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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
208.726.8060 Voice
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of March 19 - 25, 2003

Sports

Wild 9-7 win to Suns, but Moose bounce back

Rivals split SV hockey finale


The Sun Valley Suns had one bright, shining moment last weekend during their long-awaited home hockey clash with the Jackson Hole Moose.

Behind a three-goal hat trick by leading scorer Luke Smith, the Suns (12-6) won Friday’s wild game 9-7 before a loud and raucous home crowd.

Ivars Muzis (center) scored the Suns game winner Friday. Express photo by Willy Cook

Defenseman Ivars Muzis slammed home the eventual game-winning slapshot on a pass from his buddy Vilnis Nikolaisons with five minutes left in the hard-fought game.

"We showed some character," said Suns coach Chris Benson, whose team squandered 2-0 and 5-2 leads to the hard-skating and hard-checking Moose and still won.

But the Moose (19-6-1) had a brighter "Star" in goalie Marc Morningstar and spoiled Sun Valley’s season finale 9-4 Saturday on resort ice. Ex-Suns forward Morningstar turned away 46 of 50 Suns shots.

Eric Demment had the best success of any Suns skater breaking the puck out of the zone against the Moose. Express photo by Willy Cook

Morningstar, who backstopped all four games against his old team in 2003, was a major factor leading the Moose to three wins in four games against the Suns this season.

Suns defensive breakdowns against the Moose fore-checkers were a common theme in the three Sun Valley losses, and that was certainly the case Saturday. The Moose broke open a close 5-4 game with four unanswered goals in the third and final period.

But the Suns, who played only four games in six weeks because the Sun Valley rink was closed to skating, preferred to remember Friday’s survival test as a true measure of what they could accomplish.

Sun Valley junior hockey product Scott Winkler made an alert centering pass and set up Muzis for the first goal, then Nikolaisons tipped home a shot by blueliner Kit Hughes for a power play goal and a 2-0 Suns lead early in the game.

Luke Smith was the #1 star of Friday’s 9-7 Suns win. Express photo by Willy Cook

A battling bunch who skated hard to the final whistle in each game, the Moose tied it 2-2 before John Stevens used some fancy footwork to put the Suns ahead 3-2 with just 23 seconds left in the first period.

Two more quick goals—Smith breaking in from the left wing and defenseman Kris Webster blasting a shot from the point—put the Suns ahead 5-2 early in the second. The Moose fired back with three goals in three minutes.

Nikolaisons earned a penalty late in the third, the game tied 6-6, and the Suns got the go-ahead goal on the power play when Smith punched home a Hughes hummer from the point for his hat trick. A Suns defensive error let the Moose tie it 7-7, setting the stage for Muzis’ game winner.

Goalie Matt Gershater came up with the big saves at crunch time. Express photo by Willy Cook

Try as they could, the Suns couldn’t contain the relentless Moose line of Gregg Gripentrog, T.C. Harris and Charlie Ridolf. They accounted for 19 of the 36 Moose points—Ridolf and Gripentrog amassing four assists apiece Saturday. Moose defenseman Chris DeMarco had a third-period hat trick Saturday to deflate the Suns.

Check the Express Web site for a complete summary of last weekend’s games plus final Suns season statistics and the team’s all-time scoring leaders.


 

Suns 9, Moose 7
Friday

Jackson Moose 2 4 1 7
Sun Valley Suns 3 3 3 9


FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Ivars Muzis 3 (Matt O’Hare, Scott Winkler), 3:58. (2) SV, Vilnis Nikolaisons 13 (Eric Demment, Kit Hughes), 5:18, power play goal. (3) Moose, Charlie Ridolf 4 (John Curry, Aaron Ackley), 13:19, power play goal. (4) Moose, T.C. Harris 19 (Gregg Gripentrog), 15:14. (5) SV, John Stevens 8 (Tom Forti, Nikolaisons), 19:37.

SECOND PERIOD—(6) SV, Luke Smith 15 (Hughes), 1:07. (7) SV, Kris Webster 1 (Winkler), 4:00. (8) Moose, Ackley 4 (Bryan Hannafin, Joe Casey), 9:20. (9) Moose, Hannafin 13 (Mike Sullivan), 12:44. (10) Moose, Harris 20 (Curry), 13:00. (11) SV, Smith 16 (Webster, Frank Salvoni), 15:38. (12) Moose, Ridolf 5 (Harris, Gripentrog), 17:49.

