Weekend High School Sports Roundup with Wausau West and Storm hockey and West boys’ basketball impressing.

It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend of holiday tournaments in high school hockey and basketball. Both the Wausau West and Central Wisconsin Storm hockey teams made the state tournament a season ago and both teams made an early season statement with tournament wins this weekend. Wausau West beat an always-tough field to earn a title at the Eau Claire Memorial tournament. In the semifinals, West beat Notre Dame Academy 5-4 on Friday and backed that up with a 4-0 win over the hosts Eau Claire Memorial in the title game on Saturday. In the semifinal, West got goals from five different players (Cooper DePuydt, Xander Debyle, Teigan Rasmus, Brayln Steinke, and Owen Pergolski) while Pergolski scored twice in the championship game with DePuydt and Hendrix Damrow also scoring. Julian Scalcucci made 38 saves in recording the shutout for West. The Warriors will open Wisconsin Valley Conference play on Tuesday vs. Marshfield. Hear the game live on 98.9 WXCO, online at wxco.fm, mobile devices by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app starting with the pregame at 6:35 pm and faceoff at 7.

Also in boys’ hockey the East-Merrill United Bluejacks jumped out to a two-goal lead for the second straight game to start the season on Friday but again saw an opponent come charging back to win. EMU took a 3-1 first period lead vs. Tomah/Sparta but saw the hosts score five unanswered goals in the 2nd period en route to a 7-4 win. Connor Zdroik and Jackson Pierce each had two goals for EMU (0-2). The Bluejacks had a scheduled Saturday game vs. Black River Falls postponed due to the weather. EMU starts WVC play on Tuesday at Stevens Point.

The Central Wisconsin Storm hosted the annual “Gobbler Cup” at the Mosinee Rec Center this weekend and used some solid goaltending and defense to win the tournament championship. On Friday the Storm beat University School of Milwaukee 3-1 in the semifinal with Mayzie DePuydt, Emma Brandt and Mataya DePuydt all scoring goals and Taylor Simonson making 34 saves on 35 shots in goal. It was goaltending masterpiece on Saturday as Cami Flohr made 36 saves and Jayden Yirkovsky scored a shorthanded goal late in the 3rd period to give the Storm a 1-0 win over the Eau Claire Area Stars in the title game. The 2-1 Storm will host the Wisconsin Valley Union Tuesday in the WVC opener at Greenheck Fieldhouse.

In boys’ basketball, both Wausau West and Wausau East held Thanksgiving showcases on Friday and Saturday. It went very well for the Warriors, who took charge early and went on to double digit wins both nights. West beat Northland Pines 66-46 on Friday and Merrill 60-39 on Saturday. Jackson Riley scored 19 points to lead West in the opener vs. Pines with Matthew Heilmann adding 11. On Saturday vs. Merrill the Warriors got balanced scoring with Heilmann scoring 12 points with Kargie Cooper and Will Stengl each scoring 10. Payton Zimmerman had 9 for Merrill. West returns to action on Tuesday at Prentice.

Also at the West Turkey Shoot was Newman Catholic. The Cardinals fell to Merrill 47-44 on Friday and to Northland Pines 80-55 on Saturday. Against Merrill Newman was led by Lucas Pfiffner with 17 points while Griffin Puent scored 13 points and Quincy Pfender 11. Tyson Ott and Cooper Wendorf each had 10 points for the Bluejays. Saturday Pines broke open a tight game with a 45-23 edge in the 2nd half despite 22 points for Pfender and 16 for Pfiffner. Jack Albrecht had 23 points for Northland Pines. Newman will travel to Abbotsford for their next game on Friday.

Over at Wausau East, both the Lumberjacks and D.C. Everest competed against Superior and Eau Claire North. In Friday’s games, a slow first half start was too much to overcome for East as they fell to Eau Claire North 87-72. East trailed 47-22 at halftime before outscoring the Huskies 50-40 in the second half.. Robbie Angiulli had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Lumberjacks while Ethan Loppnow added 16 points and Miles Casey 15. D.C. Everest on Friday lost to Superior by 15 points as well, 76-61. Everest did bounce back in a big way on Saturday with 87-65 win over Eau Claire North. DCE came out fast and led 46-28 at halftime and rolled to the win. East, on Saturday, lost to Superior 80-52. Xander Klein had 12 points while Connor Lemirand added 10 points and 9 rebounds for East. Everest returns to action on Tuesday at Ashwaubenon while East is next in action on Thursday at New London.

Mosinee got into the Thanksgiving Classic action by hosting Friday and Saturday as well. On Friday, Mosinee beat New London 64-60. Mosinee got a big offensive performance from Brayden Reinke with 28 points with Treve Stoffel adding 8. The scheduled Saturday game vs. Milwaukee Golda Meir was cancelled. Mosinee returns to action on Tuesday at home vs. Xavier.

In girls’ basketball, Wausau West and D.C. Everest competed at the Tom Kislow Invite held at Medford High School. On Friday the Evergreens beat Crandon 62-25 for their first win of the season while the Warriors lost to Medford 59-35. On Saturday, Everest fell to Medford 43-25 while Rhinelander beat West 81-40. Everest (1-2) opens WVC play on Friday vs. Stevens Point while West (2-4) starts their conference campaign at Wisconsin Rapids on Friday.