTR (3-3) facing Edgerton (1-5).
On Thursday, the third-place game is scheduled for 4 p.m., followed by the championship game at 6 p.m.
JCC wrestling
JCC’s wrestling team will be in Fargo for the 17th Rumble on the Red Thursday and Friday at the Fargodome. A total of 66 teams are listed as competing this year.
The Huskies were third behind Class 3A schools New Prague and Stillwater in last year’s 58-team field.
JCC won team titles at the Rumble in 2007 and 2021.
Pipestone graduate and former North Dakota State wrestler Steve Saxlund is founder and director of the tournament.
Here’s the list of teams scheduled to participate:
Minnesota
Albert Lea
Bemidji
Byron
Canby
Crookston
Delano
Detroit Lakes
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton
Eden Prairie
Elk River
Fulda/Murray County Central
Forest Lake
Grand Rapids
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted
Jackson County Central
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial
Mahnomen-Waubun
Minnetonka
Moorhead
Mora
Mounds View
New London-Spicer
New Prague
Northfield
Otter Tail Central
Pelican Rapids
Perham
Pine Island
Rock Ridge
Sauk Rapids-Rice
Shakopee
Staples-Motley
Stillwater
St. Cloud
St. Francis
St. Peter
Thief River Falls
Tri-City United
United
United North Central
Waconia
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley/Nevis
West Central Area
Willmar
Woodbury
North Dakota
Bismarck Century
Bismarck High
Bismarck Legacy
Bismarck St. Mary's
Carrington
Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm
Fargo Davies
Fargo North
Fargo South
Grand Forks Central
Lisbon
Mandan
Northern Cass
Oakes
Rugby
Turtle Mountain
Velva
West Fargo High
West Fargo Sheyenne
White Shield
South Dakota
Rapid City Stevens