Seventh-year Sun Valley Suns forward Charles Friedman picked the right time to pick up his team and score his first goal of the 2011-12 season.
Friedman settled a 5-5 tie by scoring the game-winning goal with six minutes remaining in Saturday's road game at the 10,100-seat Maverick Center in West Valley City, Utah.
With the Utah Senior Grizzlies fighting back from 4-2 and 5-3 deficits on the basis of power-play scoring success, Friedman served up the winner on assists from Blake Jenson and Taylor Rothgeb to provide the Suns with a 6-5 victory.
The Suns (4-1-0 season) snapped the four-game winning streak of the former Park City Pioneers squad (6-3-0) that now plays its games late in the evening after the ECHL Utah Grizzlies at the Maverick Center. The Senior Grizzlies stomped the Suns 8-1 on Friday night.
Second-year Suns wing Bryan O'Connell (8 goals in 5 games) was once again the Sun Valley scoring machine with a three-goal hat trick including two shorthanded goals in the 6-5 Suns triumph Saturday. Ryan Enrico and Jenson each had two assists, and goalie Ryan Thomson stopped 29 of 34 shots.
Since joining the Suns last January, last season's leading Suns scorer O'Connell has five hat tricks in his 17 Suns games.
Sun Valley has a rematch with Utah Senior Grizzlies scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20-21 at 7 p.m. at Sun Valley Skating Center. This weekend's benefit is Sage School.
Suns Hockey Summary
SENIOR GRIZZLIES 8, SUNS 1
Friday, January 13
Sun Valley Suns 0 1 0 1
Utah Sr. Grizzlies 2 4 2 8
FIRST PERIOD—(1) Utah, Michael Spawton (Jeff Jacobs), 8:04. (2) Utah, Spawton (Chris Furness), 15:16.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) Utah, Aaron Burrell (Cameron Hope), 5:36. (4) Utah, Geoff Brandt (P.J. Nelson), 6:29, power play goal. (5) SV, Bryan O'Connell 5 (Ryan Enrico), 7:15. (6) Utah, Erik Milliron (Brian Babbitt, Aaron Dommer), 14:16, shorthanded goal. (7) Utah, Brandon Grant (Nelson), 16:56.
THIRD PERIOD—(8) Utah, Burrell (Jacobs, Adam Blossey), 9:46. (9) Utah, Milliron (Babbitt, Blossey), 12:47.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 11-9-13 for 33; Utah Sr. Grizzlies 13-12-15 for 40.
GOALIES—Sun Valley, Ryan Thomsen (32 saves, 2-1-0 record); Utah Sr. Grizzlies, Kyle Gover (32 saves).
SUNS 6, SENIOR GRIZZLIES 5
Saturday, Jan. 14
Sun Valley Suns 2 2 2 6
Utah Sr. Grizzlies 1 1 3 5
FIRST PERIOD—(1) Utah, Brian Babbitt (unassisted), 13:44, penalty shot goal. (2) SV, Bryan O'Connell 6 (Ryan Enrico, Brandon Hendrickson), 18:52. (3) SV, Taylor Rothgeb 2 (Bryan Winkler, Blake Jenson), 19:51.
SECOND PERIOD—(4) Utah, Thomas Gatta (Brandon Grant, Cameron Hope), 1:36. (5) SV, Zeph Fagergren 1 (Sinjin Thomas), 8:15. (6) SV, O'Connell 7 (Ivars Muzis, Jon Duval), 13:22, shorthanded goal.
THIRD PERIOD—(7) Utah, Sean Baron (Rob Christie, Gatta), 6:48, power play goal. (8) SV, O'Connell 8 (Enrico, Muzis), 7:37, shorthanded and hat trick goal. (9) Utah, Gatta (Grant), 8:26, power play goal. (10) Utah, Geoff Brandt (Gatta, Baron), 8:55, power play goal. (11) SV, Charles Friedman 1 (Jenson, Rothgeb), 13:42, game-winning goal.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 11-15-14 for 40; Utah Sr. Grizzlies 9-11-14 for 34.
GOALIES—Sun Valley, Ryan Thomson (29 saves, 3-1-0 record); Utah Sr. Grizzlies, Kyle Gover (34 saves).
2011-12 Sun Valley Suns statistics
(4-1-0 overall: 3-0-0 home, 1-1-0 away)
PLAYER GAMES GOALS AST. PTS. PMIN
Bryan O'Connell 5 8 2 10 4.0
Ryan Enrico 5 3 6 9 9.0
Blake Jenson 4 0 8 8 2.0
Ivars Muzis 5 0 7 7 4.0
Chad Levitan 5 2 4 6 2.0
Jon Duval 5 1 4 5 6.0
Eric Demment 3 3 1 4 2.0
Blake King 5 2 2 4 21.0
Taylor Rothgeb 5 2 2 4 13.0
John Miller 3 3 0 3 2.0
Jeremy Mylymok 2 1 2 3 2.0
Sinjin Thomas 4 1 2 3 8.0
Zak Greenawalt 3 0 2 2 0.0
Danny Ward 2 0 2 2 2.0
Bryan Winkler 5 1 1 2 10.0
Charles Friedman 5 1 1 2 0.0
Jordan Pritchett 1 1 1 2 0.0
Trevor Thomas 5 1 0 1 15.0
Scott Winkler 1 0 1 1 0.0
Zeph Fagergren 2 1 0 1 0.0
Br. Hendrickson 2 0 1 1 0.0
Ryan Thomson 4 0 0 0 0.0
Weston Nash 2 0 0 0 0.0
Cody Levitan 1 0 0 0 0.0
Carl Jablonski 1 0 0 0 0.0
Ryan Skelling 1 0 0 0 0.0
Matt Ward 1 0 0 0 0.0
Cody Proctor 0 0 0 0 0.0
GOALTENDER GAMES GOALS W-L AVG.
Ryan Thomson 4 18 3-1-0 4.50
Cody Levitan 1 2 1-0-0 2.00
Shots—Thomson 123, Levitan 20. Saves—Thomson 105, Levitan 18. Shootout saves—0. Shootout goals allowed—0. Shutouts—0. Empty net goals—0.
BY PERIODS 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOT
Opposition 4 8 8 0 20, 4.0
Sun Valley 10 9 12 0 31, 6.2
INDIVIDUAL MARKS
Two-goal games (5)—Chad Levitan 1, Eric Demment 1, Ryan Enrico 1, John Miller 1, Blake King 1.
Three-goal hat tricks (or more) (2)—Bryan O'Connell 2.
Game-winning goals (1)—Charles Friedman 1.
Power play goals (2-12, 17%)—Ryan Enrico 1, Jeremy Mylymok 1.
Power play goals (opposition): 5-21, (24%).
Suns shorthanded goals (4)—Bryan O'Connell 2, Chad Levitan 1, Eric Demment 1.
Shorthanded goals (opposition): 1.
Season penalty minutes: SV 102, opponents 74.