Some fast Suns facts:
The best start (16-0-0) in team history. For the first time ever, a four-game season sweep of the Jackson Hole Moose. And a potent power play that is very close to automatic.
You'd have thought the Sun Valley Suns men's hockey team would have been wildly celebrating in the upstairs locker room Saturday night after completing a 12-9 and 6-3 home sweep of the Moose at Sun Valley Skating Center.
To be sure, happy Suns players had just given a raised stick salute to the rabid Beer Garden fans after the game was over and the handshake line with Moose players was done.
But a wild celebration? No.
It was simply the usual locker room banter highlighted by the presentation of the "George Jacket," a strange and wonderful 15-year-old team tradition that acts as the great Suns leveler. Win or lose, the jacket is given after Saturday night's game to a Suns player for some obscure, famous, spontaneous or selfless act.
If you're high as a kite after a significant victory, like last weekend, the "George Jacket" presentation provides the needed perspective. If you're as low as you can go after a demoralizing loss, it brings you back where you should be.
Right now, the Suns are rolling like never before and trying to keep the even keeled and levelheaded approach that has worked beautifully so far.
"We've got to take it one game at a time, no matter what team we're playing. We just can't get ahead of ourselves," said head coach Chris Benson. "All I ask is that we play smart and play disciplined hockey.
"But we're definitely having fun and playing with confidence. As a team we're deeper talent-wise and both goalies are healthy. The main thing is that everything is getting spread out. We're not relying on three or four guys to get it done."
Friday's 12-9 shootout was a perfect example. Scoring the most goals ever by a Sun Valley team in 44 games against the Moose, the Suns had nine different goal scorers, an incredible 17 players with either a goal or an assist, and 31 points total.
They did it against a newcomer Jackson Hole goalie, Canadian Rick Nichol, flown in to Sun Valley by the Moose for last weekend's series. Nichol, with a wealth of minor league pro hockey experience, was shellshocked (48 shots) in his debut. Benson said, "We threw a lot of rubber at the net."
On a night when a Suns ticket was the toughest in town, goals were a dime a dozen in front of the boisterous, sold-out Suns gallery. There were 10 goals in the first 30 minutes, 16 goals after 48 and 21 goals after 60. Never before had the two teams scored as many goals in a single game.
The Suns never trailed, usually going up two or three or four goals and coasting for a while to see if the Moose could catch up. The closest the Moose got was 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3. Benson said, "The first half of the game was great hockey. Then we coasted at the end and started making mental mistakes."
Several goals were critical.
Top scorer Jamie Ellison made a centering pass that Ryan Enrico tipped in for a power play goal and 5-3 second-period lead. Soon after, Adam Swain stole the puck away from two Moose defenders in the offensive zone and skated into the crease. Defenseman Jami James rushed in and finished the job for a 6-3 cushion.
The Moose got a shorthanded goal on a shot from the point by captain Aaron Ackley but there was no miracle comeback in store for the Wyoming boys this year.
Sun Valley responded with its own shorthanded goal on a long, improbable goal by defenseman Eric Demment that proved embarrassing for goalie Nichol. He misjudged it. For the rest of the series blueliner Paul Baranzelli pelted Nichol with length-of-rink shots whenever he had the chance.
In the midst of a sub-par season, the Moose (5-8) never quit.
A power play goal by Brian Hannafin (4 goals, 2 assists weekend) after Chris DeMarco's shot from the point made it 8-6 early in the third.
The Suns answered on a four-on-four situation—Baranzelli hammering a shot from the point, Ellison doing a 360 in the crease to escape the defense and putting a shot on Nichol and Vilnis Nikolaisons finishing into an open net, 9-6 Suns.
When the dust settled at 12-9, Ellison (3 assists), Demment and James each had two goals for the Suns, captain Chris Warrington had three assists and Trevor Thomas was ejected with a sense of accomplishment after winning a fight in front of the rowdy Beer Garden.
The Suns couldn't afford a letdown Saturday night because they knew the Moose, five years ago, had ended a season opening 15-game Suns winning streak with a Saturday night 2-1 triumph on Idaho ice.
