Wednesday — February 4, 2004

Not many Bucks,
too much Suns

Gophers come up short and Suns sweep

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The visiting Bucks Unpainted Furniture men’s hockey team from Bloomington, Minn. showed up with only six players for its two-game series with the Sun Valley Suns last weekend at Sun Valley Skating Center.

So the Suns scrambled around at the last minute Friday and sent four of their players, all native Minnesotans, over to play for the Bucks. The Suns (7-5) won Friday’s game 12-8 and then easily added Saturday’s victory 5-2 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Luke Smith scored four goals Friday as the Suns snapped a four-game skid with a 12-8 romp over Bucks Furniture. Express photo by Willy Cook

Luke Smith, playing defense instead of his customary wing, enjoyed a big night Friday with four goals. Early in the game the Suns led 6-2 with Smith scoring four of those goals. When the Bucks pulled to within one, at 6-5, the Suns ripped off five unanswered goals to win going away.

Third-year Suns swingman Paul Baranzelli, skating for the Bucks, recorded a natural hat trick in the second period to make it close. Pat Finnegan added five assists for the Bucks Friday. Ryan Enrico (7 assists Friday) and Jamie Ellison (7 points Friday) padded their Suns scoring stats.

A visiting team called the Minnesota All-Stars is due in Sun Valley for two games Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14. The All-Stars squad will be a combination of the Michigan Jets and Minneapolis Green Mill teams from past years. Opening faceoffs are 7 p.m.

Just added to the schedule is a Feb. 27-28 series against the East Kootenay Royals from British Columbia, Canada.

Check the Express Web site for updated Suns season statistics and last weekend’s hockey summary against the Bucks.

 

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Suns 12, Bucks 8
Friday

Bucks Furniture 1 4 3 8
Sun Valley Suns 4 4 4 12

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Vilnis Nikolaisons 6 (Ryan Enrico), 6:34. (2) SV, Luke Smith 6 (Jamie Ellison, Ivars Muzis), 7:43, power play goal. (3) SV, Smith 7 (unassisted), 12:10. (4) Bucks, Mike McMahon (Pat Finnegan), 13:29. (5) SV, Smith 8 (Muzis, Ellison), 17:07, power play and hat trick goal.

SECOND PERIOD—(6) Bucks, Tom Almquist (Finnegan), 4:54. (7) SV, Smith 9 (unassisted), 6:37. (8) SV, Ellison 3 (Muzis, Nikolaisons), 7:53. (9) Bucks, Paul Baranzelli (Almquist, Steve Wendorf), 9:42. (10) Bucks, Baranzelli (Finnegan, Almquist), 10:13. (11) Bucks, Baranzelli (Finnegan), 11:43, natural hat trick goal. (12) SV, Brian Watts 3 (Enrico, Muzis), 18:09. (13) SV, Caleb Baukol 1 (Enrico, Smith), 18:59.

THIRD PERIOD—(14) SV, Nikolaisons 7 (Enrico, Ellison), 3:57. (15) SV, John Stevens 5 (Ellison, Enrico), 6:54. (16) SV, Chris King 3 (Ellison, Smith), 13:44. (17) Bucks, Brandon Carlson (Finnegan), 15:10. (18) Bucks, Finnegan (McMahon, Chris Benson), 15:29. (19) Bucks, Baranzelli (McMahon, Benson), 15:50. (20) SV, Ellison 4 (Nikolaisons, Enrico), 16:08.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Bucks Furniture, 15-12-16 for 43; for Sun Valley 14-16-14 for 44.

GOALIES—Bucks Furniture, Scott Wasilowski (32 saves); SV, Matt Gershater (35 saves, 3-3-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Bobby Noyes; linesmen, Curtis Martin and Eric Wingard.

NOTES—At the last minute, the Bucks knew they were going to be shorthanded for their visit to Sun Valley, so the Suns arranged for some of the Boise Blades players to come up and fill out the Bucks roster. That didn’t happen, so four Suns players—all Minnesotans—switched jerseys and played for the Bucks. Pat Finnegan took the name of Steve Carlson (think the Carlson Brothers of "Slapshot"), Paul Baranzelli became Jack Carlson, Chris Benson was Dean Youngblood and Josh Jacobson became Ned Bradin. Finnegan ended up with 1 goal and 5 assists, Benson added a pair of assists and Baranzelli (4 goals) had a natural hat trick—3 goals in a two-minute span of the second period…..Tonight was the highest scoring Suns game (20 goals) since the 16-6 Sun Valley romp over the Portland Czechs Dec. 28, 2002.That was also the last game in which Luke Smith scored 4 goals…..The Suns played two forward lines with two centers, and alternated two other wingers with the two centers. The lines were Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Ryan Enrico, Chris King-Brian Watts-Rohan Verplank, with Caleb Baukol and J.J. Hanley rotating in. The defensive pairs were Luke Smith-Ivars Muzis and John Stevens-Chris Warrington….With 7 points tonight, Jamie Ellison moved past Jimmy Johnson and into sixth place on the all-time Suns scoring list. Coincidentally, Johnson was in the rink tonight. Ellison finished the weekend with 100 goals and 166 assists for 266 points, just 3 points behind Kurt Wenzell for fifth place. By the end of the season, eighth-year center Ellison and sixth-year winger Vilnis Nikolaisons (93-156 for 249) are likely to be 5-6 on the all-time scoring list.

 

 

Suns 5, Bucks 2
Saturday

Bucks Furniture 0 0 2 2
Sun Valley Suns 1 1 3 5

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FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, J.J. Hanley 1 (Caleb Baukol), 7:46.

SECOND PERIOD—(2) SV, Chris King 4 (Ryan Enrico), 11:31.

