With his right foot in a walking cast and a smile as wide as a Minnesota lake, Sun Valley Suns wing Paul Baranzelli was on the injured list but in good spirits watching Friday's Suns hockey game against the Siskiyou Summits from Oregon.
Baranzelli partially tore his Achilles tendon during Wednesday's Guttermouth punk rock concert at Whiskey Jacques. "Awesome," he said about the show. And the injury? Baranzelli just quoted Social Distortion—saying "Punk Rock is dangerous."
Baranzelli, a picture of youth in all its positive and confusing aspects, is blameless in what happens next. But it's important to realize that ice hockey and not punk rock was a very dangerous game Friday at Sun Valley Skating Center.
There, as Baranzelli and hockey fans looked on in horror, Suns reserve wing Neal Ford delivered a savage beating to Summits player Colton Allen near the end of Friday's seemingly innocuous game won by the Suns going away 8-1.
With Allen down on the ice, Ford pounded him from above, punching into Allen's face with brutal force. There were three officials on the ice at the time, but their attention was diverted by another fight that broke out simultaneously—so no one rushed to Allen's aid.
Not right away, anyway. By the time the officials got there, and it was a matter of seconds, Allen was bloodied and beaten to a pulp. He tried to get up, flailing his arms wildly, but he couldn't keep his balance and landed back on his stomach.
The beating, which took place with 88 seconds left in the game, left Allen with skull fractures above and below his eyes. His nose was broken in three places. He needed stitches above his eyes. Below, his eye needed to be glued. The corner of Allen's mouth was stitched.
Allen skated off the ice with assistance and spent the night at a local hospital. Several Suns players, like goalie David Stone and veteran wing John Miller, visited him in the hospital and stayed until the wee hours.
"We felt horrible about what happened," said Stone, who said the violent nature of the act made him feel physically ill.
Added Miller, "We were extremely worried about Colton. Never, in my whole hockey life, have I seen something happen like that. Several of our guys told me it was the most appalling thing they'd ever seen."
Saturday, Allen attended the second hockey game between the two teams. He stood and walked normally. Only his battered face betrayed what Allen had gone through. It seemed like he'd gone 15 rounds with Sonny Liston or one terrifying minute with Tony Soprano.
Allen, who lays drywall and doesn't have medical insurance, was grateful that Suns players passed the hat in their locker room Saturday night and raised $1,763 for him. He called Stone Monday to say that his eyes were opening up and he was feeling much better.
"He also told me he doesn't consider it the Suns fault that it happened," said Stone.
Ford was exclusively at fault, according to Suns players who condemned the action as soon as it happened.
After the fight, Ford received a game ejection and was booed by the home fans as he left the ice. When Stone and the other Suns players traipsed into the locker room a minute later, the game over, Stone said he was so angry that he threw his gloves in Ford's direction.
"It was so out of left field. I've never been so embarrassed. Someone like that has disgraced our team, our fans and the other team, too. One guy like him comes out and almost ruins everything the Suns have been working for, for 30 years," said Stone.
"I'm appalled, but it's an isolated incident. We're not that kind of organization," said Suns general manager John Burke, who phoned home from Florida Saturday after hearing of the fight. "He (Ford) just slipped through the cracks."
Right after the game, Suns head coach Chris Benson came into the team's locker room and told Ford that he wasn't welcome on the ice any more for the Suns, or for any team playing against the Suns.
"I told Neal, thanks for the time, but what he did can't be tolerated," said Benson. "I know we have fights in hockey, it's part of the sport, but what happened was excessive and uncalled for. I told everybody in the locker room that it was my decision, that what happened wasn't what we are trying to promote with our sport."
Ford joined the Suns around New Year's and played sparingly until Baranzelli's injury freed him up for additional playing time Friday.
Sun Valley police sought Ford for questioning Monday in regards to the incident. Police interviewed Suns players in the locker room after Saturday's game, and there was a clear possibility that charges would be leveled against Ford.
Meanwhile, the Suns, playing again Friday and Saturday, March 12-13 at McCall, worked behind the scenes in damage control so that such an incident never happens again.
"We're considering going to NCAA or international rules for our home games," said Stone, referring to systems with stronger penalties for fighting violations.
Although the tension was palpable between the two teams, there were no further incidents Saturday, in fact, only one minor penalty was called. The Suns (11-2) rallied from a 5-3 deficit for a 9-5 victory, stretching their unbeaten streak to nine games.
Suns 8, Summits 1
Friday
Siskiyou Summits 0 0 1 1
Sun Valley Suns 3 3 2 8
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Ryan McDonald 6 (Ryan Enrico, John Miller), 5:12. (2) SV, Jamie Ellison 7 (Chris Warrington), 7:14. (3) SV, Bryan Winkler 1 (Neal Ford), 9:15.
SECOND PERIOD—(4) SV, Ivars Muzis 4 (unassisted), 1:20. (5) Scott Winkler 15 (Vilnis Nikolaisons, Josh Jacobson), 7:10, power play goal. (6) SV, Ellison 8 (Nikolaisons, Muzis), 11:18.
