WENATCHEE, Wash. - The end of 2024 is near for the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy's four teams, with one weekend's worth of games remaining before the holiday break.

The Academy 14-and-Under team made a visit to the annual Okanagan Classic tournament in Kelowna, picking up a pair of wins in five games. The 16U team took three losses at RINK Hockey Academy of Kelowna on the weekend, with Aidan Yu posting a pair of goals to lead the way on the score sheet.

"It was a really good four-day tournament," said Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "They beat a good Vancouver team in overtime, which was a kicker for them - it was a rough first game, but they came back great. We played our rivals from Coeur d'Alene and beat them 6-4, so that was awesome for us. It was a good, fun, clean game, but it was very intense. You go to a highly-exposed event like that, with a lot of Western Hockey League scouts, so the guys are playing with a little extra mojo. They want to impress, and they came together as a team."

Wenatchee's 18U club snagged a win over Okanagan Hockey Academy in Canadian Sport School Hockey League play, and nearly grabbed a second one in a three-game weekend. Fischer Nicolet scored the only Wenatchee goal in a 9-1 defeat on Friday, but the group rebounded for a 5-4 overtime win on Saturday. Dylan Crossley and Cameron Kimmerly scored to put the Wild Hockey Academy ahead 2-0, but Eli Tverdovsky scored twice to tie the game - OHA would even up the game three separate times before Otaro Inoue broke away for a game-winning goal with 48 seconds left in overtime. Inoue and Geon Park scored to erase a two-goal OHA lead on Sunday, but OHA scored two goals in the second period to rebuild the lead on the way to a 7-5 win.

"I didn't like the way we played on Friday in our loss, but we told everybody to come prepared to the rink the next day," said Mick. "We did about 40 minutes of video and went through the why, when and how-come. We weren't playing together as a team, and Saturday we went out and executed what we wanted to do, and got some timely saves and goals. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side on Sunday, but it was a good game. I'll take the last two games going into a big showcase weekend."

The schedule winds down for three of the four teams ahead of the holidays - for the fourth Wenatchee AAA team, all that remains is a practice weekend at Town Toyota Center. The 18U team heads to its second CSSHL Showcase of the year, hosted by Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Pilot Mound Hockey Academy leads off the schedule for the 18U team on Friday afternoon, followed by a game against Notre Dame Prep on Saturday, and a matchup against guest program Frontier Selects out of California on Sunday morning. The 16U team faces off with Coeur d'Alene Academy for three games, with Friday and Sunday's games to be played in Wenatchee. Saturday's game will be played at Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

After a practice weekend, the 15O team hosts the Seattle Jr. Metropolitans for two games on Saturday before taking an early holiday break and preparing for the Pat Quinn Tournament in British Columbia immediately after Christmas. The 14U team has already played its final competition ahead of the holidays, and will take to the ice for a practice weekend before going to the Richmond International Tournament after Christmas.