Traveling by bus to the Reno area, the Sun Valley Suns men's hockey team brought home two big wins over the Tahoe Freeze and a 62-point weekend that helped pad the stats of the 16 skaters making the Nevada trip.
Right wing Scott Winkler scored four goals Friday while his linemates Jamie Ellison and Vilnis Nikolaisons each piled up four assists in Sun Valley's 12-4 triumph over the Freeze.
The line accounted for 14 of Sun Valley's 30 points in the win. There were eight different Suns goal scorers in the season-best scoring surge.
Sun Valley's lead was 6-4 after two periods, but the visitors tallied six unanswered goals in the third period to win, going away. It was a dominating performance—the Suns out-shot the Freeze 62-27 and gave goalie Ryan Thomson (6-2-0 season) an easy night.
On Saturday, head coach Chris Benson moved captain John Stevens up from defense to play on a forward line with youngsters Ryan Enrico and center Ryan McDonald. The line prospered in Sun Valleys' 12-1 rout.
Stevens and McDonald each scored two goals while Enrico and Stevens amassed three assists each. They had 13 of the 32 Suns points.
Nikolaisons had the hat trick Saturday and Baranzelli added two goals from his defensive position. The winning goalie was David Stone (1-0-0), who made 16 saves. The Suns out-shot the Freeze 54-17 Saturday.
For the weekend, left wing Nikolaisons (4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points) led the way in scoring followed by center Ellison (1-7 for 8), Scott Winkler (5-2 for 7) and Stevens (2-5 for 7).
The current Suns winning streak is now at six games. They've outscored opponents 51-13 in those six wins.
The Suns (8-2) have two weeks off before they entertain the Freeze in a rematch Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12 at Sun Valley Skating Center. The Saturday night game will benefit the Blaine County Recreation District.
It will begin four consecutive weekends of Suns home action.
Check this week's Express Web site for the hockey line score from the Tahoe series and updated Suns statistics through 10 games.
Suns 12, Freeze 4
Friday
Sun Valley Suns 3 3 6 12
Tahoe Freeze 1 3 0 4
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Scott Winkler 6 (Jamie Ellison), 4:50. (2) Tahoe, Chris Simpson (Jason Clarke), 8:48. (3) SV, Scott Winkler 7 (John Stevens, Vilnis Nikolaisons), 17:46, power play goal. (4) SV, Ryan Enrico 9 (Paul Baranzelli, Ivars Muzis), 19:02.
SECOND PERIOD—(5) SV, Scott Winkler 8 (Muzis, Nikolaisons), 1:21, hat trick goal. (6) SV, Nikolaisons 4 (Ellison, Stevens), 2:10. (7) Tahoe, Rob Purviance (Simpson), 11:21. (8) Tahoe, Rick Kauffman (Aaron Shimenal), 12:14. (9) SV, Frank Salvoni 3 (unassisted), 12:56. (10) SV, Tahoe, Brian Upslepa (Simpson), 19:57.
THIRD PERIOD—(11) SV, Scott Winkler 9 (Ellison, Chris Warrington), 1:37. (12) SV, Ryan McDonald 3 (Kris Webster), 6:38. (13) SV, Warrington 3 (Ellison, Nikolaisons), 10:39, power play goal. (14) SV, Salvoni 4 (John Bidon, Neal Ford), 11:00. (15) SV, Matt Gershater 1 (Normunds Krepss, Nikolaisons), 14:35, power play goal. (16) SV, Ellison 6 (Warrington), 18:00.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 62; Tahoe 27.
GOALIES—SV, Ryan Thomson (23 saves, 6-2-0 season record); Tahoe, Alex Stewart (50 saves).
NOTES—Suns forward lines were Ryan Enrico-Ryan McDonald-Paul Baranzelli, Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Scott Winkler, Neal Ford-Frank Salvoni-Matt Gershater/John Bidon. Defensive pairs were Chris Warrington-John Stevens, Normunds Krepss-Ivars Muzis and Kris Webster-Bryan Winkler. The only changes for Saturday night's game was Baranzelli moving back to defense, and Stevens going on the right wing with Enrico and McDonald.
Suns 12, Freeze 1
Saturday
Sun Valley Suns 4 3 5 12
Tahoe Freeze 0 1 0 1
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Vilnis Nikolaisons 5 (Chris Warrington), 1:49. (2) SV, Nikolaisons 6 (Scott Winkler), 2:22. (3) SV, John Bidon 1 (Bryan Winkler, Frank Salvoni), 2:40. (4) SV, John Stevens 1 (Ryan Enrico, Ryan McDonald), 18:41.
SECOND PERIOD—(5) SV, Enrico 10 (Stevens, Paul Baranzelli), 0:14. (6) Tahoe, Chris Simpson (unassisted), 3:01. (7) SV, Baranzelli 11 (Warrington), 8:50, shorthanded goal. (8) SV, McDonald 4 (Stevens), 16:01, shorthanded goal.
THIRD PERIOD—(9) SV, McDonald 5 (Enrico, Stevens), 9:33. (10) SV, Stevens 2 (McDonald, Enrico), 10:17. (11) SV, Scott Winkler 10 (Ellison, Nikolaisons), 10:52. (12) SV, Baranzelli 12 (Ellison, Scott Winkler), 13:11. (13) SV, Nikolaisons 7 (Ellison), 19:52, hat trick goal.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 54; Tahoe 17.
GOALIES—SV, David Stone (16 saves, 1-0-0 season record); Tahoe, Alex Stewart (42 saves).
NOTES—Jamie Ellison is fast approaching the 300-point mark in his nine-year Suns career. Ellison has 22 points this season, and has 107 goals and 187 assists for 294 points. He will be the fifth Suns skater to achieve the milestone....Ryan Enrico (1-5 for 6), Paul Baranzelli (3-2 for 5) and Ivars Muzis (2-3 for 5) led the Suns in weekend scoring. The Suns out-pointed the Freeze 62-9 on the weekend scoresheet.....Suns season point leaders in 10 games are Ryan Enrico (10-12 for 22), Ellison (6-16 for 22) and Baranzelli (12-8 for 20). Check this week's Express Web site for up-to-date Suns season statistics (8-2 overall) through 10 games.....Tahoe was 0-5 on the power play (0-9 weekend) and Sun Valley was 0-1 with an extra skater (3-6 weekend). Penalty minutes were SV 19 (31 for the weekend) and Tahoe 11 (25 weekend).
