Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Suns bounce back, 4-3 and 7-2 over Rangers

Beantowners find there's something about Suns goalie Zulianello


By MICHAEL AMES
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Getting solid goaltending and putting a quick end to their two-game losing streak, the Sun Valley Suns (7-3-0) swept the Boston ReMax Rangers last weekend in Sun Valley.

The home team skated to two wins, a back-and-forth battle for a 4-3 victory Friday and a commanding 7-2 rout on Saturday night. Goalie John Bidon (20 saves) earned his first win of the season Friday and Colin Zulianello stopped 36 of 38 Boston shots Saturday night.

With five assists, defenseman Eric Demment was the top Suns scorer despite not scoring a single goal. Vilnis Nikolaisons (2 goals, 2 assists) and Frank Salvoni (3 goals) led the 11-goal Sun Valley attack.

The Rangers brought a formidable squad to Idaho. Defenseman Jeff Norton was a former University of Michigan and NHL player who started his professional hockey career with the New York Islanders and played with seven professional teams through 2002.

Backstopping the solid Boston squad was comedy movie director Bobby Farrelly, who hails from New England. Farrelly made 57 saves for the weekend. "When Bobby's on, he's tough to beat," said Suns coach Chris Benson.

Funny man Farrelly ("Fever Pitch," "There's Something about Mary") played solid Friday, stopping 34 of 38 shots under relentless Suns pressure.

Boston came closest to a victory Friday night. After the Suns cruised to a three-goal lead in the first period, the Rangers played deliberate hockey to come back with three unanswered goals in the second and third. With only five minutes left in the game, the Sun Valley crowd was restless as a contingent of French fans filled the air with Gallic slurs.

As time wound down and the suspense grew, the Suns applied steady pressure, getting off 16 shots in the final stanza.

With just under four minutes remaining in a 3-3 game, Caleb Baukol streaked through the Boston defense and looped behind the net for what looked like a wrap-around. He shuttled it straight ahead to a charging Salvoni. Salvoni one-timed the puck for the decisive goal. Farrelly never saw it coming.

The climactic game winner was Salvoni's second goal of the night as he and Paul Baranzelli (2 goals in the first period) shared Friday's offensive glory.

Saturday, the fired-up Rangers poured it on with 38 shots on offense, but they found a brick wall in the Suns net by the name of Zulianello.

"I would have thrown in a white towel in the first period," said assistant Rangers coach Mike Ericson afterwards, referring to Zulianello's 12 saves on 12 ReMax shots in the first.

A former Idaho Steelhead, Zulianello capably filled the net, kicked away pucks and flashed his glove for save after save as the Rangers outshot the Suns 38-30, though they didn't get a goal until halfway through the second period.

After scoring two goals in fifteen seconds in the second, though, it looked like Boston was making for a comeback. "There's nothing more dangerous than a two-goal lead," Benson said about the situation.

With momentum, Boston looked to speedy forward Sean Young and veteran Norton. A quick shot had Zulianello sprawled out of position, but the Suns goalie was a blur as he miraculously knocked away a second shot from the rebound.

Having cut the 4-0 lead to 4-2, the Zulianello spectacle seemed to drain whatever remaining energy the Rangers had. The Suns answered with three goals and cruised to a 7-2 victory on third-period goals by Salvoni, D.W. Cook and Nikolaisons.

The Suns enjoy a break for the next two weekends, resting up for the Philadelphia Independence who arrive Feb. 10. For updated Suns season stats and a hockey summary from last weekend, check the Express Web site.

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Suns 4, Rangers 3
Friday

Boston ReMax Rangers 0 2 1 3
Sun Valley Suns 3 0 1 4

FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Paul Baranzelli 4 (Vilnis Nikolaisons, Eric Demment), 4:27. (2) SV, Frank Salvoni 3 (Chris Warrington), 12:05, shorthanded goal. (3) SV, Baranzelli 5 (John Miller, Ryan McDonald), 14:23.

SECOND PERIOD—(4) Boston, Eric Melanson (Trevor Werner, Mike O'Reilly), 2:21, power play goal. (5) Boston, Jeff Norton (Denny Leroux), 2:51.

THIRD PERIOD—(6) Boston, Sean Young (Adam Campana), 10:49. (7) SV, Salvoni 4 (Caleb Baukol, Demment), 16:07, game-winning goal.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Boston 7-7-9 for 23; for Sun Valley 10-12-16 for 38.

GOALIES—Boston, Bobby Farrelly (34 saves); SV, John Bidon (20 saves, 1-1-0 record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Kelly Billings; linesmen, Bobby Noyes and David Patrie.

NOTES—The Jackson Hole Moose (5-5) took a beating Jan. 20-21 at Cominco Arena in Trail, B.C. Canada, losing 11-3 and 17-5 to the Trail Senior Smoke Eaters. It was the third straight loss for the Moose, including a 9-4 loss to the Chicago Chargers Jan. 14 at Snow King Center. The Smoke Eaters are due to visit Jackson Hole Feb. 17-18, a week before the Suns visit Snow King Center Feb. 23-24.

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Suns 7, Rangers 2
Saturday

Boston ReMax Rangers 0 2 0 2
Sun Valley Suns 2 2 3 7

FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1 (unassisted), 3:37. (2) SV, John Stevens 4 (Nikolaisons, Chris Warrington), 15:34, shorthanded goal.

SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, D.W. Cook 2 (unassisted), 2:09. (4) SV, Ryan McDonald 2 (John Miller), 5:49. (5) Boston, Nick Sinerate (Eric Melanson, Mike O'Reilly), 10:08. (6) Boston, Sinerate (O'Reilly, Jay Snell), 10:23.

THIRD PERIOD—(7) SV, Frank Salvoni 5 (Miller, Demment), 1:09, power play goal. (8) SV, Cook 3 (Scott Winkler, Demment), 3:10. (9) SV, Nikolaisons 2 (Demment, Stevens), 5:27.

SHOTS ON GOAL—For Boston 12-13-13 for 38; for Sun Valley 9-10-11 for 30.

GOALIES—Boston, Bobby Farrelly (23 saves); SV, Colin Zulianello (36 saves, 4-1-0 record).

OFFICIALS—Referee, Kelly Billings; linesmen, Bobby Noyes and Curt Martin.

NOTES—Sweeping its third home series of the season, Sun Valley outscored Boston 11-5 and out-pointed the visitors 27-13 led by Eric Demment (0-5 for 5 points), Vilnis Nikolaisons (2-2 for 4), Frank Salvoni (3-0 for 3) and John Miller (0-3 for 3)......John Stevens (97-153) became the 10th Suns skater to reach the 250-point career standard with his 2 points tonight).

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2005-06 Sun Valley Suns Season statistics

(7-3-0 overall: 7-3-0 home, 0-0-0 away)

PLAYER GAMES GOALS AST. PTS. PMIN
Jamie Ellison 9 7 6 13 42.0
Eric Demment 10 4 9 13 16.0
Vilnis Nikolaisons 10 2 11 13 6.0
Chris Warrington 10 4 8 12 10.0
Ryan McDonald 8 2 9 11 8.0
Scott Winkler 10 5 5 10 0.0
Paul Baranzelli 8 5 4 9 4.0
John Stevens 10 4 5 9 2.0
Frank Salvoni 10 5 2 7 6.0
John Miller 9 0 7 7 12.0
Ryan Enrico 5 3 3 6 8.0
Kris Webster 8 2 4 6 2.0
Ivars Muzis 10 3 2 5 16.0
Caleb Baukol 10 3 2 5 12.0
D.W. Cook 8 3 0 3 17.0
Kellen Chatterton 2 0 2 2 0.0
John Bidon 9 0 2 2 15.0
Trevor Thomas 8 0 1 1 14.0
Charles Friedman 6 0 1 1 0.0
Ryan Thomson 3 0 1 1 0.0
Blake Jenson 2 0 1 1 0.0
Josh Jacobson 10 0 0 0 4.0
Rian Timmons 6 0 0 0 2.0
Normunds Krepss 2 0 0 0 2.0
Bryan Winkler 4 0 0 0 0.0
Colin Zulianello 5 0 0 0 2.0
David Stone 1 0 0 0 0.0


GOALTENDER GAMES GOALS W-L AVG.
Colin Zulianello 4.75 13 4-1-0 2.74
Ryan Thomson 3 12 2-1-0 4.00
John Bidon 2 8 1-1-0 4.00
David Stone 0.25 2 0-0-0 4.00


Shots—Zulianello 189, Thomson 118, Bidon 61, Stone 6.
Saves—Zulianello 176, Thomson 106, Bidon 53, Stone 4.
Shootout saves—0.
Shootout goals allowed—0.
Shutouts—Zulianello 1.
Empty net goals—0.

SCORE BY PERIODS 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOT
Opposition 10 13 12 0 35 3.5
Sun Valley 20 18 13 1 52 5.2

INDIVIDUAL MARKS

Two-goal games (8)—Jamie Ellison 2, Scott Winkler 1, Chris Warrington 1, Paul Baranzelli 1, Frank Salvoni 1, D.W. Cook 1, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1
Hat tricks or more—0.
Game-winning goals—Eric Demment 1, Chris Warrington 1, Frank Salvoni 1.
Power play goals (14-48, 30%)—Jamie Ellison 4, Eric Demment 2, Chris Warrington 2, Scott Winkler 1, Kris Webster 1, Ryan Enrico 1, John
Stevens 1, Paul Baranzelli 1, Frank Salvoni 1. Power play goals (opposition): 6-52, (12%).
Suns shorthanded goals (2)—Frank Salvoni 1, John Stevens 1
Shorthanded goals (opposition): 1.
Season penalty minutes: SV 200, opponents 183.

GAME RESULTS

Total record: 7-3-0
Record in 1-goal games: 3-2
Record in overtime: 1-0-0
Games scoring 9 or more goals: 1
Games scoring 7 or more goals: 3

December 9 (H) Sun Valley 7, Park City Generals 4
December 10 (H) Sun Valley 9, Park City Generals 2
December 30 (H) McCall Mountaineers 4, Sun Valley 3
December 31 (H) Sun Valley 4, McCall Mountaineers 0
January 6 (H) Sun Valley 5, Weyburn Devils 4 (OT)
January 7 (H) Sun Valley 3, Weyburn Devils 2
January 13 (H) N.Y. St. Nick's 9, Sun Valley 6
January 14 (H) N.Y. St. Nick's 5, Sun Valley 4
January 20 (H) Sun Valley 4, Boston ReMax Rangers 3
January 21 (H) Sun Valley 7, Boston ReMax Rangers 2




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