Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Captain Chipsy leads Suns (22-0-0) past Kings 8-7, 8-6

Sun Valley shoots for undefeated season this weekend


Sun Valley Suns captain Chris "Chipsy" Warrington doesn't usually score many points as a defenseman.

But the fourth-year Brown University product from Rhode Island and left wing Ryan "Hoboken Express" Enrico were the scoring leaders last weekend as the visiting Suns survived two tough challenges from the Park City Silver Kings 8-7, 8-6 on the Utah sheet.

Warrington (8 points weekend) scored a pair of early goals Friday as Park City jumped ahead 5-3 after two periods. But Enrico and center Jamie Ellison each scored two goals in a five-goal third period as the Suns overcame the Kings 8-7.

Enrico (8 points weekend), who scored the game winner in Sun Valley's biggest win of the season, 3-2 over New York St. Nicks Feb. 16, also scored the winner against Park City Friday with 20 seconds left in the game. Suns goalie Ryan Thomson ended up with 41 saves.

Ninth-year Suns center Billy Tryder tallied his 100th Suns career goal midway through the third period giving the Suns a 7-6 lead. And Warrington, Enrico and Ellison were playmakers, each recording three assists Friday night.

Saturday night on the Park City rink in Utah, Sun Valley stretched its undefeated streak to 22-0-0 with goalie Thomson making 33 saves. Getting single goals from six different skaters and two more from Warrington, the Suns grabbed a 5-1 lead and held on for the 8-6 win—Tryder providing a late insurance goal for the Suns.

Head coach Chris Benson said, "We played just good enough to win."

Benson laced up the skates and played rearguard as the Suns were missing defensemen Eric Demment, Jeremy Schreiber and Josh Jacobson.

The outcome in Sun Valley's first visit to the new Park City rink boiled the 2006-07 Suns winter season down to just two games, this coming weekend, March 9-10 against goalie Bobby Farrelly's Boston Bulldogs featuring ex-National Hockey Leaguer Jeff Norton.

Benson said, "It sounds like Boston is going to bring a strong team."

Norton, 41, a 6-2, 200-pound native of Acton, Mass., played 797 NHL games from 1987-2002 for eight different teams, most prominently the New York Islanders, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers. He played three years at the University of Michigan from 1984-87 and was a member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team at Calgary in 1988.

Last January Norton played for the Boston ReMax Rangers in their 4-3 and 7-2 losses to Sun Valley on resort ice. Farrelly, the 48-year-old RPI product from Cumberland, R.I. better known for his work as a film director, screenwriter and producer, played between the pipes and made 57 saves.

Opening Suns-Bulldogs faceoffs are set for Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Sun Valley Skating Center. Saturday's game will raise money for Sun Valley Adaptive sports.

To be resolved this weekend is the 2006-07 Suns scoring champion. The race has narrowed down to 2000-02 champion Ellison (42 points) and 2005 king Enrico (41 points), who play on the same line.

For a complete hockey summary from the Park City series and updated Suns season stats, check out this week's Express Web site.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.