For the week of January 8 - 14, 2003

Midgets stand tall
in big time rally

SV erases 4-1 deficit,
beats Boise 5-4 in home finale

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On a day when the Steelers and Niners forged their own miracle comebacks, the Sun Valley Midgets high school hockey team crafted one of their own Sunday afternoon.

Trailing Boise 4-1 with nine minutes remaining in its final home game of the season, Sun Valley reeled off four unanswered goals and got the game-winner from defenseman Ryan Blackadar of Salmon with 0:05 left.

Ryne Reynoso, one of six graduating seniors who were honored in a pre-game ceremony before Sunday's game at Sun Valley Skating Center, tallied two goals in a 60-second span including the equalizer with 2:55 left.

Sun Valley coach Andrew Hebert said after the game, "Nice comeback. I’m psyched."

He added about his team, "They showed a lot of character and guts. They stepped up and I’m very proud of them. The weekend was a success."

The weekend featured a three-team round-robin of high school hockey games. Sun Valley went 2-1-1—beating Boise twice 5-4 and 4-2, tying Idaho Falls 3-3 and dropping a 3-2 decision to Idaho Falls.

Top scorers for Sun Valley were Ryne Reynoso 6 goals and 1 assist for 7 points, Tate Mills 1-4 for 5 and Noah Loyd 1-3 for 4. Goalie Joey Bohl was in the net for both victories over Boise, making 53 saves.

Bohl, Zach Bloomfield, Kellen Chatterton, Matt Conover (out with a knee injury), Noah Loyd and Ryne Reynoso were the six seniors with 60 years of combined experience in the Sun Valley program.

In Saturday’s opener, Sun Valley squandered a 3-1 lead and settled for a 3-3 tie with Idaho Falls. Blackadar, Bloomfield (shorthanded) and Ryne Reynoso were the scorers, and goalie Paul Pfleuger made 26 saves.

Goalie Bohl (25 saves) stopped all 16 Boise shots in the first two periods and Sun Valley outscored Boise 4-2 later Saturday in a rough game with 57 penalty minutes. Ryne Reynoso had a three-goal hat trick and Mills added a single goal for Sun Valley.

Sunday morning, Sun Valley outshot Idaho Falls 39-25 but came up on the short end of a 3-2 score. Bloomfield and Loyd scored goals.

Maybe they wanted it too badly, but the Sun Valley boys looked sluggish for much of Sunday’s finale against Boise. Down 4-1 on the scoreboard with 9:23 remaining, the checking line of Danny Gariepy and Alex Sholes and Luke Livingston of Salmon got Sun Valley going.

Forechecking with abandon, the line kept the puck in Boise’s zone and Gariepy finally poked one home. Coach Hebert said, "That’s our digger line. They are always working hard. When they scored, I said to the rest, hey, it looks like the digger line is working. What about everyone else?"

Sun Valley got the message. Relentlessly, they pinned the puck in Boise’s zone until Reynoso swiped one home on passes from Mills and Sinjin Thomas. Then Reynoso scored 21 seconds into a Sun Valley power play from Loyd with 2:55 left.

It looked like the game would end in a 4-4 tie, but Blackadar cruised in from the blueline and blasted a slapshot for the game-winning tally, unassisted, with five seconds remaining.

Sun Valley (12-6-2 season) travels to Salt Lake City for Intermountain Hockey League round-robin action Friday through Sunday, Jan. 10-12.

Last weekend’s scorers: Ryne Reynoso 6/1; Tate Mills 1/4; Noah Loyd 1/3; Sinjin Thomas 0/3; Zach Bloomfield 2/1; Kellen Chatterton 1/1; Ryan Blackadar 2/0; Danny Gariepy 1/0; Alex Sholes 0/1; Luke Livingston 0/1; Taylor Rothgeb 0/1.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.