High school skaters open season

The skating experience of a strong senior class gives the Sun Valley high school hockey team a positive outlook for the 1998-99 campaign that begins this weekend at Sun Valley Skating Center.

Coach Randy Berner, assisted by Robert Caron, is excited about the new Intermountain High School Hockey League that will offer a 16-game schedule. For the entire season, through March, Berner hopes to schedule some 35 games.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, Sun Valley plays Salt Lake City at 9 a.m. and goes against Rock Springs (Wyo.) at 5:15 p.m. On Sunday, Sun Valley entertains Ogden (Utah) at 10:45 a.m. Other teams in the six-team league are powerful Idaho Falls and Jackson Hole (Wyo.).

Seniors include Nic Thomas, Nic Long, Jim Chatterton, Andy Kipling, Garrett Goldberg, Mike Fisher and Robby McQueen. Among the experienced juniors are Billy Cook, Michael Praggastis, Matt Stevenson and Marc Michaud.

The bulk of the league schedule will be played from January through March. Sun Valley plans to play in a Spokane (Wa.) tournament over Thanksgiving, and may schedule a Christmas trip.

Blues win big in Ogden

The Wood River Blues men’s hockey team improved its Intermountain Senior Hockey League (ISHL) record to 5-0-1 last weekend with a sweep over Bountiful at Ogden, Utah.

Dave McKenna, Sean O’Connell and Dale Johnson each scored 2 goals in Saturday’s 9-1 victory. Adding single goals were Steve McCoy, Phil Hebert and Randy Berner. Goalie was Chris Edwards.

The Blues won by forfeit over Bountiful Sunday. Next, Wood River hosts the Salt Lake City Road Rockets Dec. 5-6.

Storm sextet gets off the mark

It was a good season-opening weekend of games for the Sun Valley Storm women’s hockey team, formerly called the Sun Valley Sunsets "B" sextet. Coaches are Mike Punnett and John Ellison Sr.

The Storm elected its leadership in captain Nicole Perkins and assistants Jenny Gatehouse Hebert and Jody Zarkos. And they played a pair of good games with the Boise Inversion at Sun Valley Skating Center.

Saturday, the Storm built a 3-0 first-period lead and defeated Boise 6-3. Carole Punnett scored 2 goals for the winners. Single goals came off the sticks of Dotty Sarchett, Jini Griffith, Jeanie Aguirre and Perkins. Sharing the Storm goaltending were Karen Morrison and Jenny Conrad.

The Inversion grabbed the early lead Sunday, 2-0 after one period, and held on for a 3-2 win. Punnett and Perkins tallied the Storm goals.

Cinda Lewis was the Storm’s Most Valuable Player for the weekend. Carole Punnett was the top offensive player and Cindy Blackman the top defensive skater.

Other Storm skaters included Amy Thompson, Jen Copeland, Susanne Connor, MaryWhitehead, Monica Ratnik, Madeline Winkler, Lisa Lampl and Lolly Greeninger.

An "Icebreaker" for Bantams

The Intermountain Hockey Association, composed of Bantam-aged hockey players from Idaho Falls, Salmon and Sun Valley, hosted Utah, Wyoming and Washington teams at Sun Valley Skating Center last weekend for the annual "Icebreaker" tournament.

Host Idaho comprised of mainly Sun Valley skaters spanked Team Wyoming 6-3 in the third-place consolation game. In preliminaries, Idaho fell to eventual champion Team Utah 11-2, to Team Wyoming 4-3 and to Inland Empire 4-1.

In their well-played defensive win over Team Wyoming, Idaho got 4 goals from Ryan McDonald (8 goals tournament) and 1 goal apiece from Joey Sides and Kent Grimes. Tyler Klune, Perry Palmedo, Mark Sakaguchi, Bobby Sloper aned Justin Taylor played well at both ends of the ice in front of goalies Tristan Keelan, Corey Simpson and Jesse Walker.

Other skaters were Cody Lampl, Matt Ward, John Bowers, Matt Blake, Paul Hughes, Kevin Cole and Jordan Sofro. Coach was Tom Lampl, and tournament director was Jane Grimes.

Girls respond to hockey offer

Last Wednesday’s inaugural session of the Sun Valley Junior Hockey Association’s first-year team for girls attracted an enthusiastic response of 48 girls ages 10-17 to Sun Valley Skating Center.

The response was a pleasant surprise for coaches Tizz Strachan Miller and Sheila Heneghan Naghsh. They were helped by Sun Valley Sunsets players Lucy Chubb, Twyla Bulcher, Christl Holzl and Edith Iler.

Donations of equipment from hockey-playing brothers and friends helped ensure a safe and successful first night of girls’ hockey.

But more gear is needed because of the response. New and used hockey equipment can be donated to the girls’ program through Sun Valley Junior Hockey board member Crisane Cook in care of the Sturtevants hockey shop in Ketchum.

For more details, call Jane Grimes at 726-5876.