Fantastic season for U11 Oyen Bees

By Jena Skappak

The U11T2 Bees went into Playoffs with a record of 11-1-4 in regular season. They had some fairly close games with the other teams in their tier, so they knew they would need to play their best every game.

U11 Tier 2 Blue Champions: Front row, from left: Lincoln Ruschkowski, Maverick Bailey, Jaron Jorgenson, Grayson Robertson, Cole Evens. 2nd row: Ryker Bowles, Carter Dorowicz, Charlie Berg, Bennet Skappak, Winston Smith, Jaxson Blair, Keller Tye and Remington Bailey. Back row: Luke Ruschkowski (AC), Jena Skappak (Manager), Chris Jorgenson (AC), Brenden Berg (AC) and Kyle Dorowicz (HC). Photo by Nicole Blair

U11 Tier 2 League Champions: Front - Cole Evens. Second row: Maverick Bailey, Jaron Jorgenson, Carter Dorowicz, Ryker Bowles, Grayson Robertson. Third row: Keller Tye, Lincoln Ruschkowski, Jaxson Blair, Charlie Berg, Remington Bailey, Winston Smith, Bennet Skappak. Back row: Jena Skappak, Luke Ruschkowski, Brenden Berg, Kyle Dorowicz and Chris Jorgenson.

First round of playoffs, they got a bye, then second they played Raymond in the semi finals where they won 8 to 3 in Raymond and then 8 to 6 the next day in Oyen, moving them on to the final round for their colour banner. (The teams they played against all season)

Playing our strongest competitors all season, they headed to Duchess. The team was jiving and earned a 10 to 3 win, then coming back to their home ice to win 13 to 4 to secure their Tier 2 Blue Banner!.

Next, they played a single game round robin with the other two winners in tier 2 in their league. Needing to win both games, they were determined to get the next banner. After the long drive to Eckville on March 15th, they won their game 6 to 1.

Then March 16th, they needed to win against Drumheller to complete their goal of getting both banners.

Once again on home ice, they took the win. They beat Drumheller 9 to 4. The kids skated their hearts out and gave it their all in playoffs. They came together as a team and in the end were able to bring home the tier 2 blue Banner as well as their tier 2 league banner.

You currently can see the new banner displayed proudly at the arena. We are still waiting on the league banner to get to Oyen.

Our coaches were amazing with the kids this year and they definitely had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Head Coach Kyle Dorowicz, Assistant coaches Luke Ruschkowski, Brenden Berg and Chris Jorgenson.

The U11T2 had a "6-49" line that consisted of our three U9 players that joined our teams as underagers this year—Maverick Bailey, Jaron Jorgenson and Grayson Robertson.

We also had the bonus of having three first years that were both goalie and out players—Lincoln Ruschkowski, Jaxson Blair and Cole Evens.

The other first year players were Winston Smith, Remington Bailey, Carter Dorowicz and Charlie Berg! (The only girl...poor thing lol)

The second years consisted of Keller Tye, Ryker Bowles and Bennet Skappak. What a way to end their last year in U11 with 2 banners for Oyen.

Overall it was a fantastic season.

Thank you to the families, fans, refs and all the volunteers who made the 2024/2025 hockey season a success.

Till next year.