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Northwest Sports Update: M’s open Cactus League play, Lynden girls win district title, USA-Canada men’s hockey for Olympic gold and more

Northwest Sports Update: M’s open Cactus League play, Lynden girls win district title, USA-Canada men’s hockey for Olympic gold and more

United States' Dylan Larkin, right, scores a goal, during the men's ice hockey semifinal game against Slovakia, at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Julien De Rosa/Pool Photo via AP) Photo: Associated Press


Mariners News

The Mariners showed out in their spring training opener this afternoon.

Seattle beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 in their first game in Peoria.

Leo Rivas and Michael Arroyo each homered to lead a Mariners offense that exploded for 13 hits. Lineup regulars Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor and Dominic Canzone all reached base as well.

The M’s continue spring training tomorrow when they face the San Francisco Giants. We’ll have their Sunday game on the radio when they play the Cincinnati Reds at noon on KPUG.

HS Basketball News

The Lynden girls are district champions once again.

The Lions beat Archbishop Murphy 58-40 last night at Mount Vernon High School to win their fourth straight 2A district title and earn their 71st straight win. Lynden will now go into the regional round of the state tournament as the presumptive number one overall seed.

Meanwhile, the Lynden boys fell just short of doing the same. They lost to Anacortes 50-47 in their own district title game last night. The Lions led by 8 points entering the 4th quarter, but a stingy Seahawks defense held them to just 5 points in the final period of play as Anacortes was crowned district champs.

Tournament seeding for the regional round will be announced over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Lummi boys are advancing to the tri-district title game against a familiar foe.

The Blackhawks beat Summit Classic Christian 85-48 last night in the tournament semifinals to take their 19th straight game. They’ll now face Tulalip Heritage in the championship game in the fourth meeting of the season between the rival schools. Lummi has taken all three of their previous games, though they’ve all been narrow wins.

That title game will be played at 7 pm tomorrow at Muckleshoot Community Center, with both teams already headed to state.

The Lummi girls fell to Crosspoint Christian 61-50 as the Blackhawks drop to the tri-district consolation bracket, though they’ve already clinched a spot at state.

 

Coming up tonight, it’s a pair of loser-out games in Class 1A.

First up, the Mount Baker girls are playing Meridian in the district consolation bracket. The winner will move on to face Nooksack Valley tomorrow in a winner-to-state game. Tipoff between the Mountaineers and Trojans is at 5:40 from Lynden High School.

After that, the Blaine and Meridian boys take the court, with the winner also moving on to face Nooksack in a winner-to-state game tomorrow. The Borderites and Trojans tip off at 7:15 from Lynden High School.

We’ll have both winner-to-state games on the radio for you tomorrow as the Nooksack boys and girls each await their opponents. Coverage for the girls game begins at 12:45 and tipoff is at 1 tomorrow afternoon on KPUG and the boys tip off at 2:50 with Randy Farmer and the coach Dan Kaemingk on the call for both at Lynden High School.

Also tomorrow, the Squalicum girls are gearing up for a win-or-go-home match against Selah. If the Storm win, they’ll clinch their first state tournament appearance since 2010.

They’ll tip off at 3:00 tomorrow from Squalicum High School.

Winter Olympics News

The United States men’s hockey team got another win today to set up a showdown with their archrivals in the world championship.

Team USA thumped Slovakia 6-2 this afternoon in the semifinals to set up a match against Canada for Olympic gold.

Team Canada is coming off a match where they rallied past Finland 3-2 after trailing 2-0 midway through the second period. They could be getting reinforcements though, as Canada captain Sidney Crosby is aiming to play in the gold medal game after missing today’s match with a lower-body injury.

The world championship grudge match between the US and Canada takes place at an early 5:10 am start time Sunday morning.

Overall in the games, the US still sits in second place, trailing Norway by eight medals. Norway broke its own gold medal record at a single Winter Olympics by earning its 17th gold of these Milan Games earlier today.

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