A diamond in the rough for Utah
Dirty dozen duke it out in Shamrock Shootout
By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer
Closely-played games were the norm as the fifth annual
Shamrock Shootout women’s hockey tournament lived up to its billing,
with the average score closer than freckles on a red-headed Irishman.
In the four-team A bracket, the average margin of victory
was 2.1 goals per game. Play was wider open in the eight-team B bracket
last weekend on Sun Valley ice, with winning teams racking up 3.6 goals.
Protecting the Sunsets goal are, from
left, goalie Karen Morrison, Christine Gould (behind net) and Tizz Miller.
Express photo by Willy Cook
With such tight games, goalkeeping was in higher demand
than a cab in New York.
And out of 12 teams, none boasted a better goalie than the
A champion Salt Lake Black Diamonds, with 19-year-old Kami Cote between
the pipes.
Cote, who will suit up for Aspen at the upcoming U.S.
National 19-and-under tournament, played five games and allowed three
goals. And she had plenty of action.
The Diamonds Most Valuable Player finished with 147 saves
(29.4 per game), including 57 against Sun Valley in the A championship,
which Salt Lake claimed 2-1 in a shootout.
Sun Valley Sunsets wing Larsen Peterson said about Cote,
"I think we were the better team. She was just amazing."
In the B bracket finale, Missoula scored with 18 seconds
remaining to edge Provo 4-3. Game MVP’s were Pat Ortmeyer and Lauren
Tyler.
Sun Valley Fury (3-1-1) captured the consolation contest
with a convincing 4-1 triumph over the Boise Bombshells.
"I think we got better as the tournament went
on," proud Fury coach Johnny Ellison said. "The last two games
were the best we’ve played."
Sunsets make final game
A four-leaf clover could have come in handy after the
Sunsets dropped their opener to the Black Diamonds 2-1 Friday.
After a scoreless first period, linemates Ceci Enge and
Wendy Hall scored on the opening shift of the second period to put Sun
Valley up by one.
The lead didn’t hold. Bree Cote, Kami’s twin, scored
the equalizer a minute-and-a-half later, and she slotted the game winner
with 2:52 remaining.
Undaunted, the four-time tourney champs from Sun Valley
kick-started their offense with a 4-1 win over Jackson Hole Saturday.
Lamp-lighters were Christl Holzl, Edith Iler, Julie Bell and Sheila Naghsh.
Behind goalie Karen Morrison’s 10-save shutout, the
Sunsets knocked out their nasty nemesis Boise Blades 2-0. Tizz Miller and
Sheila Naghsh pocketed the puck.
In Sunday’s semi-final, the Sunsets dumped Jackson Hole
a second time, 3-0, on two goals by Hall and one by Liza Weekes. Salt Lake
outskated the Blades 3-0 to earn the title game berth against the Sunsets.
Diamonds’ coach Don Korth, who has guided his team to an
18-2 mark, said before the showdown, "I think we match up well. They’re
a very good team with great speed."
Normally, the Sunsets scoring is as plentiful as potatoes
in Idaho. Against Cote, they were rejected time and time again.
"We tried everything, but we couldn’t solve
her," coach John Miller said.
The Sunsets shot often. In the first period they put 12
shots on net to Salt Lake’s seven, but the visitors cracked the
scoreboard first on Kelly Lovie’s back-hander.
Sun Valley turned up the heat in the second, squeezing off
18 shots and converting one. Kris Miller one-timed a pass from Julie Bell.
Meanwhile, aggressive forechecking and solid play by blueliners Christine
Gould, Edith Iler, Kate Garrison and Lucy Chubb limited Salt Lake to two
shots.
Sun Valley had 19 shots in the third and Cote stuffed them
all, including a breakaway by sniper Wendy Hall, a redirect by Enge that
hit Cote’s facemask and a cracking shot from the point by Gould.
Neither goalie cracked in OT, each stopping five shots.
Then it was on to penalty shots. Salt Lake’s fourth
shooter, Deb Modrovsky, hit the net and Cote played her part perfectly for
a 2-1 victory.
"We played great. She’s the story for them,"
Miller said.
Rookie Kate Garrison was named the Sunsets’ MVP for the
tournament. Wendy Hall was voted Sun Valley’s MVP in the championship
game.
Fury reap some rewards
It was a rewarding weekend for the Fury, who came back to
life after a dismal showing at the Idaho Winter Games in Boise.
Sun Valley jumped off the losing track with a 3-1 victory
over the Wasatch Wings. Tournament and game MVP Cinda Lewis scored twice
and Nancy Parsons-Brown singled.
In game two, Sun Valley showed they weren’t going to be
the Boise Bombshells whipping dog anymore.
After getting shelled by Boise 7-2 in their last meeting,
Sun Valley played the Bombshells straight-up to a scoreless tie. The draw
set the tone for a later meeting. Fury MVP was goalie Joanie Fox (18
saves).
Six different players lit the light in the Fury’s 6-0
shutout of Jackson Hole. Jen Copeland, Carole Punnett, Nancy
Parsons-Brown, Susanne Conner, Lolly Greeninger and Nicole Perkins.
Jeannie Kiel was named MVP.
That pitted Sun Valley against the Missoula Wham in Sunday’s
semi-finals.
Lewis, who again garnered MVP honors for her fierce play,
scored the game’s opening goal late in the first. Missoula tied it 1-1
less than two minutes later.
Conner slammed in a shot from the point for a 2-1
advantage, but the Fury could not hold the lead. Missoula stormed back
with four unanswered goals to win 5-2.
With third place hanging in the balance, Sun Valley and
Boise went head-to-head in the consolation final.
Playing with a spark that belied the five games under
their belt, the Fury outhustled and outmanned the Bombshells, in a 4-1
victory.
No usual suspects (except for Lewis) in the goal-scoring
department with Cathy Butterfield, Wendy Bevins and Jody Zarkos finding
twine for the first time this season, and in Bevin’s case, her first
career goal. With a pair of assists, Perkins was the game’s Most
Valuable Player.
After the win, Ellison remarked, "The entire team
played well. We didn’t count on just one player. And the goal-tending
was all you could ask for."
The steady Fox finished the weekend with 83 saves.
