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WENATCHEE, Wash. - As the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy enters a brand-new year on Monday, the Academy's Canadian Sport School Hockey League member programs enter with hopes of a good omen at the end of 2023 and turning fortunes to start 2024. 

The U17 program picked up wins in both games against Coeur d'Alene Academy in Saturday and Sunday action to wrap up the old year, with Wenatchee's 5-2 win on December 16 highlighted by a 51-26 shots-on-goal advantage, including 22-2 over the middle 20 minutes. Braden Boman came up large on the power play with a pair of goals, and an even-strength assist in the second period. The Sunday afternoon contest in Wenatchee saw the U17s prevail by a 6-4 count, led by two goals and an assist from Everett Horrocks. Boman joined Dylan Johnson with three-point games of their own for Wenatchee, while Anthony Ganoung made 44 saves in a high-flying affair for the Wild.

The host team won both games in the set between the Academies' U18 programs, starting with a 6-5 win over CDA on Saturday in Wenatchee, that saw Coeur d'Alene fire off 70 shots to Wenatchee's 39. However, Charlie Keeffe made 54 saves, and Carson Fowler was a perfect 11-for-11 in relief, as Mikhail Levianuk scored to ice the game in the third round of the shootout. Paco Hodgson had a goal and two assists, and Cameron Kimmerly finished with an assist as well. Sheldon Wilson scored Wenatchee's only goal in a 4-1 Sunday loss in Idaho, on a day in which the Wild U18 team out-shot their hosts 12-5 in the first period but saw the tide turn with a 23-4 shots margin in the second period for CDA.

The weekend programs will be the last Wild Hockey Academy teams to compete in 2023, as the 2008 program travels to Burnaby, British Columbia for the annual Pat Quinn Classic, while the Richmond International Bantam-Midget Hockey Tournament plays host to the Wild 14U program this weekend.