WENATCHEE, Wash. - The Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy's 18-and-Under team couldn't have finished the calendar year much better.

The Wild Hockey Academy 18s swept a three-game visit to the Yale Hockey Academy showcase in Abbotsford, ending the 2024 portion of their schedule with three league victories, starting on December 13 with a one-goal victory over Pilot Mound Hockey Academy. The teams traded leads until Luca Doremus scored the game-winner with 2:22 to go in a 5-4 triumph, while Otaro Inoue posted a hat trick. Inoue picked up two more goals the following day in a 5-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds, and Wenatchee used a three-goal surge to sweep past the Frontier Selects 4-2 the following day. Anthony Ganoung made 30 saves to earn the win in that outing.

"That was our best weekend of the year, and the first time in our brief entry in the CSSHL that we've swept a showcase weekend," said Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "You couldn't ask for a better setup going into the break - we had a few guys out in that first game and added guys in. Our guys played really well - they executed systems, they played hard, they capitalized and we just kept playing hard. That could be a big turn for us - it's always nice to win a few more CSSHL games in front of good scouts, and we had our guys talk to a few scouts up there."

The Wenatchee 16U team got two goals each from Sean Strasser and Tyler Stefani - the latter putting his Academy club ahead with 1:07 remaining - to earn a 5-4 win over Coeur d'Alene Academy in that weekend's Friday matchup. However, CDA won the weekend's remaining two tilts, taking a 4-3 decision Saturday despite a goal and an assist each from Dublin McGuire and Colten Masterson. Goals from Sean Strasser and Torrin Cotter highlighted a 5-2 loss for Wenatchee in Sunday's matinee finale. The Wild 15O team also played two competitive matchups with the Seattle Jr. Metropolitans club on that Saturday, but were dealt a pair of defeats by 5-4 and 4-2 counts.

The weekend teams are already back to work - the 15O team heads to the Pat Quinn Tournament in Burnaby, British Columbia this weekend, while the 14U team visits the prestigious Richmond International Bantam and Midget Hockey Tournament in B.C.

"That's one of the biggest things of being part of our academy, is we get to go to these top-end tournaments for exposure, especially for our Washington state kids who don't usually get a chance to play in front of that many scouts and coaches and everything else," said Mick. "You'll have a lot of Western Hockey League guys there, and you'll have a lot of Junior A guys. You have a lot of leagues there, because this is the chance where they have a good idea of who's coming back to their team, so they want to fill positions."

The break is somewhat longer for the Academy's CSSHL teams, with the league schedule for both teams set to restart on January 11.