WENATCHEE, Wash. - The past week was a quiet one for the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy's four Tier I programs. The same will not be true of this week.

Only three games were on the slate, all for the 16-and-under program in its first Canadian Sport School Hockey League showcase of the season. The Wild won two of them, and found themselves in the thick of the final game of the weekend in Abbotsford, British Columbia before falling one goal short.

Wenatchee got a three-goal outburst in the second period to score a 4-2 win over STAR Hockey Academy in its Friday matchup, in a game that featured a combined 21 power plays. Sean Strasser had a goal and two assists in that game, while Cooper Miller had two goals in a 5-1 win Saturday over the Notre Dame Academy. In Sunday's final game of the weekend, the Wild 16U team tied its contest against the Indigenous Sports Academy, but was only able to capitalize on one of its 11 power plays in a 4-3 defeat.

"The coaching staff has done a really good job with them," said Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "Pat (Norlin) and Tynan (Peacock) are really progressing with them, and they lost a couple close ones the weekend before, but they did a great job in preparing them for the weekend. We beat STAR, who beat us here in our rink, and it was a great weekend for us all in all."

All four teams are competing this weekend, with the 18U and 16U programs set to welcome the RINK Hockey Academy of Kelowna for a three-in-three set, starting Friday. The 15U program will play two home games on Saturday against the Sno-King program from Seattle, suiting up for an 8:15 a.m. contest inside the Weinstein Beverage Rink, followed by a 1 p.m. start on the Town Toyota Center ice. The 14U team travels to STAR Hockey Academy for a single game Friday evening at 6 p.m. This weekend begins a stretch of nearly-constant competition for both the 18U and 16U teams that will carry the club through the Thanksgiving holiday.

"Especially in our division, you always look at RINK and [Okanagan Hockey Academy] as the teams that you've really got to be prepared for, and we've had a really good week of practice," said Mick. "The good thing is, our 18s have 21 players, and our 16s have 20, so it's really on roster management, having a feel for the team and how they're doing. We want to go blazing all the way to Thanksgiving, and come back for a few more weeks, and then we're talking about Christmas break."

Wenatchee's 18U game against RINK begins first on Friday afternoon, followed by the 17U contest on the Town Toyota Center arena rink. Saturday and Sunday's doubleheaders begin with U17 play.