Make no mistake, ice hockey players are a different breed. Even so you've got to wonder what brings them back, night after night and year after year, to play hockey for the Sun Valley Suns senior men's squad.
Quick answer—it isn't the money.
It's the game and the little things passed along through the generations. When the fast-moving game is played competitively at a high level, sticks used expertly, skates cutting with efficiency, you realize why players lace them up from Mitey Mites to Rusty Blades.
The Suns and McCall Mountaineers provided a pulse-popping showcase for hockey's attributes last weekend before packed houses at Sun Valley Skating Center. Thirty-four years into the ongoing project called the Sun Valley Suns, the teams played two games showing the magic of hockey.
For the record the Suns (1-3-0) dug themselves a 4-1 hole and somehow pulled out Friday's game 7-6 in an overtime shootout—Ryan Enrico, Paul Baranzelli and Jeremy Mylymok all making their shots. Then McCall's crafty veterans staked themselves to the early lead Saturday and never gave it up, splitting the weekend set 3-2.
That only begins to describe everything that occurred in the old barn. Great goaltending and fine defensive plays have become the norm in a rivalry that more often than not comes down to a one-goal outcome.
Here are a few of the highlights that contributed to the hockey magic:
Veterans showed their stuff: The only two Idaho Steelheads minor leaguers with retired jerseys, Cal Ingraham of McCall and Jeremy Mylymok of Sun Valley, were money when it counted—Ingraham (2 goals, 4 assists) emerging as high scorer with assists on the winning goals Saturday, and Mylymok scoring the game-winning shootout goal Friday.
Don't forget 17th-year Suns wing John Miller, the 45-year-old alternate captain. Miller and defenseman Paul Baranzelli were probably the best Suns players on the ice in Friday's awesome OT thriller.
Backing them up was sixth-year Suns goalie Ryan Thomson (27 saves Friday). He didn't allow a goal in the final 35 minutes and enabled the Suns to rally from 4-1 down.
The kids came to play: Put a big #1 star on the back of McCall's 20-ish goalie Tony Davenport. The 6-0, 185-pounder from Boise State University had a momentary lapse Friday night—five minutes late in the second period when he allowed two soft goals—but he was dependable otherwise with 49 saves each night.
Davenport, playing for Boise's Eagle High School Mustangs, was the tournament MVP of the 2004 state high school hockey tournament played in the same barn at Sun Valley. He lost the final game 3-2 to Sun Valley, but was mainly responsible for his team being that close. And that was the case Saturday when he stopped all 23 Suns shots in the first period and kept McCall out in front.
Firing pucks against Eagle's Davenport in that championship game four years ago was Sun Valley's Spencer Brendel. Last weekend's Suns-McCall series was the home debut for Suns rookie wing Brendel, 20, who started playing Mitey Mites on Sun Valley ice at age seven.
"It seems like I've been watching the Suns forever," said Brendel
Brendel, who played hockey in Utah, Colorado and Sweden after leaving Sun Valley Youth Hockey, had seen the Suns in dire situations before as a spectator. This time the situation was ominous late in the second period and Brendel was a player. McCall led 4-1 and the Mountaineers were on a five-on-three power play. It seemed likely the Suns would open their season 0-3.
That's when Suns goalie Thomson made a huge save with his shoulder on former Trail (B.C.) Smoke Eaters sniper Aaron Roberge. The Suns killed off the penalties and big game player Baranzelli took things in his own hands. He blocked a shot, skated alone down ice and threw a long shot on goal that somehow beat Davenport for a 4-2 game.
You can't underestimate the contribution of center Billy Tryder's third line in Friday's game, with Miller fore-checking relentlessly on the wing. Less than three minutes remained in the second period when Tryder poked a puck home, from wing John Stevens. Then Stevens was pleasantly surprised when his sharp-angled Hail Mary from the sideboards slipped past Davenport at the buzzer for a 4-4 deadlock.
Brendel said, "We started the game out slow but we had the Suns spirit all the way through. Those goals late in the second period got us pumped up in the locker room going into the third period. And I think we kicked it into the next gear. Everybody was chirping on the bench and the intensity was high."
Taking a fore-checking cue from the 45-year-old Miller, Brendel started flying around the ice, from side to side. His intensity fired up linemates Jon Duval and Blake Jenson. They had an incredible shift with five minutes left in the third that nearly produced the go-ahead goal. It went to the shootout, and the three Suns veterans closed it out against the young McCall goalie.
Asked his personal choices for "stars of the game," Brendel replied without hesitation, "Paul Baranzelli. And Johnny Miller. He's so good on the bench. He's the oldest and I'm the youngest, and he tells me things."
With its McCall series, Sun Valley started four consecutive weekends of home hockey action in January including the Cache Valley (Utah) Trappers Jan. 9-10, Langley (B.C.) Jan. 16-17 and the Jackson Hole (Wyo.) Moose on Jan. 23-24.
Cache Valley visits this weekend. Opening faceoffs are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Sun Valley Skating Center. Friday's benefit is Camp Rainbow Gold and Saturday's charity is the Hailey Ski Team.
Cal Ingraham (black jersey) of the McCall Mountaineers faces off against Sun Valley center Jamie Ellison, with official John Olson dropping the puck. Action took place during Friday’s Suns 7-6 overtime triumph over McCall in Sun Valley. Photo by Willy Cook
