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WHL Wenatchee Wild

Wenatchee Alumnus Sowder Signs with Austrian Pro Club

June 14, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


Former Wenatchee Wild forward Lucas Sowder
Former Wenatchee Wild forward Lucas Sowder
(Wenatchee Wild, Credit: Russ Alman)

FELDKIRCH, Austria - One of the top scorers in the Junior A era for the Wenatchee Wild is going overseas and going to the pros.

Former Wenatchee forward Lucas Sowder has signed his first professional contract, joining the Pioneers Vorarlberg in the ICE Hockey League, the top professional hockey league in Austria. One of Europe's newest top-level pro hockey clubs, Vorarlberg reached the postseason for the first time this past season after entering the ICE Hockey League in 2022. He is the third player from last season's Minnesota State University program to sign with a professional club - two of those three are former Wild standouts, with Sam Morton shifting to the American Hockey League's Calgary Wranglers in March.

The Trinity, Florida native is the second-most decorated scorer from Wenatchee's first 15 years on the ice, tallying 40 goals and 88 assists for a total of 128 points during a three-year run from 2016 to 2019. In that time, he and the Wild earned the 2017 Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy with the top regular-season record in the British Columbia Hockey League, before winning a Fred Page Cup playoff title and a Doyle Cup championship following the 2017-18 campaign.

Sowder hardly slowed down upon moving on to Minnesota State, piling up 96 points over a five-year stretch with the Mavericks. He posted a career-best 31 points as a freshman, earning the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Rookie of the Year award, and picked up a career-high 13 goals as part of a 28-point senior season this past year.

His signing with Vorarlberg makes him one of 28 former Wenatchee Junior A players active in professional hockey across the world.

The Wenatchee Wild congratulate Lucas Sowder on signing his first professional hockey contract, and wish him all further success as he begins his pro career.

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Images from this story

Former Wenatchee Wild forward Lucas Sowder
Former Wenatchee Wild forward Lucas Sowder
(Russ Alman)		   

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