THIRD PERIOD—(13) SV, Smith 17 (Hughes), 12:15, power play and hat trick goal. (14) Moose, Casey 30 (unassisted), 13:05. (15) SV, Muzis 4 (Nikolaisons, Stevens), 15:43, game-winning goal. (16) SV, Stevens 9 (unassisted), 19:30, empty net goal.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Jackson Hole 14-19-13 for 46; for Sun Valley 16-17-16 for 49.

GOALIES—Jackson Hole, Mark Morningstar (40 saves, 12-6-1 season record); SV, Matt Gershater (39 saves, 8-3-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Richard Winkler; linesmen, Curtis Martin and Pat Ballou.

NOTES—The Suns scored the first goal of each period….Suns coach Chris Benson was appreciative of the big, loud crowd—and also of the fact that a couple of Suns shots found the back of the net at the right times…..Vilnis Nikolaisons’ mistake that gave the Moose their game-tying goal at 7-7 was totally "out of character," for the smart, reliable Suns wing, coach Benson said. Nikolaisons turned a breakout pass blindly to the center, right onto the stick of Moose captain Joe Casey, and Casey made no mistake. Vilnis slammed his stick on the glass, furious with himself. But two minutes later Nikolaisons got it back, with the help of his buddy Ivars Muzis. Vilnis kept the puck in the Moose zone and dropped a pass back to Muzis on the left point, and Ivars pulled the trigger for the eventual winner. John Stevens flipped an empty-netter home with 30 seconds left and slammed his chest into the plexiglass to celebrate. A similar plexiglass-slamming celebration at the end of the game broke the glass…Adding Scott Winkler, who came up from southern California for the weekend, and veteran blueliner Kris Webster, the Suns could go with four two forward lines and three sets of defensemen. They were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Tom Forti-John Stevens, Frank Salvoni-Luke Smith-Chris Benson, Scott Winkler-Matt O’Hare-Scott Carmack, Rohan Verplank-J.J. Hanley-Caleb Baukol. Defensemen were Eric Demment-Kit Hughes, Ivars Muzis-Paul Baranzelli, Kris Webster-Ben Niemela….. Webster made an excellent play at the point with the game tied 5-5. He lowered his stick horizontal to the ice and stopped a potential Moose breakout pass. In the same motion Webster swept the puck to the front of the Moose net where Smith poked it past goalie Morningstar for a 6-5 Suns lead…..Home crowd favorite J.J. Hanley had a couple of solid third-period shots attempting to break the 6-6 tie….The Moose countered with the same two forward lines they led off with at Snow King: Bryan Hannifan-Joe Casey-Nick Dolentz, Gregg Gripentrog-T.C. Harris-Charlie Ridolf. With his wings Dustin Stolp (21 points) and T.J. Thomas (17 points) not making the trip because of work responsibilities, center Eric Rahilly skated with LW Josh Theken and RW Dan Potter. It hurt somewhat not having Stolp, Thomas and Rahilly playing together, Moose coach Dave Pfeifer acknowledged, since the three have skated together since they were members of the pre-Moose Junior A Jackson Hole Grizzlies in the early 1990s….The three Moose defensive pairs were Adam Patterson-Chris Demarco, John Curry-Aaron Ackley, Mike Sullivan-John Bradford. Former Suns player Wade Clarke (3-21 for 24) also didn’t make the trip…. The Moose had allowed a season-high 10 goals in a 10-5 loss at the Las Vegas Royals Nov. 23….The last time he played at Sun Valley, Moose goalie Marc Morningstar also yielded 9 goals in a 9-2 loss to the Suns….Suns goalie Matt Gershater, who had family in town, preserved the victory with an amazing stop on John Curry’s backdoor attempt with 53 seconds left and the Moose using the extra attacker….The Suns scored their most goals in a single game since Jan. 4.

 

 

Moose 9, Suns 4
Saturday

Jackson Moose 1 4 4 9
Sun Valley Suns 2 2 0 4


FIRST PERIOD—(1) Moose, Josh Theken 6 (unassisted), 10:42. (2) SV, Tom Forti 9 (Hughes, Demment), 15:05. (3) SV, Ben Niemela 1 (O’Hare, Rohan Verplank), 16:49.

SECOND PERIOD—(4) Moose, Hannafin 15 (Harris), 2:32, power play goal. (5) SV, Salvoni 8 (Smith), 2:41. (6) Moose, Harris 21 (Gripentrog, Ridolf), 4:27. (7) Moose, Curry 3 (Gripentrog), 8:34. (8) Moose, Hannafin 16 (Ridolf, Gripentrog), 16:27. (9) SV, Smith 18 (Nikolaisons, Chris Benson), 17:36, power play goal.

