Scoring was presumably going to be no problem on Valentine's Day weekend for the Sun Valley Suns and Missoula (Mt.) Cutthroats men's hockey teams that rubbed elbows and picked up holiday checks at Sun Valley Skating Center.
After all, the two teams had scored a combined 52 goals in four head-to-head games over the past two seasons. And the Suns had won all four of those games, protecting their leads and keeping the Fish from breaking through for their first-ever wins on resort ice.
But things changed for the never-say-die Cutthroats last weekend. They became the first team in 34 seasons of Suns hockey to post back-to-back overtime wins on the same weekend over Sun Valley. It was 7-6 in OT Friday, and 8-7 in an overtime shootout Saturday.
There were 28 goals scored in this year's two-game shootouts, with 120 shots taken by Sun Valley and 89 for Missoula plus lots of hard-hitting checks.
In each game, the season-long struggles of the Suns continued in their defensive end and on the power play. The Suns had leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 Friday, and were also ahead 2-0 and 4-2 Saturday before letting the Cutthroats back into it.
Missoula celebrated because of the often miraculous efforts of rangy goalie Josh Skinner (107 saves weekend, 65 Saturday) and the scoring of former American Collegiate Hockey Association "Player of the Year" Mike Roesch, 25, a University of Illinois for the 2005 ACHA national champions.
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Roesch (4 goals, 4 assists) had the three-goal hat trick Friday including the final two goals, one shorthanded and the game winner on the power play. His comrade-in-arms Dustin Thompson (5 goals, 4 assists) had the hat trick Saturday, two coming on the power play and one in the shootout. Missoula's Seth Romocki scored the game-winning goal.
Missoula was 5-for-12 on the power play for the weekend and Sun Valley 0-for-11, and 6-for-57 (11%) on the season.
Coached this past weekend by John "Cub" Burke, the Suns (5-7-0) savored several highlights, just not enough of them as their losing skid hit three.
Eighth-year defenseman Paul Baranzelli scored his 100th Suns goal Friday. Jamie Ellison, the 13th-year Suns center, went over the 400-point career mark with two goals Saturday. One of those goals came in the three-man shootout.
Each night, the Suns squandered leads and had to force the five-minute overtime sessions with late goals. On Friday night, career scoring leader Vilnis Nikolaisons got hammered at midice then got up and streaked into the Missoula zone to score his first goal of the season for a 6-6 tie at 18:35.
Saturday night with the Suns trailing 6-5 and a faceoff in the Missoula zone, coach Burke called time out with 1:20 left and pulled goalie Ryan Thomson off the ice in favor of an extra attacker. What happened next was a picture perfect scoring play, perhaps Sun Valley's best of the season.
Ellison won the draw and Nikolaisons quietly tapped the puck back to defenseman Jeremy Mylymok on the left point. Mylymok quickly swept a pass to defenseman Eric Demment stationed to the left of Skinner. Skinner had no chance when Demment pounded the puck into the net for a 6-6 deadlock.
Check today's Express Web site for a weekend game summary and updated statistics.
Sun Valley Suns forward Charles Friedman keeps the puck out of Missoula’s hands Friday night in the first of two games between the Suns and Cutthroats at Sun Valley Skating Center. Photo by Willy Cook
