For the week of January 2 - 8, 2002

Hockey Summary

 

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Suns 7, Indians 6 (OT shootout)

Saturday, Dec. 29

Seattle Indians 1 1 2 2 6

Sun Valley Suns 0 0 4 3 7

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) Seattle, Doug Bosse (Martin Cervin, Blair Martin), 19:23, power play goal.

SECOND PERIOD—(2) Seattle, Cervin (unassisted), 3:10, power play goal.

THIRD PERIOD—(3) SV, Chris Benson 1 (John Stevens), 4:11. (4) SV, Tom Forti 1 (Jon Bender), 8:06. (5) SV, Mike McMahon 1 (Joe Lawson, Stevens), 10:09, power play goal. (6) Seattle, Bosse (Brian Bruininks, Eliot Komar), 10:28, power play goal. (7) SV, Luke Smith 4 (Jamie Ellison, Kit Hughes), 17:51. (8) Seattle, Bosse (Jeff Blumer, Cervin), 19:05, empty net and hat trick goal.

OVERTIME (5 minutes)—No scoring.

OT SHOOTOUT—(9) SV, Lawson 2. (10) Seattle, Bruininks. (11) SV, Ben Stauffer 3. (12) Seattle, Jonathan Matich. (13) SV, Smith 5, game-winning goal.

SHOTS ON GOAL—for Seattle 11-16-14-10 for 51; for Sun Valley 12-15-18-10 for 55.

GOALIES—Seattle, Ryan Heald (48 saves); SV, Matt Gershater (45 saves, 3-0-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Bobby Noyes; linesmen, Curt Martin and John Olson.

NOTES—The Suns tried to go with four forward lines in the second period but the home team was shorthanded for fully six minutes of the stanza….A big moment came in the second period when the Suns had to kill off a four-minute stretch of being two men down. They allowed only 1 goal—on a Suns clearing mistake—and Matt Gershater made some excellent saves including three big stops in the first 18 seconds of the penalties with Indians sniper Doug Bosse in the slot and Brian Bruininks blasting from the point. Later in the second period, Gershater came out to stop Bosse after yet another Suns defensive mistake and he made a great save on Seattle’s Luke Vitasavich at the end of an Indians two-on-one….Suns forward lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Luke Smith; Chas Riopel-Joe Lawson-John Stevens; Chris Benson-Tom Forti-John Miller; Scott Winkler-Ben Stauffer-Cam Bennett. On the blueline were Mike McMahon-Jon Bender and rookies Tim Tracy/Kit Hughes-Paul Baranzelli. Ivars Muzis didn’t play because of a pulled groin suffered Friday night. Kris Webster and Brian Watts were out of town….Newcomer McMahon, an All-American at the Univ. of St. Thomas in St. Paul, came out to visit college buddies Tom Forti, Ben Stauffer and Gershater. McMahon tallied the go-ahead goal on a shot from the point during a third-period Suns power play….Suns coach Chris Benson said Seattle brought "a pretty good core of players," from last year’s National Senior Open championship team….For the weekend, the Suns were 2-for-3 on the power play, Seattle 5-for-12. Penalty minutes were Suns 50, Seattle 32….Tonight’s attendance was 360 paid customers plus 44 kids and 60 pass holders, which made it close to 500, and Friday’s attendance was pretty close to that, Benson said. "That’s the most productive gate I can remember," said the 12th-year Suns wing….11th-year Suns left wing Chas Riopel is the 13th Suns skater in club annals to go over the 200-point mark. Riopel is at 91-111 for 202 points. Sixth-year center Jamie Ellison is approaching the 200-point standard at 75-122 for 197, and fourth-year wing Luke Smith is closing in on the century mark at 50-47 for 97….Tonight’s result improved Sun Valley’s OT record to 20-19-19 in 27 seasons. But the Suns had been only 2-8-4 in their last 14 OT games. Scoring the shootout goals in the team’s only other OT shootout victory, over the Michigan Jets Feb. 12, 1999, were Nikolaisons, Stevens, Muzis and Hebert with the game winner….Before tonight, that 1999 win over the Jets and a 3-2 OT win over the Jets Feb. 15, 1997 (game-winning goal by Sean O’Connell) were the only Suns OT victories in five seasons….Here is the list of game-winning Suns OT scorers in team history: John Finnegan 2, Kurt Wenzell 2, Phil Hoene 2, Paul Cartmill 2, Brian Watts 1, Dale Johnson 1, Mark Broz 1, Pat Kearney 1, Rip Kirby 1, Terry Heneghan 1, Chas Riopel 1, Brian Saksa 1, Beets Johnson 1, Phil Hebert 1, O’Connell 1 and Luke Smith 1.

 

 

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Suns 7, Indians 5

Friday, Dec. 28

Seattle Indians 2 0 3 5

Sun Valley Suns 2 2 3 7

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) Seattle, Martin Cervin (Doug Bosse), 1:41, power play goal. (2) Seattle, Bosse (Brian Bruininks, Herb Athen), 4:15. (3) SV, Luke Smith 1 (Vilnis Nikolaisons, Ivars Muzis), 12:46. (4) SV, John Stevens 4 (Joe Lawson, Chas Riopel), 16:17.

SECOND PERIOD—(5) SV, Smith 2 (unassisted), 2:00. (6) SV, Nikolaisons 4 (Smith, Jamie Ellison), 5:55, power play goal.

THIRD PERIOD—(7) SV, John Miller 1 (Muzis), 2:33. (8) Seattle, Bosse (Cervin), 3:05. (9) SV, Smith 3 (Nikolaisons, Ellison), 3:50, hat trick goal. (10) Seattle, Cervin (Bruininks, Bosse), 5:38. (11) Seattle, Bosse (Cervin, Bruininks), 12:52, power play and hat trick goal. (12) SV, Nikolaisons 5 (Smith), 14:46.