THIRD PERIOD—(10) Moose, Chris Demarco 3 (unassisted), 2:58. (11) Moose, Harris 22 (Ridolf, Gripentrog), 4:37. (12) Moose, DeMarco 4 (Ridolf, Harris), 5:08. (13) Moose, DeMarco 5 (Casey), 19:15, hat trick goal.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Jackson Hole 14-15-21 for 50; for Sun Valley 15-18-17 for 50.

GOALIES—Jackson Hole, Morningstar (46 saves, 13-6-1 season record); SV, James Moskos (41 saves, 3-3-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Richard Winkler; linesmen, John Olson and Pat Ballou.

NOTES—Luke Smith, who nailed down his first Suns season scoring title, led the Suns with 4 goals and 1 assist for 5 points on the weekend. Defenseman Kit Hughes had 4 assists and Vilnis Nikolaisons had 4 points as well….Smith (79 goals and 77 assists for 156 points for 5 Suns years) is now #19 on the team’s all-time goal scoring list….Always-dependable fifth-year wing Nikolaisons (86-144 for 230) has moved into #10 all-time and can reach the #5 spot with a decent year next winter. Eighth-year wing John Stevens (83-131 for 214) moved past Phil Hoene this weekend into #13 on the all-time Suns list….The Moose didn’t have the scoring diversity they did in sweeping the Suns 5-3 and 8-3 Feb. 21-22, when there were 15 different Moose scorers led by former University of Connecticut skater Charlie Ridolf, 23, of West Warwick, R.I. But the Moose didn’t really need a variety of scorers because the line of Gregg Gripentrog-T.C. Harris-Ridolf was clicking on all cylinders with 19 of Jackson Hole’s 36 points on the weekend. And fourth-year Moose defenseman Chris DeMarco, 26, of Binghamton, N.Y. picked up any slack when he scored a 3-goal hat trick in tonight’s finale. DeMarco had scored just 3 goals for the season entering the game ….Ex-Denver University skater Joe Casey leads the Moose with 30 goals and 19 assists for 49 points. Gripentrog weighs in at 17-28 for 45. The Moose have gotten great production from first-year T.C. Harris (22-13 for 35), Bryan Hannifan (16-15 for 31) and Nick Dolentz (9-15 for 24)…..The Moose now lead 15-8-1 in the six-year series. They’ve won 13 of the last 16 games between the two teams after the Suns opened the series in 1998 with a 3-0-1 advantage….The Suns were 3-for-7 on the power play this weekend, and Moose 2-for-9. Weekend penalty minutes were fairly even: Suns 29, Moose 25…..Suns forward lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Tom Forti-John Stevens, Frank Salvoni-Luke Smith-Chris Benson, Scott Winkler-Matt O’Hare-Rohan Verplank, J.J. Hanley-Scott Carmack-Caleb Baukol. Defensemen were Eric Demment-Kit Hughes, Ivars Muzis-Paul Baranzelli, Kris Webster-Ben Niemela….The O’Hare third line put on good pressure all game……Winkler had a couple of very good early chances, then Tom Forti’s hard work kept the puck in the Moose zone and Forti tipped home a Kit Hughes slapper for the first goal. O’Hare’s forechecking set up the second goal, which went to defenseman Ben Niemela—his first point of the season—on a rocket shot from the point. O’Hare ended up sprawled on the top of Moose goalie Marc Morningstar after the puck went in…..The first two Moose goals came directly from Suns defensive mistakes….Goalie James Moskos made several very big saves in the second period when the Moose offense was picking up steam, then a quick shot by Chris Benson on the Suns power play was punched home by Luke Smith cutting the Moose lead to 5-4 after two periods. But, for the third time in the game, the Suns defense gave up the puck leading directly to a goal, and offensive-minded Moose blueliner Chris DeMarco scored the first of his three third-period goals. "We had some defensive breakdowns," said coach Benson.


