Tri-City junior hockey team headed to national tournament for 3rd year in a row
A Tri-Cities hockey team is headed back to the nationals.
Jody Carpenter’s Tri-City Junior Americans 16U squad rolled through the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association Tier 2 state tournament field with a 4-0 record, outscoring its opponents 43-12, and beating Sno-King 10-5 in the title game on March 6.
That means the Jr. Ams have qualified for the national tournament for the third consecutive year — and the first time as a 16U team.
The first two years the group was in 14U play. They didn’t go to nationals in 2020 because the pandemic canceled the tournament. But last year, the team finished third in Dallas.
Now, the Jr. Ams head to Troy, Mich., flying out of Pasco on March 30, and have to be ready to play on March 31.
The tournament runs through April 4.
The team has won four tournaments this season: the World Invite in Chicago, a high school tournament in Missoula, the Seattle Winter Classic, and the aforementioned PNAHA 16U state title that earned it the trip to nationals.
With a 37-9-3 record, 315 goals scored against surrendering 129 goals, the Jr. Ams are ranked 23rd in the nation among all USA 16U Tier 2 teams.
Carpenter, the head coach, calls this group the pioneers of the Tri-City Amateur Hockey Association.
“This age group has been successful since they’ve been together,” said Carpenter. “We’ve never lost a state tournament at Tier 2.”
What it’s done, he says, is push the younger age groups, from 8 to 10 and up, to try to be as successful as this group.
“The hockey IQ of this team is probably it’s greatest strength,” Carpenter added. “They do all of it — skating, shooting, defense, goal-tending — well.”
He said that a number of the players have aspirations to play junior hockey down the road.
One player, Connor Ellingsen, was drafted this season by the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans. He attends Chiawana High School and also plays football.
“But I believe a number of these guys are being looked at by a number of junior leagues,” said Carpenter.
Junior Americans team members are Adam Pellerin, Alex Enghusen, Braxton Feldmann, Chad Dejong, Connor Ellingsen, Cooper Leonard, David Sinyuk, Ethan Black, Jack Wood, Jackson Hammond, James Rush, Jarrett Rainey-Gibson, Job Carpenter, Kamren Frederick, Nicholas Sinyuk, Owen Bergstrom, Tie Schumacher, and Zach Baumann.
Rush may be a familiar name to Southridge High football fans, as he was their leading rusher last fall.
Carpenter’s coaching staff consists of Darin Schumacher, assistant coach and the director of the Tri-City Amateur Hockey Association; and Derek Ellingsen, and assistant coach and president of the TCAHA.
The team is looking for donations for the trip, and has set up a GoFundMe account, at https://gofund.me/37a5a00b
NWAC basketball
The Columbia Basin College men’s basketball gets to play a late-night game Thursday night at the NWAC basketball championships in Everett.
The Hawks will take on Tacoma in a first-round contest in the final game of the night.
“I’m not fond of the 10 p.m. start,” said CBC coach Anthony Owens. “But it is what it is.”
CBC is 16-11 this season and comes out of the East region as the No. 2 seed. Tacoma is a No. 3 seed out of the West with a 15-10 record.
North Idaho (20-7) actually finished second in the East region (behind first-place Wenatchee Valley), but is ineligible to compete in the post season.
The winner of the CBC-Tacoma game advances to play either Clackamas or Olympic at 7 p.m. Friday at Everett Community College.
The loser is done.
Richland High grad Tyler Kurtz leads Owens’ team in scoring, with 18.3 points a game. Jase Edwards (Central Valley) averages 13.5 points, while Amar Rivers (Auburn) is at 10.0 points.
“This team has met its expectations,” said Owens, who added it has been a bit of a rollercoaster season. “We wanted to compete for the No. 1 spot (in the East Region), but then Garrett Streufert breaks his hand. We played well at the start of the East region season.”
And then the Hawks got hit by a covid outbreak.
“We were finally getting into a groove, but lost two of our last three games,” Owens added.
Still, he likes the look of this squad going into the tournament.
“This team right here, it plays together,” said Owens. “They enjoy each other, they joke around with each other.”
Players feel close enough that they can get on each other to push themselves.
“They are always teaching each other,” Owens said. “We’re one of the better teams in the NWAC at taking care of the ball. We average just 9 turnovers a game. So (Tacoma is) going to try to speed things up on us. They’ll try to be physical.”