Reliable and often-spectacular Sun Valley Suns goalie Ryan Thomson went down with an MCL knee injury early in Friday's Sun Valley Suns men's hockey game against the tough Manchester Mountaineers at McCall.
Thomson, replaced by David Stone, left with the Suns trailing 1-0 on an early shorthanded goal by former Suns defenseman John Howell. The Mountaineers, although out-shot 37-31, went on to a 5-1 victory, ending Sun Valley's nine-game winning streak.
Sun Valley (11-3-1) regrouped and salvaged a 4-4 overtime tie Saturday at Manchester Ice and Events Centre, despite the loss of top goal scorer Scott Winkler to a hyper-extended knee.
The Suns were also playing without center Jamie Ellison, out three weeks with a strained shoulder.
All things considered, including a string of weaker opponents the local team has played in recent weeks, Suns coach Chris Benson said, "We were going up against a solid team in McCall and I thought we did pretty well against them. McCall even had a stronger team against us Saturday."
The Suns actually led Saturday's game 3-1 and 4-2, but they've never really been able to stop former Maine Black Bears All-American and Idaho Steelheads Hall of Famer Cal Ingraham—and Saturday was no exception. Ingraham ended up with a hat trick.
Still, first-year Suns center Ryan McDonald stepped up big time with two goals Saturday, the first on the power play and the second shorthanded. Leading scorer Ryan Enrico added a power play goal and defenseman Kris Webster also scored.
McCall goalie Mark Liebich was a major factor with 36 saves Friday and 37 saves Saturday. "Their goalie played well both nights," Benson said. The Suns out-shot the Mountaineers 4-1 in the five-minute overtime period Saturday but couldn't sneak one by.
Suns back-up goalie Stone also had a good game Saturday, making 37 saves in a tough spot—replacing a Suns goalie in Thomson who had been nearly been flawless in the long mid-season win streak.
The Suns travel to Jackson Hole, Wyo. Friday and Saturday, March 18-19 for a two-game series against the Moose (12-8) starting at 7:30 p.m. each night. The Moose last played Feb. 25-26, when they split two games (an 11-5 loss, a 5-4 win) against the Smoke Eaters in Trail, B.C., Canada.
The Moose are 5-6 in their last 11 games after starting the 2004-05 season with a 7-2 record. The Suns beat a shorthanded Moose squad 8-0 and 4-1 Jan. 7-8 in Sun Valley—but the Moose maintain a 22-11-1 edge in the eight-year series between the resort teams.
For the hockey line score and more details on the weekend series in McCall plus updated Suns season stats, check today's Express Web site.
Mountaineers 5, Suns 1
Friday
Sun Valley Suns 1 0 0 1
McCall Mountaineers 2 3 0 5
FIRST PERIOD—(1) McCall, John Howell (Pepi Ursillo), 2:50, shorthanded goal. (2) SV, Scott Winkler 17 (Trevor Thomas), 13:44. (3) McCall, Bob Ingraham (Derek Paget), 14:50.
SECOND PERIOD—(4) McCall, Rob Dumas (Rick Bourbonnais, Paget), 5:43. (5) McCall, Howell (Paget, Dumas), 13:34. (6) McCall, Pepi Ursillo (Dan Bourgette), 17:34.
THIRD PERIOD—No scoring.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 10-12-15 for 37; McCall 13-7-11 for 31.
GOALIES—SV, Ryan Thomson (first 9:12, 4 saves, 1 goal) and David Stone (final 30:48, 22 saves, 4 goals); McCall, Mark Liebich (36 saves).
NOTES—With Jamie Ellison (strained shoulder) out for three weeks, Paul Baranzelli out for the season and Frank Salvoni not making the McCall trip, the Suns' forward lines changed a little at Manchester Ice Arena. The lines were Ryan Enrico-Ryan McDonald-John Miller/Scott Winkler, Vilnis Nikolaisons-Chris Benson-Scott Winkler, John Bidon-Bryan Winkler-Caleb Baukol. Defensemen making the trip were Chris Warrington, Kris Webster, Ivars Muzis and Normund Krepss, plus Trevor Thomas.....McCall didn't have three of its key players tonight, so the Mountaineers actually had a stronger team Saturday when the Suns ended up with an overtime tie.
Suns 4, Mountaineers 4 (OT)
Saturday
Sun Valley Suns 1 1 2 0 4
McCall Mountaineers 1 0 3 0 4
FIRST PERIOD—(1) McCall, Cal Ingraham (Rick Bourbonnais, Scott Davis), 14:51. (2) SV, Kris Webster 3 (John Bidon, Bryan Winkler), 15:37.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Ryan McDonald 8 (Chris Warrington), 15:11, power play goal.
THIRD PERIOD—(4) SV, Ryan Enrico 12 (Warrington), 2:14, power play goal. (5) McCall, Cal Ingraham (Bourbonnais, Rob Dumas), 5:04. (6) SV, McDonald 9 (unassisted), 8:43, shorthanded goal. (7) McCall, Cal Ingraham (Bob Ingraham, Dumas), 10:54, hat trick goal. (8) McCall, Phil McKinnon (Troy Edwards), 13:33.
OVERTIME (5 minutes)—No scoring.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 17-9-11-4 for 41; McCall 11-11-18-1 for 41.
GOALIES—SV, David Stone (37 saves, 2-2-0 season record); McCall, Mark Liebich (37 saves).
NOTES—The Suns are now 26-22-20 in overtime games over 30 seasons.....Scott Winkler hyper-extended his knee tonight and is day-to-day.....With Winkler's loss, Vilnis Nikolaisons moved onto a forward line with Ryan Enrico and Ryan McDonald, and Trevor Thomas went on a wing with Chris Benson and John Miller.....Suns season point leaders through 15 games are Ryan Enrico (12-18 for 30), Jamie Ellison (9-19 for 28), Vilnis Nikolaisons (8-16 for 24) and Scott Winkler (17-7 for 24). Check this week's Express Web site for up-to-date Suns season statistics (11-3-1 overall) through 15 games.....Former Idaho Steelhead skater Cal Ingraham, 34, tonight's hat trick scorer for the Mountaineers, was the leading scorer (46 goals) with the 1993 NCAA Division 1 champion Maine Black Bears (42-1-2) that rallied past Lake Superior State 5-4 in the title game that year. At Maine, Ingraham played on a great line with Hobie Baker award winner Paul Kariya and center Jim Montgomery. Ingraham, at 5-5 and 160 pounds, went on to have a fine career with the WCHL Idaho Steelheads. In four seasons from 1998-2002 Ingraham scored 175 goals in 274 games, and had 381 points....McCall now leads the two-year, 14-game series between the two teams 8-5-1. The Mountaineers have outscored the Suns 77-62. In games played at McCall, the Mountaineers lead 4-3-1. McCall has a 4-2 advantage when they play at Sun Valley. The teams are due to play once more this season, April 1-2 in Sun Valley. This season, McCall holds a 3-2-1 advantage.