THIRD PERIOD—(7) SV, Ellison 9 (Jake Glotfelty, Ford), 4:28, hat trick goal. (8) SV, Enrico 11 (Normunds Krepss, Ford), 9:48. (9) Siskiyou, Erik Hamlet (Kellen Chatterton, Gregg Marchese), 17:29.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Siskiyou 4-5-11 for 20; Sun Valley 20-17-12 for 49.
GOALIES—Siskiyou, Mike Goff (41 saves); SV, Ryan Thomson (19 saves, 8-2-0 season record).
OFFICIALS—Referee, Jeff Sneed (SLC); linesmen, Curtis Martin and Bobby Noyes.
NOTES—Although he has scored 110 goals for the Suns, Jamie Ellison hasn't scored them in bunches like Paul Baranzelli. Ellison's hat trick tonight was only his fifth in his nine Suns seasons—and Jamie's first since he scored 3 goals against the St. Paul Turtles March 30, 2001. Baranzelli has eight hat tricks in his four Suns years. In all, the Suns have eight hat tricks in 13 games this season....Wearing the "George Jacket," Baranzelli watched tonight's game with a walking cast on his right foot. He said he had a partially torn Achilles tendon suffered Wednesday night at Whiskey Jacques during the Guttermouth punk rock concert. "It was awesome," said Baranzelli about the concert. He said he would need to stay off the foot for six weeks and then have another five weeks of rehabilitation. Baranzelli (57 goals in 4 seasons) had 13 goals in nine games this season and helped make the Ryan McDonald forward line a consistent point producer....Suns forward lines were Ryan Enrico-Ryan McDonald-John Miller Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Scott Winkler, and, for most of the game, Frank Salvoni-Bryan Winkler-Caleb Baukol/Neal Ford. Defensemen were Chris Warrington-Jake Glotfelty, Kris Webster-Josh Jacobson and Normund "Pepsi" Krepss-Ivars Muzis. Doing spot duty on defense and up front was John Bidon.....With the season-ending knee injury to John Stevens, who had successful surgery last week, Frank Salvoni took over as captain. Wearing the "A" jerseys for assistant captains were Vilnis Nikolaisons and Chris Warrington.....Siskiyou played shorthanded, with only 5 skaters on the bench and no back-up goaltender. Suiting up for the Oregon visitors were former Suns Brian Watts and Billy Tryder, and former Sun Valley high school player and Wood River High star athlete Kellen Chatterton.....Watts and Suns defenseman Josh Jacobson squared off in the game's first fight with 5:44 left in the third period. Wattsy and Jacobson circled each other, shielded by the linesmen, until they finally went after each other near midice like big game butting antlers. Jacobson put Wattsy on the ice and it was over quickly—theatrical more than anything....The home fans roundly booed Suns forward Neal Ford as he skated off the ice with a game misconduct after his savage beating of Summits' player Colton Allen with 1:28 left in the game. Ford's pounding of Allen overshadowed the other fight that was happening at the same time, between Bryan Winkler of Sun Valley and Casey Branham of Siskiyou—and the Winkler fight also happened in closer proximity to most of the officials.....The controversial fights apparently started when Winkler and Allen had a harmless scrum, during which Allen's helmet was knocked off his head. Allen retrieved his helmet, but then Ford started up again with Allen as the two fights broke out simultaneously......Suns goalie Ryan Thomson, who had an easy night, appeared ready to record his second shutout of the season until the Summits punched a slapshot through with only 2:31 to play.....Over at Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Moose are 12-8 on the season after their 11-5 (loss) and 5-4 (win) against the Smoke Eaters at Trail, B.C., Canada Feb. 25-26. It was the first-ever win for the Moose on international ice, and it came with a rally from a 4-2 deficit in the Saturday game. The Moose, 5-6 in their last 11 games after starting the 2004-05 season with a 7-2 record, host the Suns March 18-19 at Snow King Center, starting at 7:30 p.m. each night. The Suns beat a shorthanded Moose squad 8-0 and 4-1 Jan. 7-8 in Sun Valley.
Suns 9, Summits 5
Saturday
Siskiyou Summits 1 2 2 5
Sun Valley Suns 2 1 6 9
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Chris Warrington 4 (Vilnis Nikolaisons, Jamie Ellison), 4:03. (2) SV, Ivars Muzis 5 (unassisted), 8:27. (3) Siskiyou, Erik Hamlet (unassisted), 9:43.
SECOND PERIOD—(4) Siskiyou, Hamlet (unassisted), 12:11. (5) Siskiyou, Scott Martin (Hamlet, Billy Tryder), 13:28. (6) SV, Warrington 5 (Caleb Baukol), 18:15.
THIRD PERIOD—(7) Siskiyou, Mike Mahlstadt (unassisted), 1:20. (8) Siskiyou, Hamlet (unassisted), 7:59, hat trick goal. (9) SV, John Miller 2 (Ryan Enrico, Ryan McDonald), 8:12. (10) SV, Scott Winkler 16 (Nikolaisons, Kris Webster), 9:07. (11) SV, Normunds Krepss 1 (John Bidon, Baukol), 10:21. (12) SV, McDonald 7 (Enrico), 14:24. (13) SV, Miller 3 (McDonald), 14:49. (14) SV, Bidon 2 (Enrico, Baukol), 16:43.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Siskiyou 5-9-10 for 24; Sun Valley 11-16-29 for 56.
