Wenatchee Wild Announce 2024-25 Award Winners
WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee Wild are excited to announce the winners of their 2024-25 team awards, revealed at a public banquet at Town Toyota Center Tuesday evening. The following players earned one of the team’s six awards for the 2024-25 season, the team’s 17th year in the Wenatchee Valley and second as a Western Hockey League member club:
- Most Valuable Player: Evan Friesen
Friesen charged past all previous career scoring highs this year, entering his final weekend of junior hockey play with 64 games on the year and posting 32 goals, 28 assists and 60 points for the season. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native is the only Wild player with 60 points and more than 30 goals, and earned the award in part thanks to his leadership of the team – Friesen was named team captain this season, his fourth in the Wild and former Winnipeg ICE organization, with 238 career WHL appearances.
- Forward of the Year: Miles Cooper
The Calgary, Alberta product has enjoyed an impressive 18-year-old season, holding or challenging for the team scoring lead over much of the season’s second half. He enters this weekend with 23 goals and 35 assists for 58 points, and his 11 power play goals were only recently surpassed for the team lead. He recently eclipsed the 100-point plateau for his WHL career.
- Defenseman of the Year: Reid Andresen
Now finishing his fifth WHL season, Andresen joined the Wild in an offseason trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers and immediately earned a spot on the team’s top defensive pairing, and among the Wenatchee leadership group. The Michigan Tech commit’s 44 assists and 51 points are both far-and-away career highs.
- Rookie of the Year: Shaun Rios
Playing his first junior season out of the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Minnesota, Rios came to the Wild in November and made an immediate impact, notching 49 points in 49 games with the Wild and the Tri-City Americans going into this weekend. He is the only player on the Wenatchee roster this year with three point-scoring streaks of five games or more.
- Most Improved Player: Radoslav Dimitrov
The youngest player on the Wenatchee roster, the 16-year-old blueliner from Edmonton, Alberta has earned an expanded role as the season has gone on, including spending time alongside the team’s forward lines late in the year. Dimitrov scored his first WHL goal on March 5 against the Prince George Cougars.
- Fan Favorite: Luka Shcherbyna
Shcherbyna’s daily enthusiasm for the sport has helped to establish him as a fan favorite for the Wild over his two years with the club, and his on-ice production doubled in 2024-25 over the previous year, with 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points. Shcherbyna won a vote conducted among fans at Wenatchee home games throughout the month of February.
