For the week of February 5 - 11, 2002

Suns (11-3) show
Green Mill the power

Dust off Gophers in straight sets 6-2, 6-3

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By MICHAEL AMES
Express Staff Writer

Blazing through a spotty Minnesota defense and shelling the goalie with a non-stop barrage of shots, the Sun Valley Suns sailed to back-to-back high-scoring wins over visiting Minneapolis Green Mill 6-2, 6-3 last weekend.

Over the two-game series the Suns (11-3) scored four power-play goals and got solid production from their first two forward lines.

Eric Demment, first-year Suns defenseman, whips a pass through the Green Mill defense. Express photo by Willy Cook

 

It took some play for the Suns to heat up, though. With one period gone on Friday night, the Suns found themselves in a two-goal hole.

After the first intermission, however, things changed drastically. It took only 13 seconds of the second period for Suns defenseman Kit Hughes to flip the offensive switch and permanently change the tone of the game—and the weekend.

Hughes found the net with a quick wrist shot that was, as Hughes described "top shelf, in more ways than one."

Minneapolis goalie Jeff McMurchie saw his evening turn nightmarish in the second and third periods. Sun Valley rifled 29 shots on goal with five finding the net—two apiece by Tom Forti and wing Chris Benson.

Forti tied it up on the power play late in the second with an assist from Hughes. Trying to cash in on a furious pace, the Suns went after the net relentlessly to get the next and eventual winning goal only four seconds after Forti’s equalizer.

It was a team record for fastest two goals. This time it was player/coach Chris Benson using his team’s momentum and a pass from Luke Smith to make it 3-2 at the end of the second.

The Suns often turn on a rapid-fire playing style that befuddles opponents and causes bunches of goals.

And that’s exactly how things went into the third and final period on Friday.

Forti scored again by easily squeaking one through the goalie’s five-hole (between the skates) and, only 23 seconds later, Benson deftly deflected a shot from the point and got himself his second goal on the night.

The game’s final goal was the result of yet another deflection: Matt O’Hare got his stick on Kris Webster’s shot from the point for the Suns sixth and final goal.

While that was O’Hare’s only goal of the weekend, Saturday night’s game was no less eventful for number 33.

Assisting on Frank Salvoni’s first-period goal was certainly key, but O’Hare’s triumph of the weekend was earning the Sun’s infamous "George Jacket."

Named after Sun Valley hockey benefactor, George Gund, the jacket has always been awarded to "the Sun who has singularly distinguished himself during the weekend series." As O’Hare learned after being lit up mid-ice by a large Minnesotan, such distinction can come in the form of grand success or stylish failure.

Game two was decided before the first-period horn sounded.

With goals from Smith, Salvoni, Vilnis Nikolaisons and Benson, the first was an active period.

The second saw two power plays for the Suns. After a weak initial effort, wing Paul Baranzelli converted on the second advantage with assists from Forti and defenseman Eric Demment.

Suns pressure continued right up to the end as a Green Mill power play quickly went haywire giving the Suns a short-handed two-on-one followed directly by a short-handed breakaway. The Gopher goalie blocked these chances and with another Sun Valley penalty, the Green Mill did eventually get its power play goal for a 5-3 deficit.

But it was too late for the challengers and Nikolaisons finished them off with an empty-netter with 36 seconds to go.

Only four games left in the season doesn’t mean the Suns are taking ‘er easy.

All four of those games are against the arch-rival Jackson Hole Moose. Despite the fact that the Suns will lose their practice rink for the next four weeks, coach Benson is looking forward to games against Jackson—on the road at Snow King Center Feb 21-22 and March 14-15 against the Moose here in Sun Valley.

 

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Suns 6, Green Mill 2
Friday

Minn. Green Mill 2 0 0 2
Sun Valley Suns 0 3 3 6

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) Green Mill, Randy Best (Tim Rudd), 3:03. (2) Green Mill, Jay Pojar (Best), 16:40.

SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Kit Hughes 3 (Tom Forti, Eric Demment), 0:13. (4) SV, Forti 7 (Hughes), 14:41, power play goal. (5) SV, Chris Benson 3 (Luke Smith, Kris Webster), 14:45.

THIRD PERIOD—(6) SV, Forti 8 (Paul Baranzelli), 3:26. (7) SV, Benson 4 (John Stevens, Smith), 3:49. (8) SV, Matt O’Hare 3 (Webster), 12:41.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Minneapolis 9-8-9 for 26; for Sun Valley 13-16-13 for 42.