GOALIES—Siskiyou, Mike Goff (first 31 minutes, 17 saves) and Ryan Thomson (last 29 minutes, 30 saves); SV, David Stone (19 saves, 2-0-0 season record).
OFFICIALS—Referee, Jeff Sneed (SLC); linesmen, John Heinrich and Eric Wingard.
NOTES—The Suns offered to provide extra players to the Summits tonight, but the Oregon team refused. Suns goalie David Stone, alluding to the hard feelings that existed after Friday's melee, said afterwards, "They (Oregon) were mad, completely upset, and sad about what happened—and so are we, all of those things, but put embarrassed on top of that. Nobody slept last night. We felt horrible. I almost threw up." Stone said Suns team doctor John Maxfield initially estimated that it would cost $7,000 to $10,000 in medical expenses to mend Colton Allen's injuries.....Suns veteran John Miller had strong reactions as well. He said, "Everyone is still feeling it tonight. What happened was so off the charts—a shocker. We have tried real hard to change the image of the Suns this season and we're really concerned with perception. We'll do everything we can to bounce back from this."....Although he was in Florida working as a professional golf caddie, Suns general manager John Burke was constantly in touch with team members throughout the day. Burke said, "I was appalled, and livid all night after they called and told me about it. It's an isolated incident, though, and we'll just have to make things right.".....Goalie Stone added, "We're setting higher standards on the Suns this year and have been tightening our belt. Everybody has to come together after this.".....The Suns had a team meeting before tonight's game and worked to put together a public statement in response to Friday's incident.....Reaction to Friday's fighting incident dominated tonight's game, which was bizarre in its own way. Siskiyou goalie Mike Goff, who saw 49 Suns shots Friday, suffered a groin injury with nine minutes left in the second period and the Suns nursing a 2-1 lead. He couldn't continue so the Suns offered to lend the Oregon skaters one of their two back-up goalies. The teams decided to adjourn to their locker rooms and have the ice re-surfaced while the goalie change was made. Then, the final 29 minutes of the game would be played as a single period, uninterrupted. Suns back-up goalie John Bidon originally thought he would be suiting up for Oregon, but the Suns reconsidered. Suns coach Chris Benson made a classy decision and asked #1 goalie Ryan Thomson to play for the Summits. Thomson had been in street clothes, enjoying a rare and well-earned night off. It was a generous offer by the Suns, who were doing everything possible to be ingratiating to the Summits after Friday's fracas. Thomson ended up facing a barrage of Suns shots in the third period and needed to make 30 saves just to keep the Summits close. But the Summits were literally exhausted as the lengthy 29-minute ticked down and Thomson had no protection in front of the net. So the Suns scored the final 6 goals, all coming in an eight-minute stretch. Another bizarre thing happened when the Zamboni driver accidentally hit one of the goal cages during his sweep around the ice......Suns forward lines were Ryan Enrico-Ryan McDonald-John Miller, Vilnis Nikolaisons-Jamie Ellison-Scott Winkler, John Bidon-Frank Salvoni-Caleb Baukol.....Bryan Winkler, involved in the other fight when Ford was pummeling Colton Allen Friday night, was in street clothes tonight. Suns coach Benson didn't elaborate much, only saying that it was a "healthy scratch decision," based on internal reasons.....During the game Sun Valley policeman Kim Orchard interviewed fans and officials who saw Friday night's fight, then the officer went into the Suns locker room after the game and continued the interview process....After the Summits scored five of six goals to take a 5-3 lead with 12 minutes to play, veteran wing John Miller restored some order. Trailing the play, Miller poked home a rebound of a Ryan Enrico backhand for a 5-4 game, then Kris Webster, Vilnis Nikolaisons and Scott Winkler swept down the ice and overwhelmed Thomson for the equalizer. Latvian Normunds Krepss tallied his first Suns goal, the eventual game winner, on a nice pass from Caleb Baukol.....Enrico led the Suns scoring parade with 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points on the weekend. In all, 16 Suns scored a goal or an assist. Enrico and Caleb Baukol each had 3 assists tonight.....With his assist on Chris Warrington's game-opening goal, Jamie Ellison reached the 300-point mark in his nine-year career. Ellison has 28 points this season, and has 110 goals and 190 assists for 300 points. He is the fifth Suns skater to achieve the milestone. His linemate Vilnis Nikolaisons (110-180) has 290 points....Suns season point leaders in 13 games are Ryan Enrico (11-18 for 29), Ellison (9-19 for 28), Nikolaisons (8-16 for 24) and Scott Winkler (16-7 for 23). Check this week's Express Web site for up-to-date Suns season statistics (11-2 overall) through 13 games.....In 30 seasons, the Suns now have 495 wins. They'll need to go 5-3 in the remaining eight games, against tough teams, to reach 500 victories in franchise history. Basically they'll need to split the six games scheduled with McCall and Jackson Hole to have a shot at 500 wins.