You just can't underestimate how important the power play has been in this year's Suns surge. For the season they have 41 power play goals and a 38% success average. Last weekend they scored seven power play goals against the Moose.
In the last three home series, against the Moose, Seattle Indians and Beacon Hill from New Jersey, the Suns are 21-for-42 (50%) on the power play. So, in their last six games, the Suns have nearly as many power play goals (21) as they did in all 24 games last winter (25).
Enrico, from first-year defenseman Jeremy Schreiber and Nikolaisons, started Saturday's string of four Suns power-play goals for a 1-0 lead.
Warrington added a man-advantage goal for a 2-2 tie after the first 20 minutes—erasing the only Moose lead and providing the weekend's only tie.
Saturday's second period was the fastest skating and cleanest of the weekend. Nichol robbed Nikolaisons twice on breakaways. Suns goalie Colin Zulianello (39 saves) made key stops to preserve the 3-2 Suns lead that Nikolaisons had provided with a goal just nine seconds into the second period.
Benson said, "Colin played great and our defense limited their rushes."
The Suns penalty killing units continued to be impenetrable in the third period, keeping the Moose (0-for-10 power plays) off the scoreboard.
Five minutes were gone when Nichol got his stick down on the ice to stop Swain's legitimate chance in the crease. Jackson Hole took not only one but two penalties, putting Sun Valley in a five-on-three.
Bad idea.
Nikolaisons set up in his normal role as power play quarterback, this time to Nichol's right. In an instant he checked every possible situation, including a cross-ice pass to the opposite point, but what most attracted Vilnis was Mohawked John Stevens doing a little 360 in front of Nichol in order to mask his intentions. Stevens wound up with his stick in the perfect position to redirect Nikolaisons' perfect pass for a power play goal.
"John did all the work," said Nikolaisons, saying about his pass, "It was a pleasure." That made it 4-2.
Then, after winning a faceoff and sending the puck back to the point, Suns veteran center Billy Tryder punched home his first goal of the season from a tough angle along the goal line before the five-on-four power play ended.
And the sixth and final Suns goal came from Blake Jenson, from behind the goal line and off of Nichol's leg into the net for the 6-3 final count.
The Suns outscored the Moose 3-1 in the decisive third. Benson said, "We did better with the 1-2-2 defensive system I ran in the final eight minutes (after Brian Hannafin's Moose goal narrowed the Suns lead to 5-3 with 8 minutes left)."
The Moose (15-6-1 at home) still lead 26-17-1 in the 10-year series but the Suns have won six of the last eight meetings and have evened up the series 11-11 on Sun Valley ice.
St. Nicks coming to town
The Jackson Hole Moose might seem like a walk in the park compared to the achievements of the next two Suns home ice opponents.
Prominent for years in USA Hockey Adult Elite full-check circles, New York St. Nicks comes to Sun Valley Skating Center for two games Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16-17 at 7 p.m. that could turn out to be the best of the Suns campaign.
Saturday's game between the Suns and St. Nicks is a benefit for the Wood River Baseball Association. Last January St. Nicks beat the Suns twice in Sun Valley 9-6 and 5-4.
New York St. Nicks is expected to bring recent Division 1 collegians from Yale University, Benson said. The venerable program with roots dating to the 1930s has won four of the last six US Adult Elite Full-Check National Championships.
Last year at Fond du Lac, Wisc., the Fox Cities (Wisc.) Ice Dogs blanked St. Nicks 3-0 in the Elite Full-Check championship game. And, in 2004 at Fond du Lac, Bucks Furniture from Bloomington, Minn. nipped St. Nicks 5-4 in the Labatt Blue US Adult Elite title game.
And Bucks Furniture, now Wright Homes of Minnesota, will provide the competition for the Suns Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24.
For a complete hockey summary and updated Suns season stats, check out this week's Express Web site.
Eric Demment, Suns defenseman, blasts another tough shot from the point against the Jackson Hole Moose Friday. Photo by Willy Cook
