The 48th annual Marathon Cup was held Thursday and Saturday at the Greenheck-Turner Community Center in Schofield, and for the 19th consecutive year, Wausau West skated away as champions. The Warriors capped off the tournament with a 4–1 victory over DC Everest in Saturday’s championship game.

Wausau West opened the tournament Thursday with an emphatic 11–1 win over Wausau East–Merrill United. DC Everest followed with a 6–1 victory over Mosinee, setting up the weekend matchups.

In Saturday’s consolation game, neither United nor Mosinee found the back of the net in the first period. Mosinee broke the deadlock just 1:42 into the second period on a goal from Ben Backman. United responded seven minutes later when Jackson Pierce scored to tie the game at 1–1.

From there, it was all Mosinee. The Indians added two more goals later in the second period and three more in the third to pull away for a 6–1 win and secure third place in the Marathon Cup.

The championship matchup featured Thursday’s winners, Wausau West and DC Everest. The opening five minutes were quiet before the Warriors struck first at the 5:58 mark. Owen Pergolski carried the puck deep along the dot and found a streaking Chase Crass in front for a tap-in goal and a 1–0 lead.

DC Everest answered just 30 seconds later when Xavier May buried a rebound as the Evergreens crashed the Warrior net. Gabe Simonsen and Ethan Whitmore earned assists on the tying goal.

The game remained tied until late in the first period, when Wausau West capitalized on the power play. At 15:31, Teigan Rasmus scored on a feed from Crass to give the Warriors a 2–1 lead heading into the first intermission. Wausau West outshot DC Everest 14–7 in the opening period.

The second period was more even in terms of shots, largely due to a parade to the penalty box for the Warriors. Wausau West took six penalties in the period, including four in the final five minutes, giving the Evergreens nearly five minutes of 5-on-3 hockey. Despite the advantage, it was the Warriors who found the net, as Cooper Depuydt scored a shorthanded goal to extend the lead to 3–1 heading into the third.

"While we are getting pucks to the net, we need to do a better job of getting inside the house instead of settling for shots from the perimeter," said Everest coach Dan VanSlyke. "It has been a focus last week in practice after the Marshfield game and thought we were better in that aspect of the game on Thursday against Mosinee."

"On the power play on Saturday night, we didn't take care of the puck the way we need to in order to be successful.  Credit the pressure of West's PK unit," VanSlyke said. " They forced us into positions that we were not comfortable in. Our puck retrieval is an area that we need to be better as well."

The third period was quieter and DC Everest was unable to close the gap. Hendrix Damrow sealed the win with an empty-net goal at the 15:58 mark, making it a 4–1 final.

Both goaltenders turned in strong performances. Julian Scalcucci stopped 30 of 31 shots for Wausau West, while Griffin Bunnell made 39 saves on 42 shots for DC Everest.

"Scalcucci was tremendous on our initial shot and we were not able to find a way to take advantage of our rebound opportunities," VanSlyke finished. "We just can't seem to break this long streak of losing in the Cup!"