The Idaho Ice World weekend between Christmas and New Year’s was productive for two Sun Valley Youth Hockey teams playing in the Boise Ice Blast holiday tournament.
Sun Valley’s Bantams (ages 13-14) coached by Tim Jeneson, Bob Crosby and Chris Zarkos posted a 2-2-0 record and earned third place in their tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Boise Steelheads on Monday.
The Bantams also fell to Idaho Falls 5-3, beat the Steelheads 3-2 and lost to Provo 8-2.
In the 3-1 win, Jon Paris gave the Suns an early 1-0 lead, assisted by Mason Noyes. The Steelheads equalized on the power play in the second.
Parker Weekes scored the eventual game winner less than one minute into the 15-minute third stanza, assisted by Liam Jablonski and Drew Punnett. With five-and-a-half minutes remaining Tom Crosby provided an insurance goal, from Jablonski and Karel Kaiser.
Suns goalie Gus Conrad (91 saves weekend) was spectacular in the finale, with 22 saves in the consolation contest.
Against Idaho Falls, the Suns fell behind 4-0 before Paris stuffed home a Jablonski rebound for a 4-1 game. Weekes threaded a perfect pass through two Idaho Falls defenders that found the stick of Crosby, who made it 5-2 in the third. Punnett (Crosby) scored the final goal.
Making Sun Valley’s third-place finish possible was an earlier 3-2 triumph over the Steelheads. A power-play goal by Parker Morris (Paris) gave the Suns a 1-0 first-period lead. Jablonski launched an awesome shot from beyond the crease for a 2-0 game in the second. Boise answered with bang-bang goals and a 2-2 tie, the second goal on a power play.
Early in the third, Weekes beat the Boise goalie on the short side for the eventual winner. On Sunday night, Weekes and Paris scored in Sun Valley’s 8-2 loss to Provo. Despite the lopsided score, coach Zarkos was positive.
Zarkos said about a game in which Provo led only 1-0 after one period, “The boys came out and played with intensity and we won the physical battles. Defenseman Drew Punnett delivered the most hits and, by the end of the game, Provo wasn’t going into the corners. Most of Provo’s goals came on loose pucks they capitalized upon in front of the net.”
Weekend scoring: Jon Paris 3 goals/1 assist, Parker Weekes 3/1, Tom Crosby 2/1, Liam Jablonski 1/3, Drew Punnett 1/1, Parker Morris 1/0, Mason Noyes 0/1 and Karel Kaiser 0/1. Others were Calder Zarkos, Riley Sibbach, Rickie Jeneson, Cameron Jenner, Chase Hutchinson and Karl Wilander.
Provo won the Bantam championship later Monday 5-4 in overtime over Idaho Falls.
Peewees nail down third place
Coach Tony Benson’s Sun Valley Peewees (ages 11-12) also captured third place in the Boise Ice Blast Monday with a dramatic 2-1 triumph over the Boise Hawks at Ice World.
The Peewees (2-1-1) trailed 1-0 in the third period of the consolation championship when Cameron Benson equalized with seven minutes left. Jack Goodwin broke in from mid-ice and scored the game winner on a shorthanded situation.
Sun Valley also tied the Boise Steelheads 1-1 (Erik Wilander) and beat the Boise Hawks 2-1 (Brandon Benson, Eli Conrad). The Peewees lost to Ogden 4-1, Dylan Broman and Cameron Benson both slapping home the lone Sun Valley goal at the same time.
Others on the Peewees were Ellie Punnett, Denon Strope, Sam Burns, George Everitt, Gage Jorgenson, Jake Jorgenson, Carter Miller, Alex Schwartz, Tripp Hutchinson and Jack Swanson.
Midget Suns second to Provo
Scoring 17 goals in four games, the Sun Valley Midgets high school hockey team finished second to the Provo (Utah) Predators in the Idaho Falls Midget hockey tournament staged Dec. 20-21 in eastern Idaho.
Leading the way for coach Andrew Hebert’s Sun Valley Midgets were Jimmy Hague (5 goals, 1 assist) and goalie Cassidy Carson (48 saves on 59 shots for the weekend).
The young Suns defeated Salmon 8-2 and Idaho Falls 7-1 for their two victories. The Timpanogos Amateur Hockey Association (TAHA) Provo Predators skated past the Suns 3-2 and 5-0 in the other games.
In the 8-2 win over Salmon, goal scorers were Hague (4), Douglas King (2), captain Morgan Pike and Tye Lampl. The scoring was spread across the board against Idaho Falls led by Nick Crosby (2 goals) with singles to Tommy Heinrich, alternate captain David Dredge, Ian Murphy, Pike and Hague. Anthony Martin notched two assists.
Power-play goals by Charlie Evans and Dredge made the 3-2 game close against the Provo champions.
Weekend Suns scoring: Hague 5 goals/1 assist, Crosby 2/4, King 2/3, Dredge 2/1, Pike 2/0, Lampl 1/1, Murphy 1/2, Evans 1/0, Heinrich 1/1, alternate captain Niels McMahon 0/2 and Martin 0/2. Other Suns skaters were Alexander MacMillan, Zak Sjoberg and Latner Straley.
Morgan’s stays hot, 7-3 over Yoga
Morgan’s Fine Finishes (3-1-1) stayed hot in Senior Hockey League action with a dominating 7-3 victory over Yoga College of India (1-4-0) at Sun ValleySkatingCenter on Monday.
Dave Hennessy recorded the three-goal hat trick for a Morgan’s squad that spread its goal scoring between five different players. Morgan’s led 1-0 after the first period and blew it open with a four-goal second stanza for a 5-1 advantage.
Morgan’s scorers were Hennessy 3 goals/0 assists, Spencer Brendel 1/2, Phil Hebert 1/1, Todd Johnston 1/0, Dave Patrie 1/0, Jim Laski 0/2, Tim Jeneson 0/1 and Billy Tryder 0/1. In the goal was Chris Edwards.
Peter Whitehead put up a pair of goals for Yoga while Don Saver added a goal and assist and Dave MacMillan was credited with an assist. The Yoga goalie was Tony Benson.
Next up: No game on New Year’s Day, then it’s SV Auto Club/Grumpy’s (3-1-0) vs. SunValley.com (1-2-1) Monday, Jan. 5 at 8:40 p.m. and Morgan Fine Finishes vs. SunValley.com on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 9:50 p.m.