GOALIES—Minneapolis, Jeff McMurchie (36 saves); SV, James Moskos (24 saves, 3-1-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Bobby Noyes; linesmen, Curtis Martin and Jim Kimball of Boise.

NOTES—The Suns set a new franchise record for fastest 2 goals, four seconds in period two…..One of the best Suns wingers in history visited Sun Valley this weekend and watched the Suns games with Green Mill. Back for the first time in 13 years, this time bringing his wife Tracy, was Steve Gentilini. The Minnesotan left Sun Valley, went to school to become a power lineman and has worked that job for 10 years, traveling quite a bit for his work. His first season in Sun Valley was 1988-89, when the Suns coached by John Burke recorded their only undefeated season, 23-0-1. "Gents" scored 11 goals and 21 assists for that great team. In his three Sun Valley winters, the Suns went 53-10-5. Known as a hard-working and hard-hitting winger who couldn’t be knocked off his feet, Gentilini ended up as the second-leading Suns scorer during his last two campaigns—21-14 for 35 points in 1990 and 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points in 1990-91. In all, #26 put up 55 goals and 65 assists for 130 points in 63 Suns games, along with 155 penalty minutes over three winters. Left wing Gentilini is best known as an important member of one of the all-time great Suns forward lines. He, center Tom D’Andrea and right wing Peter Whitehead accounted for 156 of 399 Suns points in 1991, 6.5 points per game or 39% of the team’s scoring. Whitehead, a first-year Suns player, thought he died and went to heaven being with two such different but prolific Minnesotans. Another first-year Suns player that season was Chris Benson, now the Suns player/coach and fourth-leading scorer in Suns annals…..Suns first two forward lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Tom Forti-Paul Baranzelli and John Stevens-Luke Smith-Chris Benson, with Caleb Baukol-Matt O’Hare-Frank Salvoni on a third line and Perry Smiley, Rohan Verplank and J.J. Hanley rotating in on a fourth line. Defensemen were Ben Niemela-Ivars Muzis, Kris Webster-Scott Carmack, Eric Demment-Kit Hughes…. The Jackson Hole Moose (14-5-1), winners of 8 of their last 10 games, swept the Moorhead (Minn.) Majors Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Snow King Center. The Moose entertain the Boston Hockey Club Feb. 14-15 then the Suns arrive Feb. 21-22.

 

 

Suns 6, Green Mill 3
Saturday

Minn. Green Mill 2 0 1 3
Sun Valley Suns 4 1 1 6

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) Green Mill, Rod Anderson (Evan Moline, Best), 2:59. (2) SV, Smith 12 (Vilnis Nikolaisons), 6:27. (3) Green Mill, Best (Scott Hebel, Jason Prystayko), 9:20, power play goal. (4) SV, Frank Salvoni 7 (Scott Carmack, O’Hare), 11:27. (5) SV, Nikolaisons 11 (Demment, Baranzelli), 12:55, power play goal. (6) SV, Benson 5 (Stevens, Smith), 18:12, power play goal.

SECOND PERIOD—(7) SV, Baranzelli 15 (Forti, Demment), 15:54, power play goal.

THIRD PERIOD—(8) Green Mill, Gord Siddorn (Prystayko), 3:55, power play goal. (9) SV, Nikolaisons 12 (Forti), 19:24.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Minneapolis 8-5-8 for 21; for Sun Valley 9-7-8 for 24.

GOALIES—Minneapolis, McMurchie (18 saves); SV, Matt Gershater (18 saves, 7-2-0 season record).

NOTES—Vilnis Nikolaisons (85-139 for 224), in only his fifth season, needs 3 more points to crack the Suns all-time top ten….Forti (2-3 for 5) and Smith (1-3 for 4) were the leading Suns scorers this weekend. Randy Best paced Green Mill with 2-2 for 4 points….The Luke Smith line notched 9 weekend points, and the Tom Forti line accounted for 11 points…..Twelve different Suns scored points as the home team out-pointed Green Mill 31-12 on the scoresheet….Frank Salvoni and Forti collected their first penalties of the season this weekend….Opposing teams have scored the first goal of the game in three of the last four Suns games….The Suns scored 4 goals in each period covering the weekend….Paul Baranzelli’s Carl, who drove 21 hours from Minnesota to see his son play hockey, also saw Paul score his team-leading 15th goal.

