For the week of November 12 - 18, 2003

The Sun Valley Sunsets captured third place in last weekend’s Tucson (Az.) women’s hockey tournament. Front, from left, goalie Karen Morrison, Sarah Benson, Michele Hampton, Kris Miller, Tizz Miller, Larsen Peterson and Julie Bell. Back row, from left, coach Chris Benson, Wendy Speth, Lucy Chubb, Edith Iler, Christine Gould, Christl Holzl, Jen Embree and coach Luke Smith. Courtesy photo by Bryan Speth

Bronze goes to
Sunsets in Arizona

Speth, Chubb are offensive stars

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By LUKE SMITH
For the Express

The Sun Valley Sunsets opened their 2003-2004 campaign in Arizona this past weekend, going 3-1 and earning a bronze medal at the Stars and Stripes Tucson women’s hockey tournament.

Offensive stars for the Sunsets included Wendy Speth (4 goals, 5 assists), Lucy Chubb (5 goals) and Christl Holzl, who scored the game winner in Sun Valley’s one-goal victory over the Tucson Chilly Peppers.

Speth won the team jacket for outstanding performance of the weekend.

Opening against the Primero Scorpions, the Sunsets won 3-0 led by center Speth, who returned to the lineup after a year off for maternity leave. Speth scored twice, book-ending a lone tally by Chubb.

Speth’s first goal came just before the end of the first frame with an assist to Jen Embree. The Sunsets held the 1-0 lead through the second period and into the final stanza when Chubb deflected a feed from Kris Miller into the upper corner for the insurance goal.

With four minutes remaining, Speth put the game on ice, picking the lower corner with a smoking wrist shot.

"A strong performance for the first game of the season," said Sunsets coach Chris Benson. "There were no defensive lapses and a good effort in the offensive end.€�" Goalie Karen Morrison made 19 saves.

In the nightcap Saturday, the Sunsets kept things interesting until late, coming from behind to edge the host Tucson Chilly Peppers, 6-5, despite outshooting the hosts, 26-15.

After the Chilly Peppers opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, Sun Valley stormed back with three unanswered goals.

Chubb started the rally, blasting a shot to the upper corner, and then assisted on the second goal, feeding a wide-open Miller in the slot for the score. The third score came on 5-on-3 power play when Tizz Miller fed Chubb for an easy tap-in and a 3-1 lead.

The host side picked up on Sun Valley’s lead and went on their own three-goal outburst to take a 4-3 lead into the final period.

Midway through the third period, captain Sarah Benson seemed to right the Sunsets ship by burying a loose puck in the slot. The tie lasted less than a minute as Tucson tallied again, but another scramble in front of the Chilly Pepper net led to Speth’s first goal of the game with six minutes left.

Christl Holzl was on the receiving end of a beautifully executed 3-on-1 as she tallied the game-winner with just under four minutes to play. Speth and Benson assisted.

The match-up of the tournament took place Sunday morning as the Sunsets faced off against the also-undefeated Phoenix Blues.

The winner would advance to the gold-medal game against the Phoenix Inferno. However, Sun Valley’s inability to contain center Jen Lipman of the Blues relegated the Sunsets to the bronze-medal round.

The final score was 5-3 in favor of the Arizonans.

A Sun Valley power-play goal was the lone score of the first period. Speth rounded the Phoenix net and found Embree at the right point. Her wrist shot through a Chubb screen found twine and gave the Sunsets their only lead of the game.

Phoenix netted the only tally of the second period, sending the 1-1 battle into the third period. Phoenix’s Lipman, after assisting on the tying goal, dangled her way through the Sun Valley lineup and scored to put the Blues up with 15 minutes remaining in the game.

Benson’s power-play goal with nine minutes left tied it at 2-2, but the Blues took the lead for good just a minute later on a solo effort by Lipsman.

In the bronze medal game, the Sunsets faced off once more against the host Chilly Peppers.

Both sides were clearly tired after a weekend of hockey and instead of an 11-goal affair, the teams settled for a more sedate but still dominating 3-1 win for Sun Valley.

One goal in each period was enough for the Sunsets, as Morrison turned away all but one attempt by the Peppers.

Speth started things in the first period, juking her way through the Tucson defense from the left boards and firing a goal. In the second period, she picked off a pass just inside the offensive blue line and dropped the puck for Chubb, who ripped a shot to the upper corner past the helpless Tucson goalie.

Tucson cut the lead in half with 13 minutes to play as their standout player, Amanda Moors, broke free and rifled a shot past Morrison. But Speth fed Chubb once again with four minutes remaining to secure the hardware for the Sunsets.

Coach Benson saluted the Sunsets’ team defense throughout the weekend.

He said, "Everyone played really well for the first tournament of the year. We ran into a couple of strong hockey players who were tough to contain, but overall, I think we have to be pretty pleased with the way things went."

Next up for the Sunsets is a December tournament in Boise.

Arizona scoring and stats: Wendy Speth 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points; Lucy Chubb 5/3 for 8 points; Sarah Benson 2/1; Kris Miller 1/2; Jen Embree 1/2 for 3; Tizz Miller 0/3; Julie Bell 0/2; and Christl Holzl 1/0. Karen Morrison faced 82 shots and made 71 saves.

 

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