WENATCHEE, Wash. - As the 2024-25 season got underway, the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy's 18-and-Under team brought back just two players from its 2023-24 roster, with six others elevated from the Academy's 16U team. With lots of new faces on the ice, all this year's team did was win 21 games and nearly earn a spot on the ice in the Pacific District tournament's final day.

This year's team snagged another Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association state championship. December was a highlight month for the Wild 18U team, knocking off Okanagan Hockey Academy before sweeping a three-game weekend at the Canadian Sport School Hockey League's Yale Hockey Academy showcase going into the Christmas break.

"It was a fun year. Obviously, we learned a lot," said head coach and Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "We developed a lot as a team and as individuals, and it's always sad when you come to this time of the year, because you know they're not going to play as a team together again. They're going to have memories for a long time, and that state banner is going to be hung up and it'll always be part of it. That's the experience of a team sport, and when they come back in college or juniors, they can know they were part of putting that banner in Wenatchee."

Mick's club was arguably playing its very best at the end of the season, overcoming a packed February schedule to sweep the Seattle Jr. Kraken in their best-of-three state playoff before earning a pair of wins at their home tournament. They would follow that with two wins in a three-game set against Coeur d'Alene Academy the following week, and a dominant 6-0 win over the San Jose Jr. Sharks to open Pacific District tournament play. After a loss to the eventual district champion Anaheim Jr. Ducks on the tournament's second day, Wenatchee needed a win against Team Alaska to earn a spot in the district title game, but a 4-2 loss eliminated the Wild from further play. They would still end their season on a high note, wiping out the Notre Dame Hounds with a 5-1 win two weeks later at the CSSHL's Western Championships in Penticton, British Columbia.

"It took us a while to figure something out with our line combinations, but we had four very good lines that could play at any given time," said Mick. "Some guys were more offensive, some guys were more defensive, some played power play and some played [penalty kill], but our forward group was 12 strong. [Our back end] was probably the biggest surprise - going into it, that was probably going to be our weak link, and I'm happy to report [coach Jordan McTaggart] did a phenomenal job with them. We didn't have any returners on our back end this year, but they all played really well, they all learned, and I'm happy with their development and where they ended up at the end of the year. I think a lot of them are ready to take the next step in their careers."

Cameron Kimmerly finished with 52 points on the season, leading all scorers with both 26 goals and 26 assists, for a total of 52 points. Four others eclipsed the 30-point mark on the season. Goaltenders Anthony Ganoung and Pono Madrigal pushed each other throughout the season, splitting the team's wins evenly and posting identical .887 save percentages. Madrigal pushed ahead slightly in the race for the team's top goalie, with a 3.78 goals-against average. Both of Wenatchee's goaltenders got the opportunity to dress for the Western Hockey League's Wenatchee Wild late in the season as well, owing to some stints on the injured list for the WHL team's netminders.

"Anthony and Pono were outstanding all season long for us," said Mick. "We didn't have a number-1 and number-2 (goaltender), we had a 1A and a 1B, and they split the games evenly. We never gave a guy two games or three games or four games - usually in the game of hockey you don't have that luxury, and we did. They were very close, and they bonded as brothers, and their families were always very supportive of everything. They pushed each other, and they wanted the other guy to get to the win. They both played really well and kept us in a lot of games, and we wouldn't have been where we were without those two guys."

The 2024-25 roster was a varied one for the Academy's 18U group, with players from 10 different U.S. states, as well as from Canada, Japan and South Korea. This year is likely to be another busy year in terms of upward movement, with as many as a dozen players set to graduate from Eastmont High School in early June, and three 2006-born players set to age out of 18U hockey. Only two 2008-born players appeared on the Wild 18U roster this season.