Tri-City Americans off to 1-1 start in shortened WHL season

The Tri-City Americans are off to a 1-1 start of their shortened Western Hockey League season, beating Portland 3-2 in overtime last Thursday, before falling 7-0 to visiting Everett on Sunday.

In Thursday’s win, Jake Sloan and Sasha Mutala each scored goals for the Ams, but in overtime, Samuel Huo took a perfect, pinpoint pass from Marc Lajoie to slam the puck home for the OT victory.

Goalie Talyn Boyko stopped 27 of 29 shots to get the win in net.

What was nice to see was Tri-City outshot the Winterhawks 33-29. Last season, the Ams continually got outshot from the first period on.

On Sunday, the Ams were never in it against Everett.

Ethan Regnier scored two goals and an assist, while goalie Dustin Wolf earned his second straight shutout for the Silvertips win.

The Ams play at Everett at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday. Their next home game is Saturday, with a 6:05 p.m. puck drop against the Spokane Chiefs.

All home games are being televised on SWX.

Other U.S. Division scores — Friday, 3/19: Seattle 4, Spokane 3; Saturday, 3/20: Everett 2, Spokane 0; Portland 4, Seattle 1; Sunday, 3/21: Portland 4, Spokane 3.

This week’s games – Wednesday, 3/24: Tri-City at Everett, 7:05 p.m.; Friday, 3/26: Everett at Portland, 5 p.m.; Seattle at Spokane, 5:10 p.m.; Saturday, 3/27: Portland at Seattle, 6:05 p.m.; Spokane at Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.; Sunday, 3/28: Portland at Seattle, 5:05 p.m.; Tri-City at Everett, 4:05 p.m..

NCAA basketball

The older I get, the more people I know who are involved in the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

For instance, I could not be happier that the Oregon State University men’s basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16 portion of the tourney. Wayne Tinkle is the Beavers’ head coach.s

Tinkle played a full season in the old Continental Basketball Association for the Tri-City Chinook back in the 1991-92 season, then came back for a short stint the following season before signing with a team in Spain.

He always had time to chat while playing for the Chinook.

Great guy.

OSU entered the Pac-12 Tournament as a No. 5 seed, but mowed down the competition to win the tournament. It was the only way the Beavers would likely have qualified for the NCAA tourney.

Tinkle’s team beat 5-seed Tennessee 70-56 on Friday, then took down 4-seed Oklahoma State 80-70 on Saturday.

Now they play No. 8-seeded Loyola of Chicago of Chicago on Saturday.

Eric Musselman is the head coach at Arkansas, and he has the Razorbacks in the Sweet 16 too.

Musselman was the coach for the Chinook’s rival, the Rapid City Thrillers, and he always (I mean always!) had time to chat with a desperate reporter looking for a good quote.

Meanwhile, two Tri-City women have been playing in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

Southridge High grad Ellie Smith played well for Idaho State on Sunday in the Bengals’ 71-63 loss to Kentucky in the Alamadome in San Antonio.

Smith started at center, played 28 minutes, scored 4 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots in the loss. She is a redshirt-junior, and should be back for her final season this coming fall.

Idaho State finishes the year at 22-4.

Finally, Chiawana grad Talia von Oelhoffen was part of a big first-round victory for Oregon State on Sunday, as the No. 9-seeded Beavers beat No. 8 Florida State 83-59.

Von Oelhoffen came off the bench to score 7 points and dish off 4 assists in 27 minutes of play.

OSU, now 12-7, was scheduled to play No. 1 seed South Carolina later on Tuesday in the second round.

Spring sports have started

High school spring sports teams began practices Monday, even though we’re still doing fall sports.

If you’re an athlete playing a sport in each season, you’re having two practices a day, except if you have a fall sports contest on a day.

The spring sports practice is usually right after school lets out. Then the fall practice begins around 5 p.m.

It’s just the way it’s set up this year, thanks to COVID, with shortened seasons and tightened timelines.

The Mid-Columbia Conference football teams, in fact, all play this Thursday, so that they can get a sixth and final game in on Tuesday, March 30.

Many high school spring sports will start playing games or events March 31 to April 1.

MCC cross country

The Kamiakin boys and Richland girls each finished with 8-0 records after the final regular-season race occurred Saturday at Carmichael Middle School in Richland.

Individually, Kamiakin junior Isaac Teeples and Kennewick junior Macy Marquardt were the fastest runners, respectively, in the boys and girls races.

Teeples, the defending state 3A champion in 2019 as a sophomore, covered the 3-mile course in 14 minutes and 46.74 seconds. Teammate Grayson Wilcott was second at 15:32.90, while Hanford’s Ethan Stout was third at 16:01.38.

Marquardt finished the girls race in 17:27.50, while Richland’s Natalie Ruzauskas was second at 17:38.38. Walla Walla’s Ella Nelson — who is headed to the University of Oregon to run cross country and track — was third at 17:40.38.

Here are the final regular-season standing for the boys: Kamiakin 8-0, Chiawana 7-1, Hanford 6-2, Southridge 5-3, Walla Walla 4-4, Richland 3-5, Pasco 2-6, Hermiston 1-7, Kennewick 0-8.

Final girls team standings: Richland 8-0, Hermiston 7-1, Hanford 5-3, Kennewick 5-3, Kamiakin 4-4, Southridge 3-5, Chiawana 2-6, Walla Walla 2-6, Pasco 0-8.

The district finals will be held in Hermiston this coming Saturday.

Carmichael Middle School, Richland

Saturday, March 20

▪ Boys team scores: Chiawana 15, Pasco 49, Kennewick 83; Kamiakin 23, Southridge 53, Hanford 54; Walla Walla 31, Richland 37, Hermiston 52.

▪ Top 10 boys: 1. Isaac Teeples, Kamiakin, 14:46.74; 2. Grayson Wilcott, Kamiakin, 15:32.90; 3. Ethan Stout, Hanford, 16:01.38; 4. Jordan Sanguino, Kamiakin, 16:15.86; 5. Brody Hartley, Walla Walla, 16:16.26; 6. Miles Sumner, Southridge, 16:16.34; 7. Jackson Johnson, Kamiakin, 16:24.41; 8. Troy Russo, Hanford, 16:26.57; 9. Owen Stigge, Chiawana, 16:27.13; 10.Joel Martinez, Richland, 16:28.27.

▪ Girls team scores: Hanford 34, Kamiakin 36, Southridge 56; Kennewick 21, Chiawana 40, Pasco 64; Richland 25, Hermiston 48, Walla Walla 49.

▪ Top 10 girls: 1. Macy Marquardt, Kennewick, 17:27.50; 2. Natalie Ruzauskas, Richland, 17:38.38; 3. Ella Nelson, Walla Walla, 17:40.38; 4. Andrijana Fundak, Richland, 18:37.04; 5. Sariah Hepworth, Walla Walla, 19:05.15; 6. Emma Summers, Richland, 19:05.73; 7. Madilynn Carr, Richland, 19:15.34; 8. Alexia Serna, Hermiston, 19:20.03; 9. Carley Nelson, Chiawana, 19:32.31; 10. Amanda Nygard, Hermiston, 19:40.33.