Prospect Profile: Xavier Wendt

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WHL Tri-City Americans

Prospect Profile: Xavier Wendt

May 28, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release


Xavier Wendt has developed into a top goalie among his 2008-born age group, but that almost never materialized.

"I remember being a defenseman and one time my AAA team didn't have a goalie," Wendt said. "My coach asked if anyone wanted to play goalie, and that's kind of how it all started. I had played in net a little bit here and there before that, but I was pretty awful, so I didn't really think I was going to keep doing it."

He says he was playing for the Minnesota Machine at the time, his first travel team, and he remembers going to tournaments in Winnipeg where all the Canadian teams would beat up on his team.

Minnesota, or the 'State of Hockey' as it is affectionately known as, has a long history of hockey in the state, with its roots running deep within the high school system. Each year the State Championship games are held at the Xcel Energy Center, the home of the Minnesota Wild NHL team, and routinely sells out the 20,000+ seat arena for the game. For example, this past year's 2025 Class AA final between Moorhead and Stillwater had an attendance of 20,491.

Wendt says growing up in Minnesota, hockey is everything.

"I feel like it's everyones world at that age," he said. "I grew up watching the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and I just remember how cool they all were. I wanted to be just like them. Same with the Wild, I wanted to be like Devan Dubnyk, watching him on TV. He was one of my idols."

Dubnyk, a former Kamloops Blazer, played for the Wild from 2014-15 to 2019-20, compiling a 177-113-28 record. Wendt says Carey Price, the former Tri-City American, was also a favorite of his while growing up.

While the allure of playing for your hometown high school team is strong, the Plymouth native decided instead to attend Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota, a little over an hour away from his hometown.

"I think just the level of play and the quality of players that go to Shattuck might help me develop more," he said. "The calibre of players there really helped me develop into a better goaltender."

Wendt's success was immediate, and often, as he posted a 27-2 record with a .923 save percentage and 1.72 goals against average during the 2022-23 season with the 14U AAA team at Shattuck.

He says the professionalism and structure at the school impacted his growth and development right from day one.

"There was a lot more structure to the day-to-day there," he said. "It was almost more of a business, with everything geared towards winning. That's not to say that there wasn't fun involved, but it was definitely more strict than what I was used to before. In that first year I wasn't quite used to the high level of play, and my teammates were extremely good, so it took a little while to adjust to it. But I think as the year went on I started to figure it out."

After his impressive first year at Shattuck, Wendt was invited to participate in a camp to select the roster for the 2024 Youth Olympic Games, which was being held in Gangwon, South Korea.

Making it through multiple different camps, culminating in the national camp with all the top players from across the United States, Wendt did everything he could to show he deserved to be on the roster for the Games in January of 2024.

The national camp was held in the summer of 2023 in Buffalo, and player performances were evaluated at that camp but also in the early stages of the following season before the team was officially selected.

As the 2023-24 hockey season began, Wendt says the Youth Olympics weren't on his mind leading up to the team being announced.

"To be honest, I had totally forgotten about the Youth Olympics because before that camp, I had never even heard of it," he said. "It wasn't until closer to the Games that my teammates started talking about wondering who was going to be on the team, and at that point I started to get a little nervous about it. I think it was around a month or so before the Games started that I received a call telling me I had made the team."

The team gathered in San Jose and practiced at the AHL San Jose Barracuda facility before travelling to South Korea.

There are a few things that stand out in Wendt's mind when he thinks about arriving in South Korea.

"I just remember how polite everyone was," he said. "I also remembering thinking how cheap everything was. I wasn't used to switching from US dollars to their currency, and it felt like everything was five times cheaper than it would be to buy at an airport in the US. We didn't get to go to Seoul since we were on the eastern side of the country, so we didn't get to see any major cities."

Despite travelling to the other side of the world, the Youth Olympic Games were short with just four total games for the United States at the event. They started with a 5-4 shootout win over Slovakia, which Wendt started, before a 6-5 shootout loss to Czechia, which Wendt didn't play in.

He remembers the first game of the tournament being a nerve-wracking experience.

"It was packed for the first couple of games," he said. "The first game was probably the most nerve-wracking game I had ever been a part of. I had never played in front of that many people before. It was a little crazy, but I was able to get the nerves out during that game."

After the first two games of the tournament, the US was set for the semifinal game against Team Canada. Wendt was given the start in goal, and it could be argued he is the reason the USA won that game as they were outshot by Team Canada 42-17, but pulled out a 5-4 shootout win, advancing to the gold medal game.

