News

WENATCHEE, Wash. - With the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy's under-17 and under-18 teams off for the Thanksgiving weekend, the Wild weekend programs took center stage last weekend at their home Wenatchee Exposure Tournament, and made the most of the opportunity. The 2008 midget minor program finished atop the 16U division at the tournament, going a perfect 5-0 on the weekend. The 2008-born group scored a pair of victories over both the Portland Jr. Winterhawks and the Seattle Junior Mets, before defeating the Jr. Mets 4-1 in the title game Sunday afternoon. The 14U team finished 3-1 in round-robin play but took a 4-2 loss in the tournament's championship game against the Prairie Hockey Academy.

"It's good to be back home and get some competition," said head coach Aaron Azevedo. "It was a phenomenal weekend of competition for both age divisions, and it was really exciting to see a championship where one of our teams came out on top. The 14U battled with everything they had - they came back at the end and pushed it to 2-2, but just didn't quite have enough to get it done. I'm very proud of their effort, battling into a first-place opportunity."

The title and runner-up finish come on the heels of the 2008 team's bronze-medal finish at the West Kelowna tournament last week. The CSSHL teams stepped away from competition for the weekend, but the U18 team will get right back to action this weekend, traveling to the Yale Hockey Academy Showcase. Three games are on the slate, beginning Friday afternoon against Burnaby Winter Club, followed by games against Pacific Coast Hockey Academy on Saturday and host Yale on Sunday.