Tri-City Americans launch into action as Dust Devils return from COVID delays

The Stu Barnes era for the Tri-City Americans got started last weekend with two preseason games in Everett.

Barnes — a former Americans standout, long-time NHL player, and a part-owner of the Tri-City franchise himself — was named the Ams head coach last month.

In the team’s first game last weekend in Everett, Tri-City beat host Everett 4-0 on Saturday.

Goalie Tomas Suchanek earned the shutout, stopping all 32 Silvertips shots.

Defenseman Mitchell Brown added an assist, while left wing Parker Bell added a goal and assist.

On Sunday, Seattle edged Tri-City 4-3.

Ams center Connor Bouchard had a goal and assist for the Ams, while right wing Rhett Melnyk scored a goal and defenseman Lukas Dragicevic added an assist.

Tri-City will play host to the annual Red Lion Preseason Tournament this weekend, Friday through Sunday.

The games will be played at the Toyota Arena, next door to the Toyota Center in Kennewick. As such, there is a limit of 400 tickets that can be sold per day.

A one-day ticket will cost $12, and it’s good for all games played that day.

Friday’s schedule has the Portland Winterhawks playing the Spokane Chiefs at 3 p.m.; followed by Everett and the Americans at 7:05 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule: Everett vs. Seattle Thunderbirds, 2 p.m.; Portland vs. Tri-City, 6:05 p.m.

And Sunday’s schedule has just one game: Spokane vs. Tri-City, at 2 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the Toyota Center box office, or at the Arena entrance.

Dust Devils

After missing their last nine games due to Covid-19 protocols and close contact tracing, the Tri-City Dust Devils got the OK from their parent club, the Los Angeles Angels, to play again.

The team was to take on Eugene on Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, and hopefully complete the season on Sunday.

This week’s games — Wednesday through Saturday, 7:05 p.m. starts; Sunday at 6:05 p.m. — were supposed to be originally played in Eugene. But the Emeralds were asked by the University of Oregon to get out of the school’s ballpark to make way for the Ducks baseball program.

So the series was moved to Pasco to finish the season.

The Dust Devils are 42-64 this season — the team’s first in a 10-year agreement with the Angels.

Eugene and Spokane look to be the top two teams in the six-team High A West league, and will play each other in a best-of-5 championship series starting next week.

H1 Unlimited

The H1 Unlimited season will conclude this coming weekend with the San Diego Bayfair.

There will be just six race boats — the Columbia Cup in July had eight — for the event, which starts Friday with testing and qualifying, followed by racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Rob Graham’s U-12 Gray Trucking boat, with driver Andrew Tate, will not be making the trip. Crew members found massive damage to the interior of the hull that makes impossible to race, especially in salt water.

Still, San Diego always seems to determine the national high points championship.

It’s a tight race for the team championship, with the U-1 HomeStreet Bank, U-8 Miss Tri-Cities, and U-9 Pinnacle Peak Racing vying for the title.

In the drivers battle, J. Michael Kelly, Jimmy Shane and Corey Peabody (who earned his first victory in the Tri-Cities in July) all have a shot at winning the national title.

Small-school football recaps

Miguel Farias rushed for 171 yards on 26 carries, and on defense had 7 tackles and a quarterback hurry, as River View routed Wahluke last week 33-14 in a non-league game.

Ajani Fornos added 87 yards rushing with two touchdowns. He also passed for 60 yards with two TD passes.

Defensively, Ethan King had two interceptions for the Panther (1-1), while Zane Hickman had a team-best 9 tackles (3 for loss) and two pass breakups.

▪ Keegan Bishop passed for 335 yards and seven touchdowns to lead Liberty Christian over Tekoa-Rosalia 78-0 in a non-league game last Friday.

Conner Newell caught 5 passes for 126 yards and three TDs, and he added three interceptions, including a pix-6.

Trevor Newell caught 7 more passes for 122 yards and two scores.

Sam Culver had 7 tackles for the Patriots (1-1).

▪ Connell beat Deer Park 21-6 on the road Friday, as Maddox Martinez passed for two touchdowns for the Eagles.

Teammate Carson Riner rushed for 135 yards and a score. In Week 1 in a 28-21 loss at Othello, Riner rushed 24 times for 171 yards.

Connell lost its road game at Timberlake, Idaho, for Thursday, when the Eagles had some Covid-19 cases.

▪ Joe Baffney passed for five touchdowns to lead DeSales over Sherman County 60-20.

Seamus Doohan caught four of those TD passes for the Irish.

▪ Bryan Vasquez rushed 19 times for 169 yards and three touchdowns to lead Touchet over St. John-Endicott 32-6 last Friday in a non-district 8-man game.

Vasquez also led Touchet defensively with 7 tackles and a fumble recovery.

▪ Jesse Mink scored on a 40-yard pass and returned an interception 65 yards for another score, as College Place beat Warden 21-6 in a non-league game.

▪ Visiting Columbia Burbank raised its record to 2-0 last Friday with a 21-14 win at Kiona-Benton. No other details were available.

▪ Sunnyside Christian took an 8-man road win over Soap Lake last week, winning the non-league contest 46-36.

▪ Tri-Cities Prep lost its game with White Swan last week after, first, the game was moved to accommodate officials, and second, smoke in the Yakima Valley made it impossible to play.

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 12:58 PM.