"We knew they were a strong team, and they had no trouble getting through their first two games," he said. "I knew it was going to be an interesting game, but I'm not sure I expected that kind of shot discrepancy. The first period kind of set the tone, they had like 15 shots and we only had four or something like that."

The US was holding on to a 5-4 lead late in regulation before Canada tied the game with 2:02 to play, eventually sending the game to a shootout.

Even though it was the highest pressure moment Wendt had experienced in his career to that point, he says he felt comfortable in the game going to a shootout.

"I felt super confident in my ability to hold them off in a shootout if it got there," he said. "I enjoy shootouts, I think it's a little bit easier when you only have to focus on one guy instead of something like a three-on-two rush. I've never really changed the way I've approached shootouts, and I feel comfortable with them all the time."

Wendt's confidence proved effective, as he denied all three Canadian shootout attempts to clinch the victory and send the United States to the gold medal game.

"I remember thinking the last guy was going to try a deke, but he shot it right into my glove," Wendt said. "I looked down at my glove and thought 'Oh wow we just won this game". I didn't really know how to react, I just started jumping up and down and looking for my teammates."

They didn't have much time to soak in the victory as the gold medal game was the very next day against Czechia.

After a white-knuckle victory over Canada, the USA appeared to be much more in control of the gold medal game, shutting out Czechia 4-0 to claim gold.

"That game was definitely really intense," he said. "We scored early in the first period but then we didn't score again until late in the second period. They came out flying, they had a huge team and a few guys who were already playing pro hockey in Czechia. For me, that was my Stanley Cup at that time. Looking back, maybe it wasn't as big as it felt like it was in the moment, but it felt massive to me."

Wendt finished with 23 saves in the shutout victory.

Back at Shattuck, Wendt continued is dominance over the 2023-24 season going 19-0-2 with a 1.93 goals against average and a .923 save percentage with Shattuck's U15 team.

Jumping to U18 for this past season, Wendt put up even better numbers with a 24-0-1 record, 1.55 goals against average and .932 save percentage.

"I think our teams have always been strong on defense," he said. "The shots I would face helped me get into the game, it's not like I was facing a breakaway one minute into the game or anything like that. It's important for me to just feel a puck and get into a groove, and as a team I think when we get into a groove it was hard for other teams to get us out of it."

Growing up in Minnesota, Wendt didn't have much exposure to the Western Hockey League. Most of the focus on moving up is on the NCAA, and using the United States Hockey League (USHL) or North American Hockey League (NAHL) as stepping stones to the NCAA.

Despite that, the Americans added Wendt to their 50-man protected list during the 2023-24 season.

"My advisor let me know about it and then I got a call from Bob Tory not too long afterward," he recalled. "I was a little shocked by it because I hadn't previously ever talked to the Americans."

With the rule changing and allowing CHL players to now play in the NCAA, Wendt's interest in the WHL spiked considerably.

"I had previously been looking at the USHL because that was really the only route we knew about to get to college hockey," he said. "Once they changed the rule, other doors started to open up and I'm glad that happened so there were more options to get to the next level."

Late in the 2024-25 season, Wendt and his father were able to make a visit to Tri-City and the Toyota Center to get a feel for the organization and the area.

"I just though the atmosphere was really awesome," he said. "I felt like the fans really loved the team. I'm really happy I got to be listed by Tri-City and have the opportunity to play in front of all those great people."

Wendt was able to jump on the ice with a number of his future teammates in Edmonton, Alberta last weekend as the Americans and Edmonton Oil Kings held a joint spring camp.

He says while it was a tiring weekend, considering they had upwards of three scrimmages a day, everyone involved in the camp was very friendly and it was a great introduction to the WHL.

Now, Wendt looks ahead to returning to Tri-City and taking part in his first full training camp.

"I'm really excited, though I'm not really sure what to expect," he said. "I've been to a USHL camp, and if it's anything like that I know it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to meeting even more guys and getting to know them better."

One thing in particular he's looking forward to is playing in front of big crowds every single game.

"I feel like it's going to be a big step, and I know I'm not going to be used to it at first," he said. "At the end of the day I think it's going to be really exciting to play in front of so many people."

While Wendt has the pedigree of being a top goaltender among his age group, he's not focusing too far down the road, preferring to think about what's directly in front of him."

"My first priority is just to succeed with the Americans," he said. "Not just making it to the playoffs, but succeeding there. We'll see what happens down the road, but for the next two or three years, my focus is with the Americans."

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