The 400 Club of career points is a rare place for a Sun Valley Suns player to be, but 34-year-old Vilnis Nikolaisons joined Bobby Noyes in that rarified air Saturday with a four-goal performance Saturday night.
It's truly rare for unselfish "Villy" to score multiple goals, indeed, he has only 10 three-goal hat tricks in his 10-year Sun stint—and has never scored four goals in a single game. But the family man was on fire with his young children Jake and Aija in the gallery. He led the Suns (9-3-0) to a big victory and a weekend split.
Suns assistant captain Nikolaisons, a 5-7, 150-pound wing from Latvia, scored two goals in the second period and two more in the third as Sun Valley overwhelmed a good Team Utah squad 12-5 to divide the two-game weekend series. Team Utah won 6-5 Friday.
Nikolaisons (148 goals and 253 assists for 401 points) became the second Suns player to surpass 400 points—all-time leader Noyes (408 points) the other. His two goals in the third period that put Villy over the top were part of a six-goal explosion in 11 minutes that turned a close game into a rout.
"Villy had a great game," Suns captain Chris Warrington said. But Nikolaisons wasn't the only one who excelled on the ice as the Suns returned to action after a three-week layoff.
Team Utah's Jeremy Weiss was the weekend's other standout skater. Weiss (5 goals weekend) notched a hat trick Friday including the game winner with five minutes left leading the Utes to the 6-5 win. Utah had led 3-1 early before Sun Valley stormed back with three unanswered goals to edge ahead 4-3 after two periods.
A Toronto native, Weiss was an American College Hockey Association (ACHA) Division All-Region West forward for Brigham Young University's hockey team in 2005. He became Utah High School Hockey's all-time leader in career goals and total points and led Timpanogos High School to a state hockey championship.
The sniping of Weiss and the stand-on-your-head goaltending of former Weber State University goalie Quincy Martin (42 saves on 47 Suns shots) were the decisive factors in Utah's Friday night victory over a sluggish Sun Valley squad.
"We had our chances but it was a pretty choppy game," said Warrington, acknowledging that the long layoff affected the flow and organization of the Suns game. Sun Valley (26% power play efficiency) went 1-for-9 on the power play but did pretty well in penalty killing, scoring two shorthanded goals.
"I think they surprised us a little Friday night with the way they played together," said Warrington about the opportunitistic Utes. "The way the officials are calling the game these days is pretty tight, so power plays and penalty killing become all the more important."
Saturday was different.
"It was a better game. We were a little more organized. You start to appreciate a little more what Fester did when he's not around," said Warrington, referring to former Suns coach Chris Benson. The Suns were playing their first series since Benson resigned his post.
The Suns got off to a solid start with first-period goals by Paul Baranzelli, Jamie Ellison and Kris Webster and pushed ahead 5-2 when Nikolaisons scored his first goal, shorthanded, on a breakout pass from Warrington in the second.
Sun Valley's six-goal spurt started quietly one minute into the third period when Charles Friedman made a perfect cross-ice pass to onrushing Eric Demment for a 7-4 lead. Warrington's strong wrist shot beat goalie Martin for an 8-4 game.
Nikolaisons scored his hat trick by fighting off a Utes defender and jamming home his third goal. Adam Swain tipped home a wicked Warrington shot from the point for a 10-4 game, then Nikolaisons finished a pretty passing play from linemates Ellison and Ryan Enrico for an 11-4 lead.
Suns goalie Ryan Thomson (5-2-0) played both games and had a nice 27-save effort Saturday. Defenseman Jeremy Schreiber (5 assists), Ellison (1 goal, 3 assists) were other Saturday standouts. Besides Nikolaisons' four goals, eight different Suns scored in the win.
Last weekend's games were the first in a six-weekend, 12-game stretch—10 games at home for the Suns. Sun Valley hosts the Missoula (Mt.) Cutthroats Feb. 22-23, the Jackson Hole Moose Feb. 29-March 1, a Canadian team March 7-8 and goalie Bobby Farrelly's East Coast Gutter Snipes for the March 14-15 home finale.
Sun Valley's two-game series against the Jackson Hole Moose in Wyoming has been rescheduled for Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22 at the end of the 2007-08 Suns season.
This Saturday's 7 p.m. game against Missoula is a benefit for the Sawtooth United Soccer Club and its scholarship fund. Tickets will be sold at the door and raffle tickets will benefit the youth's group scholarships.
One year ago, Missoula visited Sun Valley and the Suns swept a 12-11 and 8-3 series. "Missoula worked hard and was a pretty good team," said Warrington. "We expect them to bring a full squad this year."
Look at today's Express Web site for a complete hockey summary from the Team Utah series and an updated list of Suns season statistics.
Vilnis Nikolaisons
