Americans begins WHL playoffs + Tri-Cities 9-year-old golfer to compete in Augusta
It’s time.
For the first time in four years, the Tri-City Americans embark on a run into the Western Hockey League playoffs.
The Ams open up a best-of-7 series on Friday night at Prince George.
The Tri-Cities brass made a smart decision in taking its time in getting to Prince George, making it a two-day trip by spending Wednesday night in Kamloops before finishing the trip on Thursday.
The Americans finished fifth in the Western Conference standings with 76 points (34 wins, 26 losses, 5 overtime losses, 3 shootout losses).
The Cougars finished fourth with 81 points (37-24-6-1).
So here is the schedule for the series between the Americans and the Cougars:
Game 1, at Prince George, 7 p.m., Friday, March 31
Game 2, at Prince George, 6 p.m., Saturday, April 1
Game 3, at Toyota Center, 7:05 p.m., Tuesday, April 4
Game 4, at Toyota Center, 7:05 p.m., Wednesday, April 5
Game 5 (if necessary), at Toyota Center, 7:05 p.m., Friday, April 7
Game 6 (if necessary), at Prince George, 6 p.m., Sunday, April 9Game 7 (if necessary), at Prince George, 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 11
Tickets for the Americans home playoff games can be purchased at the Toyota Center.
Forward Jalen Luypen was named WHL Player of the Week for March 20-26 for his performance in a 7-4 win over Spokane last Friday night. Luypen had 6 points in the contest: 3 goals and 3 assists.
Congrats go out to Americans defenseman Lukas Dragicevic, who was named first-team U.S. Division by the league. Ams goalie Tomas Suchanek was named second-team U.S. Division.
Tri-City enters the playoffs riding a 6-game winning streak.
Golf
Next week is The Masters tournament in Augusta, Ga., with the tournament proper starting on Thursday.
But keep an eye out this coming Sunday for Richland’s Emily Nguyen on The Golf Channel.
The 9-year-old fourth-grader will be competing in the National Finals of the Drive, Putt & Chip competition at Augusta National.
The competition will be broadcast on the Golf Chanel from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Nguyen attends Three Rivers Homelink school, and she’s been playing golf since she was 7, mostly with her dad and grandfather. That’s how she started: following her dad to the course.
The right-handed hitter, whose home course is Canyon Lakes Golf Course in Kennewick, will compete in the girls 7-9 division.
This is the second year she’s gone through the competition.
In 2021, Nguyen was able to place third at the regional competition at Pebble Beach.
Last year, she had to get through three competitions to make it to Augusta.
On June 22, she advanced out of the local qualifier at Meadow Springs Country Club in Richland.
Then she made it out of the Sub-Regional qualifier at The Highlands Golf Course in Post Falls, Idaho, on Aug. 17.
Finally, Nguyen advanced to Augusta by getting through the Regional qualifier at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sept. 25.
Her best score, she says, is a 50 over nine holes.
She loves hitting her driver and see how far the golf ball goes, but her favorite club is the sand wedge.
Her biggest problem has been “hitting my 6-iron well.”
Wishing Emily well this weekend.
▪ Professional golf can be such a rollercoaster ride, especially when you’re trying to make it to the big time.
Such is the case of Southridge High grad Therese Warner.
Warner played for the University of Arizona for a few years, and had originally planned to play for South Florida last year after transferring.
But Warner has made it clear that her dream is to play on the LPGA circuit.
To do so, she decided to leave school and began playing in a small, regional mini-tour, Called the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour.
She found a little success, winning one tournament. And in August of last year, she even played in an Epson Tour tournament at the Wildhorse Golf Course in Pendleton. The Epson Tour is considered one step below the LPGA.
So this year, Warner played in the ECWPG Tour opener, winning the opener — the Southern Hills Plantation Women’s Classic in Brooksville, Fla., on Feb. 22.
In that tourney, Warner finished with a three-round score of 214 (2 under par) for the victory.
That’s gotten her off to making a run this season on the Epson Tour.
While she’s missed the cut in the first two Epson tourneys — one in Florida, the other in Arizona — she made the cut at the IOA Championship Presented By Morongo Casino Resport & Spa, in Beaumont, Calif., two weeks ago.
She finished with a three-round total of 219 (3 over par) for 57th place.
Auto racing
Motorsports fans in the region have a big weekend coming up out in West Richland, where the 54th running of the Apple Cup will be held at Tri-City Raceway at the Red Mountain Event Center.
Six different race classes will be competing for the prestigious trophies.
As of Wednesday, the registered list of drivers include 25 for the Super Late Models, 19 for the Northwest Pro Late Models, 16 for the Bettarel Hobby Stocks, 15 for the Northwest Vintage Modifieds, 14 for the Desert Food Mini Stocks, and 7 drivers for the Elite 5 Modifieds.
That’s 96 entries and counting for the weekend.
Gates for fans open both Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m., while racing actions begins both days at 1 p.m.
Here’s the best part: there are still tickets available. Fans can show up at the track’s will call booth between 12 and 5 p.m. on Friday.
Or you can go online at www.redmountaineventcenter.com and purchase them there.
College basketball
MeiLani McBee (Kennewick) had a great sophomore season for the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team.
The guard started in 20 of Hawaii’s 33 games this season, and she averaged 6.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, and almost a steal per contest.
The team finished with an 18-15 record, but the Rainbow Wahine ran through the Big West postseason tournament, winning it by beating UC Santa Barbara 61-59 in the title game.
Hawaii lost to LSU, 73-50, in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