SHOTS ON GOAL—for Seattle 14-13-15 for 42; for Sun Valley 16-11-16 for 43.

GOALIES—Seattle, Ryan Heald (36 saves); SV, James Moskos (37 saves, 1-0-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Bobby Noyes; linesmen, Curt Martin and Pat Ballou.

NOTES—Jampacked with holiday visitors and kids home on holiday, the rink was nearly full for the big game—biggest crowd in about 10 years, according to former Suns coach Tim Jeneson….Suns forward lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Luke Smith; Chas Riopel-Joe Lawson-John Stevens; Chris Benson-Tom Forti-John Miller, with Scott Winkler and Ben Stauffer rotating in. On the blueline were Ivars Muzis-Jon Bender and rookies Tim Tracy-Paul Baranzelli….With Kris Webster not playing, Muzis had a great game on defense and added a pair of assists. His second assist came deep in the offensive zone, as he jammed the puck into the corner. Indians goalie Ryan Heald made the save, but John Miller picked up the garbage to cap a string of 5 unanswered Suns goals and widen the Suns lead to 5-2….Capped by the brawl that came with only 27 seconds left, the teams rang up a combined 58 penalty minutes—Ellison earning 16 including two fighting penalties in the same incident. Former Suns coach John Burke, watching from the penalty box, said he saw it coming from Ellison’s demeanor. When Nikolaisons was tripped and pulled down on an excellent scoring opportunity, Ellison stuck up for his linemate and challenged a pair of Indians who were 6-to-8 inches taller. Within seconds the ice was littered with helmets and sticks. It resembled a yard sale of hockey gear, one fan said. Like a wrestler racking up a pin, Ellison ended up on top of Indians forward Blair Martin. As Jamie skated off the ice to the locker room, Ellison’s linemate Luke Smith gave the little guy with the big heart an appreciative tap on the noggin….About former Dartmouth College skater Smith, assistant Suns coach Kurt Wenzell said, "Luke hadn’t played all year so it took him a period to get his hands and feet together. After the first 10 minutes he got his timing down, got his act together and played great."

 

 

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Suns 10, Boise Blades 5

Friday, Dec. 21

Boise Blades 1 3 1 5

Sun Valley Suns 1 5 4 10

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) Boise, Rob Dumas (Warren Moore, James Burdett), 7:49. (2) SV, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1 (Kris Webster, Paul Baranzelli), 11:44.

SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Ben Stauffer 1 (Chris Benson, Scott Winkler), 2:09. (4) SV, John Stevens 1 (Jamie Ellison, Ivars Muzis), 3:08. (5) Boise, Dan Marcotte (Rick Bourbonnais, Kurt Liebecke), 9:06. (6) Boise, Troy Edwards (Dumas, Scott Davis), 9:46. (7) SV, Stevens 2 (Joe Lawson), 13:40. (8) SV, Jon Bender 1 (Muzis, Winkler), 14:41. (9) Boise, Kurt Liebecke (unassisted), 18:35. (10) SV, Winkler 1 (Benson), 19:37.

THIRD PERIOD—(11) SV, Winkler 2 (Lawson, Bender), 1:58. (12) SV, Ellison 1 (Tim Tracy, Nikolaisons), 2:59. (13) SV, Baranzelli 1 (Chas Riopel, Lawson), 4:24. (14) Boise, Marcotte (Dumas), 10:08. (15) SV, Stevens 3 (Riopel, Lawson), 17:34, hat trick goal.

SHOTS ON GOAL—for Boise 8-12-14 for 34; for Sun Valley 17-17-14 for 48.

GOALIES—Boise, Rick DeMichael (38 saves); SV, Matt Gershater (29 saves).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Bobby Noyes; linesmen, Richard Winkler and John Olson.

NOTES—Suns forward lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-John Miller; Chas Riopel-Joe Lawson-John Stevens; Scott Winkler-Ben Stauffer-Chris Benson. Rotating in was John McGuone. On the blueline were Ivars Muzis-Paul Baranzelli, Kris Webster-Jon Bender/Tim Tracy….Blades forward Rick Bourbonnais played for the Suns for five seasons, scoring 54 goals and 51 assists for 105 points.

 

 

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Suns 7, Boise Blades 0

Saturday, Dec. 22

Boise Blades 0 0 0 0

Sun Valley Suns 2 0 5 7

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Lawson 1 (Stevens), 4:00. (2) SV, Riopel 1 (Lawson, Stevens), 17:45.

SECOND PERIOD—No scoring.

THIRD PERIOD—(3) SV, Nikolaisons 2 (John Miller, Bender), 9:59. (4) SV, Ellison 2 (Miller, Nikolaisons), 10:36. (5) SV, Ellison 3 (Webster, Nikolaisons), 12:29. (6) SV, Nikolaisons 3 (Tracy, Benson), 15:05. (7) SV, Stauffer 2 (Muzis, Winkler), 18:17.

SHOTS ON GOAL—for Boise 5-7-8 for 20; for Sun Valley 13-10-18 for 41.

GOALIES—Boise, Mark Liebecke (34 saves); SV, Gershater (20 saves, 2-0-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Richard Winkler; linesmen, John Olson and Curtis Martin.

NOTES—.For the weekend, Sun Valley outpointed the Blades 48-11 led by Vilnis Nikolaisons 3-3 for 6, Joe Lawson 1-5 for 6, Scott Winkler 2-3 for 5 and John Stevens 3-2 for 5. In all, 14 Suns scored 2 or more points….Sun Valley iced the game with 4 goals in a 5:06 stretch in the third period.

 

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