Four years forge good memories

By Lee Bogle and Sean Nyilassy

Last issue, we had the misfortune of bidding adieu to four of the Dinos women’s hockey jocks. Now it’s time to continue the adieuing with the remaining departees. Arranged by decreasing number of letters in their names are: Kelsey Szymanek, Shauna Raugust, Andrea Scheuer, Tiana Velestuk, Linsy Stewart, Kealy McGraw and Steph Wahl.


Raugust quickly climbed into a leadership position and was named Captain of all things noble on the ice for the last two years after just one year of play with the Dinos. She spent the first two years of her degree being a sucker (read: concentrating on school), before realizing how little that has to do with a university education. What has she realized is better than being studious since joining the team?


“Spending time with the girls,” she giggled. “And good nights out after games.”


She led the team in assists and total points this year, obtaining 18 per cent of the team’s points. With her kinesiology degree in hand she will try out for the Oval Extreme team to further her hockey playing life.


Another girl who refuses to relinquish the hockey dream is Stewart. She wishes to go to Australia to play hockey. Pardon, you ask. It’s a good question. But when we asked Jeeves what he thought, he supplied us with 78,600 reasons to mind our own business.


“It’s hard to believe, but I’m going to miss practices at 6:30 in the morning the most,” she said, reinforcing our reasons to question her process of logical thought.


Stewart graduates with a history degree this semester.


Wahl, too, must have enjoyed the early practices. She was the first to lament the fact that the ACAC only grants its athletes four years of eligibility to CIS’s five, stripping her of an extra year of early mornings. Even without the fifth-year as a Dino she desired, she still enjoyed herself.


“I loved the competition,” she reminisced. “I’ll miss all the friends.”


She returns to the U of C next year to complete her biological science degree with an earth science minor. While continuing along this ambitious path, she will continue playing hockey on a team built of rivals-a Dinos-Mount Royal College alumni team.


A Dino who has already experienced the MRC way of life is Szymanek, who spent three years playing there before defecting to the Dinos squad. She is working on a kinesiology degree and will be back next year to continue.


Scheuer, you can be sure, will return to the U of C to complete a humanities degree with a major in French. Afterwards she hopes to obtain an education degree and teach at elementary school. While balancing school and sports can be tricky, Scheuer found the rewards bested the costs for sure.


“It’s tough but it’s totally worth it,” she said. “You get to know a great bunch of people and let that competitive side out.”


Velestuk is also a kinesiology student but will be framing her degree once the semester runs its course.


With what can be rightfully called a colossal chunk of the team gone, next year will be a building season for a squad that spent the last four years building. Hopefully the new crew of rookies will help the Dinos creep closer to regaining their CIS status.