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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just three games remain on the schedule for the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy teams following the conclusion of the USA Hockey Pacific District tournament in Silicon Valley this past weekend. The 16U and 18U teams each won one game during their time at the tournament, while the 14U Wolverines ran into three red-hot teams in round-robin play.

The 18U Wolves found themselves in the hunt for a semifinal berth going into Saturday's round-robin finale before finishing 1-2 for the weekend. Cameron Britt's third-period goal on Thursday sent the San Jose Jr. Sharks past Wenatchee in a 2-1 decision to open the tournament, but Parker Platt's marker with 3:26 left in overtime pushed them past Anaheim on Friday for a 3-2 win. It took a Dantae Hunziker hat trick to propel Team Alaska past Wenatchee in Saturday morning's contest, giving his team a 6-2 victory to close out the Wolves' weekend. Dominic Bertolino and Luke Pizzey scored for Wenatchee in its final game of the tournament.

"I don't think we played as well as we could have that first game, and that ended up coming back to haunt us," said Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "We beat another really good Anaheim Ducks team and that was such a high in emotion that you thought they're going to be ready to go on Saturday with all of the momentum in the world. It didn't work out for us and that was tough to leave on that one. I was hoping for a better result."

The 16U Wilderness wrapped up the weekend with only one win as well, but ended their tournament on a high note. Wenatchee battled to a 5-1 loss to San Jose in Thursday's opener before seeing the Anaheim Jr. Ducks take a 3-0 win on Friday. Brody Haas scored the lone Wilderness goal Thursday, while Anaheim goaltender Kyle Picarsik turned aside all eight shots he faced in Friday's defensive battle. Saturday's game, however, saw Paco Hodgson score two goals on the way to a 4-2 victory over Team Alaska. Goaltender Austin Neill was perfect against 22 chances, save for two Team Alaska goals just 20 seconds apart in the second period.

"We didn't play well in the first game, and when we played the Ducks, we made two mistakes that they capitalized on, but we buckled down and played [basically] 0-0 with them in the second and third," said Mick. "I walked in (after the game) and told them how proud I was of them as a coach that they worked hard and competed. There were a lot of positives, and that rolled into our win against Team Alaska. We were one point away from moving on to the semis."

The luck of the draw did not favor the 14U Wolverines in their portion of the tournament, squaring off against the top three teams in their group. The Los Angeles Jr. Kings opened their run to the tournament championship with a 7-0 victory on Thursday, but Team Alaska needed two third-period goals to sneak past Wenatchee 2-1 in Friday's action. Liam Rogers turned away 37 of the 39 shots he faced in the loss. Sno-King wrapped up the Wolverines' weekend with a 3-0 win on Saturday in a rematch of the PNAHA championship contest from early February.

"They competed hard and ran into quite a few injuries," said Mick. "I think they were down five or six players by the time Saturday came. They just worked hard - I was very proud of them. I got to watch a couple of games, and there wasn't any quit in them. When you have a short bench and you don't play that kind of competition on a regular basis, that's where the CSSHL comes in big-time for the 18s and 16s. Hopefully the 14s will be able to play some games or maybe a showcase or two. Then you know every game you're going to play that level (of competition) and that'll only make us more prepared for next season."

Only two games remain for the 18U group, with a visit to Portland this coming weekend. The Wenatchee 16U team will end its season with a home game Saturday, March 11 against Coeur d'Alene Academy.