The Sun Valley Bantam Suns rode a wave of momentum into Salt Lake City this past weekend for the Intermountain Hockey League Championships at the 12,000-seat E Center, home to the ECHL Salt Lake City Grizzly minor league hockey team.
Coached by last year's leading Sun Valley Suns scorer, Ryan Enrico, the Bantam Suns (14-3-1) captured the IHL regular-season championship in Salt Lake City two weeks ago. This past weekend, they took home the post-season tournament trophy to boot.
Sun Valley's 13-14 year olds defeated Idaho Falls 6-3 and Wyoming Ballistic 3-2, setting the stage for the Idaho state championships in Boise Feb. 25 and the regional tourney in Denver March 9-12.
Last weekend's single elimination tournament left no room for mistakes, so the Suns came out hot against the Idaho Falls Eagles and held onto a two-goal lead for the remainder, ending the Eagles' post-season hopes with a 6-3 win.
In the opening period, the Sun Valley Bantams took control with three quick goals—two from Morgan Pike and one slapshot score from the point by defenseman Peter Atkinson. Two goals by leading scorer Nick Crosby and a Jackson Bates single goal finalized it at 6-3. Austin Grill, Pike and Hank Mason added assists. Goalie Cody Levitan was solid, stopping 12 of 15 shots.
On Sunday, the #1-seeded Suns faced their biggest challenge of the year—the championship game against season-long contender Wyoming Ballistic, the second seed.
Trailing 1-0 early, the Suns realized it was a gut check moment and met the challenge, scoring three unanswered goals. The first was an unassisted play from Grill. Crosby gave the Suns their first lead 2-1 on assists from Mason and Pike late in the first period.
The Ballistic came out firing in the second, out-shooting the Suns 12-7. Goalie Lampl was a wall, though, buying his team time before Crosby scored his second and the eventual championship goal.
Crosby was on the receiving end of a perfect breakout pass from Mason to beat the Ballistic defender to the outside before cutting back to deposit the puck over the glove of the Wyoming goalie. Crosby's second straight goal gave the Suns a 3-1 lead that held up.
The Suns defense was a major factor in holding the Ballistic to just three shots during the final period. Peter Atkinson, David Dredge, Caleb Crawford, Rune Haavik, Jimmy Hague and Niels McMahon played strong in front of the net.
Lampl, meanwhile, had a great season closer, making many great saves on the 25 shots he faced, including one breakaway spoiler when he came way out of his own net.
Scoring summary from Salt Lake City: Nick Crosby 4 goals/1 assist, Morgan Pike 2/3, Hank Mason 0/3, Austin Grill 1/1, Jackson Bates 1/0 and Peter Atkinson 1/0. Also making strong contributions were Tommy Heinrich, Alexander Macmillan, Anthony Martin, Zak Sjoberg, Latner Straley and Danny Sundali.
The 2005-06 IHL Champions Sun Valley Bantam Suns: Back row, from left: Alexander Macmillan, Peter Atkinson, Hank Mason, Caleb Crawford, Anthony Martin, Rune Haavik, David Dredge, Zak Sjoberg, Morgan Pike, Austin Grill, Jackson Bates, Nick Crosby, Jimmy Hague, Latner Straley and Danny Sundali. Front row, from left, Niels McMahon, manager Pat McMahon, goalie Tye Lampl, head coach Ryan Enrico, Tommy Heinrich and Cody Levitan. Courtesy photo
