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WENATCHEE, Wash. - As the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy gets ready to begin a brand-new chapter next season as a member of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, it's hard to argue with the success of the program's success at the 18-and-under level during the 2021-22 campaign.

The Wolves 18U team racked up a 30-19-3 record during the course of the season, earned a bid to the USA Hockey Pacific District tournament in San Jose at the end of February, and put four players into Wenatchee Wild uniforms at some point during the year.

October saw Troy Mick's team catch fire for the first time, winning two of three games at a CSSHL Showcase in Medicine Hat and reaching the finals of the CCM World Invite in Chicago before falling in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers Elite program. The program brought home even more hardware in early December, winning the Western Exposure Showcase in Las Vegas.

The new year brought more excitement for the Wolves, earning a win over the Northwest Stars on January 19 to earn a spot in the district tournament before winning three of four at the United States Hockey League's Frosty Cup tournament in Dallas at the end of the month.

"Every tournament or showcase we went to, we won a lot more than we lost. I'm really proud of these guys," said Mick, the director of the Hockey Academy and 18U co-coach. "We do a lot of traveling, going over the mountain passes and getting on flights, and driving to Calgary a couple of times. It's not an easy schedule. I've gone through it and the players are conditioned for it. That's why you come to a place like Wenatchee for the Hockey Academy, because it really gets you ready for the junior grind, where you play one night, and then you travel through the night to get to another city."

The highlight of the season for four of this year's players was perhaps not even spent in a Wolves uniform, but in a Wenatchee Wild uniform. Forwards Logan Nagle and Joseph Marranzino, defenseman Brayden Pankey and goaltender Ayvin Eidsness all spent time with the Wild on game nights this past season. Nagle spent time on the Wenatchee affiliate list for the second season, appearing in six BCHL games while Marranzino and Pankey appeared in one game apiece, a Thanksgiving Eve visit to the Trail Smoke Eaters. Eidsness did not see the ice in that game, but traveled with the team and dressed as the backup goaltender.

"They really got an idea of what it's like, driving up to Canada and playing in a game, and then they jumped on a plane and a bus and played with us (at Shawnigan Lake)," said Mick. "That's one of the big things, is that the guys have a chance to practice (with the Wild) - games are nice, but it's skating at that level when you have NHL draft picks and NCAA Division I college commits. You may think you're good at U18, but unless you experience going on the ice, there are hardly any academies in America that have what we have. To be able to watch them practice and watch a lot of their games during the course of the year, they can really pick up on a lot of things that you can't get in a regular program."

2022-23 will see the program join the CSSHL as a full member for the first time, after playing in four showcases as a guest in 2021-22. Wenatchee played 21 games this past year against CSSHL competition this past year, hosting four of those games in the Verbero Cup at Town Toyota Center in mid-February. 

"That's what makes us really special - now that we're going into the CSSHL, every single game that we play next year will be recruited by teams in the BCHL, the AJHL, and the same thing when guys are from the NAHL or the NCDC or the USHL. They want to see who you're playing against."

Nagle finished the season with a team-best 67 points, followed by 50 points from Luca Petroni and 44 from Zach Baumann. Eidsness won 17 games this season, with a 2.48 goals-against average, while James Hunt earned the other 13 wins. 18U tryouts for the 2023-24 campaign are fast approaching, scheduled for April 14 and 15 at Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee.