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WENATCHEE, Wash. - All four Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy teams now have games under their belts, and the Canadian Sport School Hockey League schedule begins in earnest for the club's 16-and-Under and 18-and-Under teams this weekend.

All three 18U games so far have taken Wenatchee up against the Seattle Jr. Kraken, with three wins. That clinches home-ice advantage for the Wild Hockey Academy in the upcoming Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association championship series, which is tentatively scheduled for January. Seattle locked up home-ice advantage with three wins in the 16U matchup, opening the month with 6-0 and 4-1 victories before stealing a 2-1 overtime win in Seattle on Saturday.

"It's been busy, but everything's been going great," said Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick. "Everything's been smooth, and we've all got the first games under our belt. Like always, we've got work to do, and playing games helps with that. It wasn't pretty, but we don't play exhibition games, and our Kraken games count for state. We learn and get better, and know what we need to work on, as the weekends go. For our 18s to start 3-0, obviously we're happy with that. Our 16s had some hard-fought battles against them."

The 15O team nearly snatched a win in its opening game at the CCM Denver tournament on Friday morning, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Tri-City Eagles Gold team from Maryland. The Vegas Jr. Golden Knights and Littleton Hawks snagged back-to-back 6-0 decisions against the Wild, but the Chesterfield Falcons skated to a 3-3 consolation draw with Wenatchee on Saturday evening.

The Wild 14U team began its season with a pair of losses to the Seattle Jr. Kraken on September 13 and 14, before taking a set of losses at the CCM Denver tournament against the Colorado Thunderbirds, Vegas Jr. Golden Knights and Tri-Valley Bulls this past weekend. Wenatchee was able to get on the board in the finale, a 6-1 consolation decision against the San Jose Jr. Sharks.

"Everyone's real excited. It's a real trial and error," said Mick. "You don't know who your better players are, players that need a little more work, but you always want to put them in situations to succeed. Once we get past Christmas, we'll have a really good idea where our team is set up as we get ready for state. Right now, we're getting the team to get to know each other, and having fun doing what they love to do."

CSSHL play begins for the 16U group this weekend with a visit to Vancouver Island, starting with a Friday afternoon showdown with Shawnigan Lake School and finishing with a Saturday morning tilt against Pacific Coast Hockey Academy. The 14U team welcomes in-state rival STAR Academy to Wenatchee, while the 15O and 18U teams enjoy a weekend away from competition.