Tri-City Americans grab familiar face during WHL bantam draft
The Tri-City Americans grabbed the son of a former Am as their first pick in the Western Hockey League bantam draft on Wednesday.
Defenseman Lucas Dragicevic, from Richmond, British Columbia, was selected by Tri-City in the first round, fourth overall pick in the draft.
Lucas is the son of former Tri-City American Milan Dragicevic.
Lucas, at 6-foot, 163 pounds, played this past season at the Delta Hockey Academy.
At Delta, he scored 8 goals and 44 assists (for 52 points), and had 32 penalty minutes in 30 games played.
His teammate, right wing Deagan McMillan, was the Ams’ next pick, this one coming in the second round and 25th overall.
McMillan, from Vernon, British Columbia, is 6-foot-1 and 178 pounds.
In 27 games, McMillan scored 20 goals and 31 assists (for 51 points), and he had 63 penalty minutes.
The Americans’ third pick is right winger Tanner Gould of the Calgary Bisons program.
Gould was grabbed in the third round, at No. 47 overall.
Gould, who hails from Calgary, is 5-10, 164 pounds. In 31 games, he scored 31 goals and 34 assists (for 65 points). He also had 42 penalty minutes.
The bantam draft still was going on when the Herald went to press on Wednesday.
CBC men’s basketball
The Columbia Basin College men’s basketball team has started shoring up its roster for the 2020-21 season with a number of great signings.
First, the Hawks grabbed Southridge senior Tristan Smith, who was the second-leading scorer in the Mid-Columbia Conference at 22.4 points a game.
The Hawks also signed Pasco High seniors Ethan Legard and Nick Gutierrez, and also snagged big inside player Tyler Bussell of River View.
To top it off, CBC has signed Hanford product Connor Woodward and ex-Richland standout Cody Sanderson.
Woodward, a prolific scorer and outside shooter, started last year by trying to walk-on at Washington State University. By December, he had transferred to Green River Community College and played in his first game of the season for the Gators in early January.
Woodward averaged over 10 points for Green River.
But the Gators released him so that he could play closer to home this coming season.
Sanderson, meanwhile, was part of those really strong Richland Bombers boys basketball teams of 2017-18 and 2018-19. But he was also a football standout for the Bombers, and he signed a letter of intent to play football this past school year at Central Washington University.
Sanderson was redshirted, but has now decided he wants to give basketball a try.
All of these guys are great pickups for the Hawks.
Notes
• Pasco senior Isaiah Gonzalez, who just completed a perfect 45-0 season in February, is going to wrestle collegiately for Cal Baptist University this winter.
Gonzalez was a two-time WIAA state wrestling champion — also claiming a title as a freshman — and he had a 161-8 high school record.
• The offers keep coming in for Kamiakin running back Tuna Altahir. He received scholarship offers No. 7 and 8 this past week, both coming from Big Sky Conference schools Sacramento State and Northern Arizona. Altahir will begin his senior season this fall.
• Tri-Cities Prep senior middle blocker Emily Dickson has agreed to play women’s volleyball this fall at Pacific Lutheran University.
• Spence McMurdo of the Hanford Flames confirmed last week that if there is a chance to play some summer baseball, the Flames will be doing it.
“We are going to move forward with a shortened season if everything falls back into place,” McMurdo said. “We are school based, like most American Legion Baseball teams, so home field might be an issue. All things considered … We may have to travel more.”
American Legion Baseball announced a few weeks ago that this year’s World Series and all regional tournaments would be canceled. National also was leaving it up to the individual states as to whether they run a regular season.
Not long after the national announcement, Washington State American Legion Baseball announced it was canceling the 2020 regular season.
But the Yakima Beetles, the Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak, and the Kennewick Outlaws have all confirmed they plan to play an independent schedule, if allowable, this summer.
• Simon Fraser University’s men’s basketball team went 16-13 this past season. Richland High grad Cole Northrop is on the team roster. He redshirted this season and still has four years of eligibility left.
• Walla Walla High School grad Brianna Bueck has spent the last two years playing for the Yakima Valley College women’s soccer team.
Last fall, Bueck started nine matches for the 11-5-3 Yaks, scoring a goal and two assists.
Now, she has signed to continue playing women’s soccer at Warner Pacific University in Oregon.
• Warden softball standout Jocelyn Chagoya will play next spring for the Big Bend Community College softball team.
• Kamiakin senior Jaden Eden will continue playing men’s soccer this fall after signing a letter of intent with North Idaho College.
• Pasco’s Ricardo Herrera is headed to Spokane Community College to play men’s soccer for the Sasquatch this fall.
• Pasco senior Graycie Landoni has signed a letter of intent to play women’s basketball this coming winter for Mount Hood Community College.
• Kiona-Benton volleyball standout Morgan Lowe is headed to Blue Mountain Community College this fall to play for the Timberwolves.
• The Big Bend Community College men’s basketball program got a big signing when Toppenish’s Isaac Perez decided to sign with the Vikings.
Perez was the leader of a Wildcats team that was ranked No. 2 in Class 2A going into the state tournament, and finished sixth.
• Sunnyside senior Abby Zavala will continue playing basketball after she signed with the Yakima Valley College women’s team..