Watertown, SD — The Watertown Shamrocks have announced their initial roster heading into opening night for the 2026-27 NAHL regular season.
Justin Bartley returns for his third season in Watertown and will captain the Shamrocks, with third-year forward Owen Chartier and second-year forward Kyle Greene serving as the alternate captains.
The Shamrocks return 14 skaters who appeared in at least one contest for the club a year ago. Among that group is goaltender Mason Gudridge. Gudridge finished last season ranking inside the top ten league wide in several statistical categories while recording 21 wins in 40 appearances with a 2.61 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.
Behind Gudridge, Watertown’s first round selection from the 2026 NAHL Entry Draft, Luke Courtney, is the other lone goaltender on the opening night roster.
“Everybody is really excited, obviously, when you start a new season everyone is fresh and everyone is excited,” “It’s been a couple of weeks now preparing for this. I’m excited for what we can do moving forward with real games. But, everyone feels good about their group right now. So, we’ll see how it goes – there’s 59 games and it’s a long year.”
Watertown’s full opening night roster can be found below:
Forwards (18): Jake Pietila, Camden Nimmer, Justin Obrochta, Beau Christy, Stefans Rots, Grady Dimberio, Ryota Seki, Kyle Greene, Jordan Brothers, Sam Lenzi, Boone Chartier, Davids Danilovs, Owen Chartier, Kirill Borodulin, Vincent Curasi, Caden Ulmer, Bennet Benson, Jakov Matijevic
Defensemen (8): Andrew Smulkstys, Henry Miller, James Bond, Ethan Sundvall, Justin Bartley, Brody Josselyn, Roy Chung, Tomass Erdmanis-Hermanis
Goaltenders (2): Mason Gudridge, Luke Courtney
Led by Kirley, the Shamrocks will begin their 2026-27 campaign this weekend against the Austin Bruins in a rematch of last year’s opening round of the Central Division playoffs.