 

2002-03 Sun Valley Suns
final season statistics

(12-6 overall: 11-3 home, 1-3 away)

as of February 19, 2003

PLAYER  GAMES  GOALS  AST.  PTS.  PMIN
Luke Smith     17 18 16 34 47.0
Vilnis Nikolaisons     18 13 15 28 4.0
Tom Forti     16 9 17 26 2.0
John Stevens     18 9 15 24 12.0
Paul Baranzelli     18 15 8 23 27.0
Eric Demment     17 6 15 21 31.0
Frank Salvoni     17 8 8 16 4.0
Kit Hughes  16 4 8 12 4.0
Chris Benson     13 5 6 11 20.0
Ivars Muzis     18 4 6 10 32.0
John Miller     10 3 7 10 13.0
Scott Winkler     9 3 7 10 7.0
Scott Carmack   16 3 4 7 19.0
Matt O’Hare     16 3 4 7 14.0
Kris Webster    8 1 4 5 4.0
Mike Selhay 8 1 4 5 9.0
Ben Stauffer     4 2 2 4 6.0
Rohan Verplank     16 0 2 2 15.0
Perry Smiley    13 0 2 2 2.0
Caleb Baukol     18 1 0 1 8.0
Ben Niemela     18 1 0 1 38.0
Matt Gershater    12 0 1 1 8.0
Jamie Ellison     1 0 0 0 2.0
James Moskos     7 0 0 0 0.0
J.J. Hanley     6 0 0 0 4.0
David Stone     2 0 0 0 0.0

 

GOALTENDER 

GAMES  GOALS  W-L  AVG.
Matt Gershater    11 41 8-3-0 3.73
James Moskos 5.5 27 3-3-0 4.91
David Stone 1.5 7 1-0-0 4.67

Shots—Gershater 354, Moskos 215, Stone 55.
Saves
—Gershater 313, Moskos 188, Stone 48.
Shootout saves
—Gershater 5.
Shootout goals allowed
—Gershater 3.
Shutouts
—0.

SCORE BY 
PERIODS

 1ST  2ND  3RD  OT  TOT AVE
Opposition  25 30 19 2 76 4.2
Sun Valley  34 35 37 1 107 5.9

 

INDIVIDUAL MARKS


Two-goal games (17)—Luke Smith 3, John Stevens 3, Chris Benson 2, Tom
Forti 2, Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, Ivars Muzis 1, Frank Salvoni 1, Eric Demment 1, Scott Winkler 1, John Miller 1.

Hat tricks or more (6)— Paul Baranzelli 2 (1 with 5 goals), Luke Smith 2 (1 with 4 goals), Frank Salvoni 1, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1.

Game-winning goals—Tom Forti 1, Ivars Muzis 1.

Power play goals (18-61, 30%)— Vilnis Nikolaisons 3, Luke Smith 3, Chris Benson 2, Eric Demment 2, Paul Baranzelli 2, Tom Forti 1, John Miller 1, Mike Selhay 1, John Stevens 1, Frank Salvoni 1, Ivars Muzis 1. Power play goals (opposition): 18-87, (21%).

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

Season penalty minutes: SV 341, opponents 292.

 

 

GAME RESULTS


Total record: 12-6

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

Games scoring 9 or more goals: 4
Games scoring 7 or more goals: 5


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
February 21 (A) Jackson Hole Moose 5, Sun Valley 3
February 22 (A) Jackson Hole Moose 8, Sun Valley 3
March 14 (H) Sun Valley 9, Jackson Hole Moose 7
March 15 (H) Jackson Hole Moose 9, Sun Valley 4


Suns-Moose series
(@ at Jackson Hole, H at Sun Valley)
The Moose lead 15-8-1 in the six-year series

2002-03—
@ Jackson Hole Moose 5, Sun Valley Suns 3
@ Jackson Hole Moose 8, Sun Valley Suns 3
(H) Sun Valley Suns 9, Jackson Hole Moose 7
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 9, Sun Valley Suns 4

2001-02—
(H) Sun Valley Suns 9, Jackson Hole Moose 2
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 2, Sun Valley Suns 1
@ Jackson Hole Moose 3, Sun Valley Suns 2
@ Sun Valley Suns 5, Jackson Hole Moose 4

2000-01—
@ Jackson Hole Moose 11, Sun Valley Suns 4
@ Jackson Hole Moose 7, Sun Valley Suns 4
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 6, Sun Valley Suns 0
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 8, Sun Valley Suns 7

1999-00—
@ Jackson Hole Moose 6, Sun Valley Suns 2
@ Jackson Hole Moose 10, Sun Valley Suns 7
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 10, Sun Valley Suns 9 (OT)
(H) Jackson Hole Moose 5, Sun Valley Suns 1

1998-99—
@ Jackson Hole Moose 7, Sun Valley Suns 5
@ Jackson Hole Moose 9, Sun Valley Suns 1
(H) Sun Valley Suns 5, Jackson Hole Moose 4
(H) Sun Valley Suns 6, Jackson Hole Moose 3

