A once-promising 2004-05 hockey season for the Sun Valley Suns came to a merciful end Friday and Saturday during a two-game home series with the Manchester Mountaineers from McCall.
The Mountaineers, last year's USA Hockey 30-and-over national champions, used their experience, poise and sharp goaltending to sweep the Suns 8-5 and 4-3 in the season finale at Sun Valley Skating Center.
Compared to the beginning of the franchise's 30th season back in December, the Suns limped home losing important players to injuries, enduring seven game cancellations and suffering the ramifications of a serious on-ice fight in early March.
"It's been a trying season, really a roller-coaster and in a way I'm glad it's over," said Suns coach Chris Benson. "We lost three of our top forwards and our goalie. There were several times we didn't know our games had been canceled until the day of the game."
Sun Valley (11-7-1), winless in its final six games after a nine-game mid-season winning streak, grabbed a 2-0 lead Friday but the Mountaineers tallied five of the next six goals for a 5-3 lead. The Suns tied it 5-5, but McCall scored three more unanswered goals to prevail in a walk.
On Saturday the Suns shelled McCall goalie and former Air Force Academy backstop Mark Liebich with 44 shots—20 in the third period alone—but could score only one time in the final 20 minutes and fell short 4-3 after trailing 4-1.
"We threw the rubber at him (Liebich) in the second half of the game, but he was solid again, just like Friday night," said Benson of Sun Valley's thwarted comeback bid against Liebich, who faced 90 shots in two games and made 82 saves.
The Mountaineer defense was tough to crack. Benson said, "McCall had three defensemen who played for the (Idaho) Steelheads and they were good at clearing out guys. We didn't get the second whacks at the puck. They're good hockey players."
Offensively, the Suns continued to struggle. In a way, they were victims of a new rule change that has eliminated the red line at Sun Valley home games and has allowed "home run passes," to players breaking down the ice. The rule, designed to open up the offense, gradually played into the hands of McCall's forecheckers.
"With the new rule we didn't want to come back and support the puck carrier," said Benson. McCall quickly filled passing routes and eliminated the long pass from the Suns arsenal. But the damage had been done—the Suns got a little lazy.
Defensively, the Suns were slow-footed and didn't have much success picking up Mountaineer players in their own end. McCall scored plenty of close-in goals on rebounds.
"In the first half it looked like we were sleepwalking. Nobody wanted to move their feet," said Benson about Saturday's 4-3 McCall win. But goalie John Bidon played "awesome," Benson said, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the first period alone.
With so many changes of personnel in the final month and uncertain lines, the Suns power play went south—going 3-for-20 the last three weekends (15%) after starting the season at a 26% success rate.
There were plenty of positives, though, particularly Sun Valley's determination to play to the final whistle after enduring so many ups-and-downs for the past six weeks.
Having scored only once—Ryan Enrico's equalizer late in the first period Saturday—the Suns fell further behind 4-1. Caleb Baukol, who scored his first two goals of the season last weekend, made it 4-2 on assists by Chris Warrington and Bryan Winkler late in the second.
The Suns applied terrific pressure in the third period and scored once when Enrico made a dazzling hustle play, shorthanded. After being tripped and nearly knocked off his feet, Enrico centered to Frank Salvoni for the only goal of the stanza.
Down 4-3 with 22 seconds left and goalie Bidon off the ice in favor of an extra attacker, the Suns did everything but put the puck in the net when a slapshot from the point blasted through a traffic jam of players in front of Liebich and double-posted off the iron—called no goal.
Friday, the Suns jumped on top 2-0 on an Enrico top-shelf rocket, from Ryan McDonald's winning faceoff draw, and Salvoni's tip-in after a Jamie Ellison break-out pass interception and great crossing pass.
The game was tied 3-3 after two, but McCall scored twice in the opening minute of the third period for a 5-3 lead. Vilnis Nikolaisons made it 5-4, banking home a shot off a backsliding Mountaineer defender after an Ellison feed. Then, McDonald rifled a pass out to defender Ivars Muzis on the point, and Muzis drilled a slapshot that Trevor Thomas tipped home for his first Suns goal.
The 5-5 draw didn't last long because McCall's Ingraham brothers Cal, Dave and Bobby each scored in the final 13 minutes for the 8-5 final.
McCall featured a bunch of former Idaho Steelhead minor league hockey players including Steelhead Hall of Famer Cal Ingraham, 34, the former University of Maine scoring star who also played at Air Force.
Coach Benson singled out a couple of younger players for extra effort this season, starting with second-year wing Ryan Enrico. After finishing second in the team scoring race last winter, Enrico won this year's title on the final weekend with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points.
"Rico busted his tail every night," said Benson.
Center Ryan McDonald (27 points) "slid in there great," and Bryan Winkler "filled his role," said Benson. Second-year defenseman and assistant captain Chris Warrington was "monstrous this season," Benson said. "Chris worked hard and his speed improved even over last year."
Benson added, "I look forward to next year.
"We'll try to iron out some of the wrinkles and sweeten the pot for the visiting teams so it's more appealing to come here. We'll try to get home-and-homes with Jackson Hole and McCall. As far as our players go, I haven't heard of losing anyone yet. We hope to get three or four new guys so we can continue to improve."
Check the April 20 and 27 Local Life editions for more photos from the season-ending McCall twinbill.
Suns center Ryan McDonald, who grew up skating on the Sun Valley rink, gets ready to take the draw from linesman Eric Wingard during Saturday's game won by McCall 4-3. Photo by David N. Seelig