THIRD PERIOD—(3) SV, Jamie Ellison 5 (Vilnis Nikolaisons, John Stevens), 8:43. (4) SV, Ivars Muzis 4 (Rohan Verplank), 9:38. (5) Bucks, Brandon Carlson (Miner), 15:49. (6) Bucks, Chris Benson (Frank Salvoni), 19:08. (7) SV, Ellison 6 (Josh Jacobson, Nikolaisons), 19:57.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Bucks Furniture, 10-11-11 for 32; for Sun Valley 14-17-16 for 47.

GOALIES—Bucks Furniture, Scott Wasilowski (42 saves); SV, Matt Gershater (30 saves, 4-3-0 season record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Richard Winkler; linesmen, Curtis Martin and Eric Wingard.

NOTES—Suiting up to help fill out the Bucks roster were Glenn Hunter, Brad Dredge and Frank Salvoni in addition to Chris Benson. Sitting out tonight’s game were Paul Baranzelli, Pat Finnegan, Chris Warrington and Brian Watts….The Suns skated two lines—Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Ryan Enrico, Chris King-Caleb Baukol-Rohan Verplank, with J.J. Hanley rotating in. Hanley tallied his first Suns goal to open the Suns scoring. Baukol also collected his first 2 points of the season this weekend, and Josh Jacobson got his first point tonight. Suns weekend scoring leaders were Jamie Ellison (4 goals, 5 assists), Ryan Enrico (0-7), Vilnis Nikolaisons (2-4) and Luke Smith (4-2).
 

 

 

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2003-04 Sun Valley Suns
Season statistics

(7-5 overall: 5-3 home, 2-2 away)

as of February 11, 2004

 

PLAYER	GAMES	GOALS	AST.	PTS.	PMIN
Vilnis Nikolaisons	12	7	12	19	4.0
Jamie Ellison	12	6	11	17	24.0
Ryan Enrico	12	5	11	16	8.0
Ivars Muzis	10	4	9	13	2.0
Luke Smith	12	9	3	12	11.0
Paul Baranzelli	11	4	6	10	21.0
Chris King	10	4	6	10	0.0
Eric Demment	8	5	4	9	4.0
John Stevens	12	5	4	9	12.0
Rohan Verplank	10	3	4	7	6.0
John Miller	8	1	5	6	0.0
Pat Finnegan	11	2	3	5	9.0
Chris Warrington	11	1	3	4	2.0
Brian Watts	9	3	1	4	4.0
Kris Webster	2	2	1	3	2.0
Caleb Baukol	10	1	1	2	6.0
Frank Salvoni	7	1	1	2	2.0
J.J. Hanley	7	1	0	1	0.0
Chris Benson	10	0	1	1	2.0
Mike Selhay	3	0	1	1	9.0
Matt Gershater	7	0	1	1	9.0
Josh Jacobson	9	0	1	1	19.0
Ryan Thomson	5	0	0	0	0.0
Peter Miner	3	0	0	0	0.0
Paul Miner	3	0	0	0	0.0
Kevin Bullock	2	0	0	0	2.0
Billy Tryder	1	0	0	0	0.0
James Moskos	1	0	0	0	0.0

 

GOALTENDER	GAMES	GOALS	W-L	AVG.
Matt Gershater	7	35	4-3-0	5.00
Ryan Thomson	4.1	20	3-1-0	4.88
James Moskos	1	7	0-1-0	7.00

 

Shots—Gershater 234, Thomson 128, Moskos 41.
Saves—Gershater 199, Thomson 107, Moskos 34.
Shootout saves—0.
Shootout goals allowed—0.
Shutouts—0.
Empty net goals—2.

 

SCORE BY  PERIODS	1ST	2ND	3RD	OT	TOT	AVE
Opposition	17	25	22	0	64	5.3
Sun Valley	17	18	29	0	64	5.3

 

 

 

INDIVIDUAL MARKS

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Two-goal games (9)—Luke Smith 2, Jamie Ellison 2, Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, Ryan Enrico 1, Paul Baranzelli 1, John Stevens 1.

Hat tricks or more (1)—Luke Smith 1 (4 goals).

Game-winning goals—Eric Demment 1.

Power play goals (10-40, 25%)—Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, Eric Demment 2, Luke Smith 2, John Miller 1, Paul Baranzelli 1, Brian Watts 1, Ivars Muzis 1. Power play goals (opposition): 7-39, (18%).

Shorthanded goals (3)—Ryan Enrico 1, Chris Warrington 1, Eric Demment 1. Shorthanded goals (opposition): 5.

Season penalty minutes: SV 158, opponents 172.

 

 

 

GAME RESULTS

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Total record: 7-5
Record in 1-goal games: 2-0
Record in overtime: 0-0-0
Games scoring 9 or more goals: 2
Games scoring 7 or more goals: 4

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December 19 (H) Sun Valley 10, Portland Checks 2
December 20 (H) Sun Valley 5, Portland Checks 4
January 2 (H) Sun Valley 7, Boise Blades 4
January 3 (H) Boise Blades 8, Sun Valley 5
January 16 (A) Sun Valley 8, McCall Mountaineers 5
January 17 (A) Sun Valley 5, McCall Mountaineers 4
January 23 (H) Jackson Hole Moose 10, Sun Valley 2
January 24 (H) Jackson Hole Moose 6, Sun Valley 2
January 30 (A) Jackson Hole Moose 7, Sun Valley 2
January 31 (A) Jackson Hole Moose 4, Sun Valley 1
February 6 (H) Sun Valley 12, Bucks Furniture 8
February 7 (H) Sun Valley 5, Bucks Furniture 2

 

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