The Dakota hockey team had a very successful season this year! Though they lost at States, the team had a very impressive run leading up to the end of their season, and had an incredible game that sent them into the state tournament.

After the game that sent them to the play-offs, some boys from the team were interviewed asking what had gotten them to states. Senior Jacob Donnellon said that the whole team felt they were doing better this season. They had a lot of motivation going into the game, but they had another incentive to win when senior Adam Myziuk got hurt. The team agreed that his injury motivated them to play harder and win. The motto of the season was “play your game,” and it proved very effective in their season.

Junior Ryan Bookout said that the energy in the crowd was incredible. “It was really easy to feed off the energy in the arena,” he said. Team captains Andrew Brooks and Tyler Domzalski, who are both seniors this year, inspired the team and led them to their victory. They said, “Let’s not give up. Give it your all, and in seventeen minutes, we will be going to the regional championships.”  The team got a lot more physical after that, and team effort skyrocketed. Their confidence was astounding, and it led them to States.

In the aftermath of the loss at States, Tyler Domzalski was asked what was next for the team. He said, “Failure is part of success. There’s no such thing as a bed of roses all your life.” He continued, “But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.”

Just by talking to them, it is easy to see that the boys fought hard and gave it their all this season. They were very dedicated and put in a lot of work to ensure they left everything they had on the ice. At the end of the season, Coach Jim Andanoff left the team with these words: “This year, we had a team full of hockey players.” This is clearly shown by the team’s overall record of 19-10.