Congratulations
to the U11 Select team for being the 2025/2026 Tri-County Advanced League
finalists!
What
a season it has been for the U11 Oakville Rangers Select team.
When we sat down to build this group, we made
a deliberate choice: even though the league was a blended U10/U11 division, we
were going to ice an all-U10 squad. That meant going up against kids who were
mostly a full year older, night in and night out. We knew what we were signing
up for.
So we made a deal with each other early on.
Coaches, players, and parents alike. The motto was simple: Trust the Process.
Play hard, play the right way, and trust that the results would follow. It
wasn't going to be easy, but we believed that if everyone bought in, these kids
would be a completely different team by the end of the year.
The team opened the season with 0 wins, 23
losses, and 0 ties through exhibition games, tournaments, and the regular
season. Zero. The boys took their lumps and kept showing up. Then, in the final
regular season game, we tied Halton Hills 1-1. That was the turning
point.
The boys hit their stride in the playoffs
going 2-3-3 to lock up a spot in the semis.
In the semi-finals, we knocked off a very
strong U11 Oakville Rangers Select team 2-1.
That sent us to the finals, a best 2-of-3
series against the Flamborough Sabres. Game 1 on the road was a gut punch, a
1-0 loss that could have broken a lesser group. It didn't. In Game 2, we
battled back, tied it at 2 late in the third, and forced overtime.
Ten minutes of 3-on-3. The whole season on the
line.
Flamborough's best player found a way to score
and take the championship. It stings. But when I look back at what this group
accomplished, from 0 and 23 to playing in a championship final in just their
second year of full-ice hockey, I couldn't be prouder.
These kids trusted the process when it was
hard. They kept coming to practice, kept competing, and kept getting better.
That's all you can ask for.
This one is for the boys. What a ride.