There was no quit in the Sun Valley Midget "B" high school hockey team during last weekend's Salmon Invitational.
Falling behind 3-1 to a strong Boise Junior Steelheads sextet in the championship game, Sun Valley's shorthanded squad battled back and upset the deep, talented Steelies 4-3.
Sun Valley, traveling with 10 skaters and two goalies, battled adversity and fatigue all weekend to bring home the trophy. Head coach was Brad Dredge.
The championship Sun Valley squad went 3-1-0 on the weekend, beating Salmon 2-1 and Missoula (Mt.) 3-1 and dropping a 2-0 game to Boise.
In the title contest Jackson Bates, assisted by Morgan Pike, gave the young Suns an early 1-0 lead. Jimmy Hague snaked a blueline blast home cutting the Boise lead to 3-2, then Hague launched a slapshot that Craig Watson redirected for a 3-3 tie.
Jackson Bates sealed the deal and ended the stirring comeback with a power play goal, assisted by Pike. Sun Valley goalie Colby Stoecklein (96 saves on 103 shots) played exceptionally all weekend.
In earlier games, Patrick McMahon scored the game winner against Salmon Friday night. Bates and Peter Atkinson scored the Suns goals in the 3-1 victory over Missoula.
Weekend scoring totals: Jackson Bates 4 goals/0 assists; Morgan Pike 0/4; Jimmy Hague 1/1; Patrick McMahon 1/1; David Dredge 1/0; Peter Atkinson 1/0; and Craig Watson 1/0. Also contributing to the short-benched effort for the champs were Caleb Crawford, Niels McMahon, Reed Stokes and back-up goalie Brian Perry.
See the winning Midgets team championship photo in the Jan. 17 Local Life section.