1997-98—
@ Sun Valley Suns 7, Jackson Hole Moose 6
@ Sun Valley Suns 4, Jackson Hole Moose 4 (tie)
(H) Sun Valley Suns 4, Jackson Hole Moose 2
(H) Sun Valley Suns 9, Jackson Hole Moose 4


 

SUNS ALL-TIME
SCORING LEADERS

28-season franchise record  472-175-28
20 points or more; this year's players in bold

 

 PLAYER  YEARS  GOALS  AST.  PTS. 
 Bobby Noyes  (18) 195 213 408
 Glenn Hunter  (18) 67 295 362
 John Finnegan (12) 109 223 332
 Chris Benson  (13) 158 158 316
 Kurt Wenzell  (9) 119 150 269
 Jimmy Johnson (13) 93 170 263
 Dave Hutchinson  (15) 89 162 251
 Jamie Ellison  (7) 94 155 249
 Brian Watts  (10) 111 130 241
 Vilnis Nikolaisons (5) 86 144 230
 Chas Riopel (11) 98 128 226
 Billy Tryder  (8) 97 124 221
 John Stevens  (8) 83 131 214
 Phil Hoene  (8) 89 122 211
 Dale Johnson  (15) 59 146 205
 Bryan Korpi  (10) 88 116 204
 Steve Bohner (16) 88 110 198
 John Burke (13) 85 103 188
 Kris Webster (9) 68 116 184
 Tim Jeneson (12) 45 135 180
 Dave Reichel (3) 83 92 175
 Patrick Kearney  (9) 53 112 165
 Tom D'Andrea (3) 64 95 159
 Perry Babcock (4) 86 70 156
 Luke Smith  (5) 79 77 156
 Harry Weekes  (11) 42 106 148
 Jim Finnegan  (5) 63 79 142
 Brad Dredge  (6) 73 63 136
 John Miller (11) 53 81 134
 Phil Hebert  (5) 53 80 133
 Sean O'Connell  (6) 42 85 127
 George Arnold  (4) 58 66 124
 Steve Gentilini  (3) 55 65 120
 Mark Broz (7) 40 70 110
 Mikael Reijo  (9) 59 49 108
 Rick Bourbonnais  (5) 54 51 105
 Jake Glotfelty  (5) 31 71 102
 Rip Kirby  (8) 50 49 99
 Ivars Muzis  (5) 30 65 95
 Hermie Haavik (5) 35 59 94
 Terry Heneghan  (4) 41 50 91
 Ford Thatcher  (5) 39 43 82
 Kevin Lynch  (3) 37 45 82
 Paul Cartmill  (4) 36 44 80
 Tom Maroste (4) 23 57 80
 Joe McCarthy  (2) 37 42 79
 Steve McCoy  (6) 22 55 77
 Alex Orb  (5) 35 39 74
 Tom Farrell  (4) 28 37 65
 Paul Baranzelli  (2) 35 25 60
 Tom Forti (2) 23 36 59
 Mark Collins  (2) 25 31 56
 Rick Schnier  (2) 27 27 54
 Wade Clarke  (3) 14 39 53
 Bill Sheeline  (2) 19 32 51
 Billy Claviter  (1) 26 22 48
 Scott Winkler  (3) 20 27 47
 Banjo Williams  (2) 17 30 47
 Bryan Wiskow  (10) 12 31 43
 Dave McKenna  (4) 10 32 42
 Dates Fryberger  (2) 19 22 41
 Joe Lawson   (1) 9 31 40
 Buzz Brown  (2) 16 23 39
 Tim Rappleye   (2) 8 31 39
 Jon Bender (3)  9 29 38
 Paul Kinnaly  (1) 13 21 34
 Dick Nelson  (5) 11 23 34
 Kit Hughes  (2) 10 24 34
 Pat Foley (1) 12 21 33
 Peter Whitehead  (1) 14 16 30
 Rhett Behrje  (1) 13 16 29
 Mike Cornell  (1) 13 15 28
 John Howell  (3) 5 20 25
 Mark Morningstar  (1) 14 10 24
 Jeff McCallum (2) 11 13 24
 Ben Allen   (2) 9 15 24
 Matt Gorra   (2) 8 16 24
 Mark Horvath    (2) 15 7 22
 Lorre Jobs  (2) 8 14 22
 Dave Pfannenstein  (1)  6 16 22
 Red Grasselli  (2) 7 14 21
 Ben Stauffer  (2) 13  8 21
 Eric Demment (1)  6 15 21

 

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