By Dan Hardenbrook
The 2024-2025 youth hockey season is over, and the TAYHA 14U team became the latest squad to lace up their skates and put their opponents on notice and become one of Newberry’s greats.
Dubbed the “French Trucking Bandits” as a homage to longtime sponsors Bill and Georgia French Trucking and Ice Cream Bandits, this year’s group delivered almost instantly. The Bandits finished the 2024-2025 campaign as one of the state’s best local house hockey teams with an overall record of 42-5. They won the CUP League Championship (similar to a conference title in basketball or football) and advanced to the MAHA District 8 finals, where they were one game short of making the state tournament.
They thrived on big stages, winning four separate in-season tournaments with a combined record in those events of 23-2. They brought home banners and trophies from the Marquette Mac Shuffle (5-0 record), the Keweenaw Frozen Cup (4-0), Sault Cabin Fever Tournament (4-1), and the Puck of the Irish in Bay City (6-0). They lost once in tournament play against Cadillac, though they beat Cadillac that same weekend in the Championship game at the Sault Cabin Fever Tournament. They also lost the final game of the District Tournament, against the eventual 14U State Champion Escanaba Jr. Hawks.
Coached by Joe Jankowski, Mike Maki, Louis Kusnier, and Matt Miotke, the French Trucking Bandits were led by second-year players who grew up in the TAYHA system. Oren Dewitt and Jarrett Zellar were among the top playmakers anywhere in the Upper Peninsula, and provided key experience and leadership, with Dewitt named captain for the 2024-2025 season.
Second-year standouts also included Gavin Maki, Logann McIntyre, and Julian Suriano. The team also included Mansitique players Cole Watchorn, Owen Kusnier, and Natalie Miotke returning to represent Manistique, along with first year bantam Trentyn Zellar.
Other players from Newberry included Braedyn Bruno, Forrest Cornell, Ben Heinonen, Justin Holbrook, Carter Jankowski, Tanner Plesscher, and Rourke Stoynoff. The team heavily relied on only four rotating defensemen, using the combination of Bruno, Maki, Suriano, and Watchorn to hold down the blue line in front of goalies Cornell and Kusnier, who split time the net.
Described by Coach Jankowski as a “gritty, grinding, season”, the 2024-2025 group fought hard all winter long. “I’m really proud of the way the kids handled everything,” said Jankowski. “They showed tremendous growth and maturity, and we had a lot of close, hard-fought games that we had to find a way to get through.”
Jankowski credits the team’s strong start for much of their success. “Having success early in the season, especially in some of those early tournaments was huge for our confidence,” he said. “I think they realized that they could compete against everybody, because it really gave us that belief.”
The group also overcame the issues that challenge local teams every season: a lack of available ice time, the difficulty of traveling for practice, and the typical illnesses and injuries.
Despite the challenges, this year’s French Trucking Bandits will go down as one of the most determined in recent memory.
