Skaters win twice at weekend tournament

Sun Valley defeated Salt Lake City 3-1 as goalie Billy Cook made 18 saves Saturday. Rock Springs (Wyo.) nipped Sun Valley 4-2 in a game with 43 penalty minutes later Saturday, then Sun Valley blanked Ogden Golden Spike 7-0 Sunday.

Forward Nic Long, Sun Valley’s senior captain, was the team’s leading scorer with 4 goals and 2 assists for 6 points including a 3-goal "hat trick" in Sunday’s blowout victory. Senior Robby McQueen added 2 goals in goalie Cook’s 7-0 shutout.

Rock Springs (3-0) emerged as the only unbeaten team. The Wyoming sextet defeated Ogden 4-2 and Salt Lake City 3-2, outshooting both teams by a combined 59-35. But Sun Valley outshot Rock Springs 23-18 in its 4-2 loss. In the other game, Salt Lake City bounced Ogden 8-2.

Sun Valley came out skating and scoring against Salt Lake City Saturday. The young Suns outshot the Utah sextet 10-2 in the first period and built a 3-0 lead after 13 minutes on goals by Long (unassisted), Nic Thomas (McQueen) and Marc Michaud (Long). Salt Lake finally scored with 1:27 left in the game.

The Rock Springs clash was an uneven effort for Sun Valley. Wyoming outshot the Suns 9-6 in the first period and edged ahead 2-1, but Sun Valley had the shooting advantage the rest of the way. Only Mike Fisher (Michael Praggastis) and Tyler Jones (unassisted) were able to put the puck in the net, however.

Coach Randy Berner’s Sun Valley sextet bounced back Sunday in a whistle-marred contest that finished with 54 penalty minutes.

Long scored twice in the first period, on assists by Michaud, Thomas and Praggastis. Matt Stevenson made it 3-0 only 56 seconds into the second period, on a feed from Michaud, then Long took a headman pass from Jones at the red line and skated down the right side and across the crease for his hat trick.