Postseason Honors For Wenatchee’s Somoza & Berger
PHOTO: Wenatchee Wild forward Ean Somoza (8, foreground) joins his teammates in celebrating a recent home win. Somoza and Micah Berger were recognized with postseason all-star nods by the BCHL Wednesday. (Photo credit: Russ Alman/Digital Media Northwest)
By Austin Draude Wenatchee Wild Media Relations and Broadcast Manager
WENATCHEE, Wash. – Awards season has officially arrived for the British Columbia Hockey League, and two Wenatchee Wild players are among the first to be recognized. The Wild are excited to announce the selection of forward Ean Somoza among the league’s Second Team All-Stars, and the selection of forward Micah Berger to the league’s All-Rookie Team. Both postseason all-star teams and the All-Rookie Team were selected by a vote among the league’s broadcasters.
Somoza’s 2022-23 regular season with the Wild was one for the record books, posting 74 points to tie Jasper Weatherby for the team’s third-best scoring mark in a single season, and its best ever by a 19-year-old player. His 52 assists also rank third among all Wenatchee players for a single season. The Simi Valley, California native was twice named the BCHL’s First Star of the Week, including an eight-point Veterans’ Day weekend that tied a team record for a two-game stretch, and he was chosen as the league’s Third Star of the Month in November. His career mark of 127 points ranks fourth in Wenatchee Wild history. Somoza has continued a torrid scoring run into the month of April, posting at least one point in 21 of Wenatchee’s last 23 games dating back to the regular season, including all six playoff games thus far.
Berger came to the team at the beginning of November after an eight-game run with the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede, and immediately made an impact up front for his new team, scoring the overtime winner and adding an assist in a win over the Merritt Centennials. He finished this regular season with 54 points, good for third-best on the team and one of the five highest totals ever for a first-time Wild player. He was named the BCHL’s Second Star of the Week for the weekend of March 10 and 11, and finished the regular season on an eight-game point streak to earn the league’s Third Star of the Month. The Bethesda, Maryland native posted five points in Wenatchee’s first-round playoff series, a four-games-to-two triumph over the second-seeded Cranbrook Bucks.
Both are also finalists for year-end awards from the BCHL, with Somoza among three finalists for the league’s Vern Dye Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, and Berger in the running for the Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy as the circuit’s Rookie of the Year. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced between the second and third rounds of the playoffs.
Next up on the ledger for the Wild is a best-of-seven Interior Conference semifinal set against the top-seeded Penticton Vees, beginning Friday evening at 7 p.m. at South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton. Live coverage throughout the playoffs is available on NewsRadio 560 KPQ and BCHL TV. Single-game tickets for Games 3 and 4 are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, online at www.wenatcheewildhockey.com, and in person through the Wild front office. Single-game playoff tickets are available for just $13, or $12 per ticket for groups of 10 or more.
Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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