News

WENATCHEE, Wash. - When it comes to the 2023-24 season, the entire Wenatchee Wild organization is ready to hit the ground running.

The Wild squad in the Western Hockey League opened competition last week, and the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy U18 and U17 teams also began play for the 2023-24 season Saturday with a pair of games against the Seattle Jr. Kraken. The U17 team hit the ice for an early-afternoon contest, with each team taking the lead once on the way to a 2-2 tie. With the Wild and Tri-City Americans set to take to the Town Toyota Center rink, the U18 teams jumped over to the Weinstein Beverage Rink, where the Wild Hockey Academy cruised to a 12-2 victory.

"Our 18s played really, really well, and for our 17s, I wasn't as happy with the way we played and skated," said co-head coach and hockey director Troy Mick. "For going into the first game of the year, though, with new people and new systems, we'll take it and move on to this week. They're a bunch of great guys with a bunch of great families. They all want to learn and get better, and when we started the season, we basically had 10 days of practice, and we had 10 at Western Hockey League camps, so that was great for the program."

The 2008 and 14-and-under weekend teams are still gearing up for their first games of the season, which will come this weekend at the CCM Showcase in Denver, Colorado. Aaron Azevedo's teams took part in their second weekend of practice, as the 14U team looks to bump up a .500 record from a season ago and the 2008 group prepares to make its first appearance. With the end of the 12-and-under weekend team and the addition of a 2008 team featuring all 15-year-old players, the development teams have a wealth of returning talent from last season.

"We've got a lot of size, a lot of skill, and we're very excited about this group," said Azevedo. "We've got players coming in from all over, from Montana, Oregon, Idaho and Washington - they're coming in on our weekend model, playing together, pushing the pace. I think it's finally going to show next weekend when we start getting into some games."

While the U18 and U17 teams have an extra week before opening Canadian Sport School Hockey League play in Vernon against Kelowna's RINK Hockey Academy, the 2008 and 14U teams open play at the CCM Showcase on Friday. The 2008 team will face the West Dundee Leafs from Illinois on Friday morning to open their schedule in the 16U Ribcor division, while the 14U team will open against the Colorado Thunderbirds on Friday afternoon in the 2009 Supertacks division.