 

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2002-03 Sun Valley Suns
Season statistics

(11-3 overall: 10-2 home, 1-1 away)

as of February 12, 2003

 

PLAYER	GAMES	GOALS	AST.	PTS.	PMIN
Luke Smith	13	12	14	26	47.0
Paul Baranzelli	14	15	8	23	23.0
Tom Forti	12	8	15	23	2.0
Vilnis Nikolaisons	14	12	10	22	4.0
John Stevens	14	6	12	18	10.0
Eric Demment	13	4	13	17	27.0
Frank Salvoni	13	7	6	13	2.0
Chris Benson	9	5	5	10	14.0
John Miller	10	3	7	10	13.0
Scott Winkler	7	3	5	8	2.0
Kit Hughes	12	3	4	7	2.0
Scott Carmack	12	3	4	7	19.0
Ivars Muzis	14	2	5	7	30.0
Matt O’Hare	12	3	2	5	5.0
Mike Selhay	8	1	4	5	9.0
Ben Stauffer	4	2	2	4	6.0
Kris Webster	6	0	3	3	4.0
Perry Smiley	13	0	2	2	2.0
Caleb Baukol	14	1	0	1	8.0
Matt Gershater	10	0	1	1	8.0
Rohan Verplank	12	0	1	1	8.0
Ben Niemela	14	0	0	0	28.0
Jamie Ellison	1	0	0	0	2.0
James Moskos	5	0	0	0	0.0
J.J. Hanley	2	0	0	0	0.0
David Stone	2	0	0	0	0.0

 

GOALTENDER	GAMES	GOALS	W-L	AVG.
Matt Gershater	9	26	7-2-0	2.89
James Moskos	3.5	13	3-1-0	3.71
David Stone	1.5	7	1-0-0	4.67

Shots—Gershater 277, Moskos 120, Stone 55.
Saves—Gershater 251, Moskos 107, Stone 48.
Shootout saves—Gershater 5.
Shootout goals allowed—Gershater 3.
Shutouts—0.

SCORE BY  PERIODS	1ST	2ND	3RD	OT	TOT	AVE
Opposition	16	19	10	2	47	3.4
Sun Valley	28	28	31	1	88	6.3

 

INDIVIDUAL MARKS

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Two-goal games (14)—Luke Smith 2, Chris Benson 2, Tom
Forti 2, Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, John Stevens 2, Frank Salvoni 1, Eric Demment 1, Scott Winkler 1, John Miller 1.

Hat tricks or more (5)— Paul Baranzelli 2 (1 with 5 goals), Luke Smith 1 (4 goals), Frank Salvoni 1, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1.

Game-winning goals—Tom Forti 1.

Power play goals (15-48, 31%)— Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, Chris Benson 2, Eric Demment 2, Paul Baranzelli 2, Tom Forti 1, John Miller 1, Mike Selhay 1, Luke Smith 1, John Stevens 1, Frank Salvoni 1, Ivars Muzis 1. Power play goals (opposition): 15-73, (21%).

Shorthanded goals (4)—Scott Winkler 2, Luke Smith 1, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1. Shorthanded goals (opposition): 3.

Season penalty minutes: SV 284, opponents 237.

 

GAME RESULTS

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Total record: 11-3

Record in 1-goal games: 1-2
Record in overtime: 1-2-0

Games scoring 9 or more goals: 3
Games scoring 7 or more goals: 4

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December 20 (H) Boise Blades 3, Sun Valley 2 (OT)
December 21 (H) Sun Valley 6, Boise Blades 1
December 27 (H) Sun Valley 9, Portland Czechs 3
December 28 (H) Sun Valley 16, Portland Czechs 6
January 3 (H) Sun Valley 6, Richtone Painting 1
January 4 (H) Sun Valley 9, Richtone Painting 3
January 17 (A) Las Vegas Royals 7, Sun Valley 1
January 18 (A) Sun Valley 5, Las Vegas Royals 2
January 24 (H) Sun Valley 5, Seattle Indians 2
January 25 (H) Sun Valley 4, Seattle Indians 3 (OT)
January 31 (H) Trail Smoke Eaters 7, SV 6 (OT shootout)
February 1 (H) Sun Valley 7, Trail Smoke Eaters 4
February 7 (H) Sun Valley 6, Minneapolis Green Mill 2
February 8 (H) Sun Valley 6, Minneapolis Green Mill 3

 

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