Teams are looking forward to the fourth annual Idaho Pond Hockey Classic outdoor tournament to be held over the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 15-16 on Ketchum ice.
Blaine County Recreation District and the city of Ketchum are the primary sponsors of the two-day tourney to be held at Christina Potters Ice Pond located at Atkinson Park.
Format is four-on-four (maximum 6 skaters a team), no goalies and double elimination. There are two divisions: "A" (advanced skaters) and "B" intermediate and below). Fee is $100 per team.
The "B" division tournament is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The "A" division is Sunday from 10-5. Both divisions compete for the coveted "Golden Shovel." Food, drink, skates and sticks will be available.
For more details, contact Piers Lamb at 721-7765 or John Kearney Jr. 726-7820 at Atkinson Park. Space for teams is limited. Email jkearney@ketchumidaho.org
Midgets, Bantams are winners on the road
Sun Valley Youth Hockey Midgets (ages 15-18) and Bantam (13-14) teams kept on winning last weekend during road trips to Boise and Idaho Falls.
The Midgets took care of Borah/Capital 4-1 and Timberline 2-1 in Boise league action Friday and Saturday, Jan. 7-8. In those games Sun Valley out-shot its opponents 72-18.
Ian Murphy, Doug King, Cooper Hanley and Tommy Heinrich scored in the Borah game, while Tony Martin tallied two goals—one assisted by Rickie Jeneson—in the narrow victory over Timberline.
Cody Levitan and Cassidy Carson shared the goaltending.
At the Idaho Falls "B" pool Bantam tournament Friday through Sunday, coach Tom Prater's Sun Valley skaters finished 3-1-1 and made it to Sunday's championship game against Bountiful, Utah.
Despite out-shooting Bountiful 31-21, Sun Valley dropped the finale 3-2 on a breakaway goal scored by the Utah sextet with 30 seconds left in the five-minute overtime stanza. Still, it was an excellent three days and five games for Sun Valley (20-9 goals against, 149-104 shots).
Sun Valley beat Logan (Utah) 6-4, blanked Salmon 3-0, tied Bountiful 2-2 in the first meeting of the finalist teams, and romped 7-0 over Idaho Falls, all in preliminary play.
Goal scorers for the young Suns were Eric Wilander (5), Kyle Maxwell (4), Solomon Martinez (3), Eli Conrad (3), Dylan Broman (2), George Everitt (2) and Alex Schwartz.
Assists went to Maxwell (4), Roger Figge, Jake Jorgenson (2), Hunter Dean, Conrad, Sam Ruddell, Hagan Barsch, Carter Miller, Martinez and Broman. Manning the Suns goal was David Troyer of Boise.
Squirts enjoy weekend of home hockey
The Sun Valley Squirts (ages 9-10) hosted two teams from Idaho Falls and one from Jackson Hole (Wyo.) for a weekend of fun hockey at Sun Valley Skating Center Jan. 8-9.
All the teams sampled winning during the 10-game tournament organized by Hailey's Sarah Benson. Final team records were Idaho Falls #2 (3-0-1), Sun Valley #1 (2-2-0), Idaho Falls #1 (1-1-2), Jackson Hole (1-2-1) and Sun Valley #2 (1-3-0).
Sun Valley #1 defeated Sun Valley #2 by a 5-3 score, and rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Jackson Hole 4-3. Sun Valley #1 also lost to Idaho Falls #2 3-1, and Idaho Falls #1 5-0.
Goal scorers for SV #1 were Ike Buxton 5, Connor Manning 3 (1 assist), William Everitt and Sydney Roberts. Other skaters on the team were Flynn Stewart, Sam Ballard, Charlie Stumph, Kinley Miller, Barrett Ott, Anik Zarkos, Denali Stevens, Morgan Benson, Taylor Hebert, Andrew Nelson, Nellie Maxwell, Jack Stevens and Evi Johnson.
Highlight for SV #2 was knocking off Idaho Falls #1 by a score of 2-0, with goalie Jack Stevens making 22 saves for the shutout. Ike Buxton and Tiernan Naghsh scored in the win. Stevens also scored a three-goal hat trick in a 9-4 loss to Idaho Falls #2.
Scoring for SV #2 were Stevens 6 goals, Naghsh 3 (1 assist), Teagan McAvoy and Buxton. Other skaters were Ry Goodwin, Scout Hutchinson, Audra Mary, Jake Blackburn, Kasey Johnson, Evi Johnson, Abigail Benson, Sam Fenn, Sam Laski, Klayton Douthit, Emma Lago and Andrew Nelson.
Coach John Miller said about the weekend efforts, "I thought the kids played well. It is always fun to have a home tournament and the kids took big steps to becoming better players."