Missing plenty of veteran leadership, the Sun Valley Suns men's ice hockey team made the trip over the hill to Wyoming but took its lumps 7-2 and 4-0 in season-opening games last weekend against arch-rival Jackson Hole Moose.
The Suns (0-2-0) managed only two power-play goals—by Ryan McDonald and John Miller—after falling behind 4-0 in Friday's debut at Snow King Center. The Moose (7-1-0) benefited from a competitive head start of over a month and showed it was the better team.
For last weekend, at least. The teams are expected to play again Jan. 23-24 in Sun Valley.
Sun Valley was missing six skaters plus its starting goalie with a combined total of 40 years of Suns experience, 308 Suns goals and 995 points.
Those not making the trip due to work, injury or holiday commitments were captain Chris Warrington, alternate captain Vilnis Nikolaisons, goalie Ryan Thomson, Paul Baranzelli, Eric Demment, Ryan Enrico and Adam Swain.
Goalie Mat Gershater tended the net in Friday's 7-2 loss and made 24 saves on 31 shots, but he suffered a groin injury and sat out Saturday. For the second game of the series Jackson Hole provided the Suns a goalie in native Canadian Ron Zaharchuk (47 saves in the 4-0 loss).
All things considered, the Suns were still able to send out three forward lines Friday (Blake Jenson-Jamie Ellison-Ryan McDonald, Jordan Pritchett-Spencer Brendel-John Miller, John Stevens-Charles Friedman-Cody Proctor) plus three defensive pairs (Matt Alloway-Jeremy Mylymok, Ivars Muzis-Jon Duval, Sinjin Thomas-Trevor Thomas).
Other Suns skating at Jackson were Caleb Baukol, Gunnar Gladics, Rian Timmons, Noah Loyd and Taylor Rothgeb.
Check last weekend's line score on the Express Website.
Fun holiday games this weekend
The Sun Valley Suns will officially debut its 34th home season of competition Friday and Saturday, Dec. 26-27 with two holiday exhibition games against the Suns Alumni and Future Suns youngsters.
Both games start at 7 p.m. at Sun Valley Skating Center. They will raise money for Sun Valley Youth Hockey and the Brett Sammis Scholarship Fund. This weekend's games will be followed by the annual visit of the McCall Mountaineers over New Year's weekend Friday and Saturday, Jan. 2-3.
Check Friday's paper for a team photo the 2008-09 Suns.
Morgan's knocks off Grumpy's 3-2
In a great game, Morgan's Fine Finishes knocked Sun Valley Auto Club/Grumpy's out of the unbeaten ranks 3-2 last Friday night at Sun Valley Skating Center. And Yoga College won its first game Monday night in other Senior Hockey League action on resort ice.
Phil Hebert provided the game-winning goal late in the third period for Morgan's Fine Finishes (2-1-1) in its victory over Grumpy's (3-1-0). Chris Benson and John Ellison Jr. had the other two goals for the winners and Chris Edwards had a monster game in goal.
Grumpy's scorers were John McGuone and Brian Sutton.
Monday night, Yoga College of India (1-3-0) was all over SunValley.com (1-2-1) by a score of 7-1. Goals for the winners came from Pete Whitehead (2), Gunnar Whitehead, Don Saver, Noah Loyd, Taylor Rothgeb and Dave MacMillan.
Jeff "Crash" Ballou sent the puck across the line with 30 seconds remaining to erase the goose egg for SunValley.com.
Last Thursday on resort ice, Frank Salvoni stashed home the game winner as SV Auto Club/Grumpy's made it three straight wins to start the season with a 4-3 overtime victory over Yoga. It was tied 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 after each period.
Adding Grumpy's goals were John McGuone (2 assists), Charles Friedman and Brian Sutton. Jim Remke chipped in with an assist. Yoga goals came off the sticks of Pete Whitehead, Jack Weekes and Matt Alloway (1 assist), with Greg Merchep picking up an assist.
Next up: It's Morgan Fine Finishes vs. Yoga College Monday, Dec. 29 at 6 p.m.
Alternate captain Johnny Miller, in his 17th Suns season, led the Suns over to Jackson Hole last weekend. Photo by Willy Cook
