Second-year right wing Bryan "OC" O'Connell has become a hats-off scoring machine for the Sun Valley Suns.
O'Connell put up his sixth and seventh three-goal hat tricks of the season Friday and Saturday as the Suns (10-5-0) got back on the winning track with a 10-2 and 7-3 sweep of the McCall Mountaineers at Sun Valley Skating Center.
In three full seasons prior to 2011-12, the Suns senior men's hockey team managed a total of only seven hat tricks.
Defenseman Eric Demment also scored a hat trick in Friday's penalty-filled (79 minutes, 3 game misconducts) contest. It was the first hat trick of his 10-year Suns career. Left wing Ryan Enrico had six points including three assists Saturday.
The Suns had lost four of their last five games before dominating the Mountaineers in scoring (17-5 in goals) and shots (96-46) departments, and also on the score sheet where the Suns amassed 36 goals and assists to just 11 for McCall.
O'Connell in his 25 Suns games over two seasons now has 10 hat tricks. Impressively, of his team-leading 26 goals this season, only one has come on the power play and four have been shorthanded.
The closest McCall came to the Suns was rallying from a 3-0 deficit with two goals in 40 seconds that cut the Mountaineers deficit to 3-2 early in the third period Saturday. That's when center Jon Duval rebounded an Enrico shot for a 4-2 lead, followed quickly by goals from Demment and O'Connell for a 6-2 cushion.
Goalie Ryan Thomson (41 weekend saves) improved to 8-5-0 on the season.
The final Suns series of the season, with Park City (Utah), is set for Friday and Saturday, March 9-10 at 7 p.m. on resort ice as a benefit for the Wood River Baseball and Softball Association.
Hockey Summary
SUNS 10, MOUNTAINEERS 2
friday, MARCH 2
McCall Mountaineers 0 0 2 2
Sun Valley Suns 2 2 6 10
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Ryan Enrico 17 (unassisted), 8:42, shorthanded goal. (2) SV, Chad Levitan 7 (Zak Greenawalt), 12:35, power play goal.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Scott Winkler 3 (Chad Levitan, Taylor Rothgeb), 7:50, power play goal. (4) SV, Bryan O'Connell 21 (unassisted), 14:26.
THIRD PERIOD—(5) SV, Eric Demment 8 (Ivars Muzis, Blake King), 5:06, power play goal. (6) SV, O'Connell 22 (Enrico, Muzis), 5:21. (7) SV, O'Connell 23 (Enrico, Adam Labarbera), 5:47, hat trick goal. (8) McCall, Matt Heady (Dalton Smith, Luke Todd), 8:28. (9) SV, Demment 9 (O'Connell), 10:10. (10) McCall, Todd (Smith), 14:12. (11) SV, Demment 10 (unassisted), 16:40, hat trick goal. (12) SV, Sinjin Thomas 2 (King), 18:00.
SHOTS ON GOAL—McCall Mountaineers 10-7-11 for 28; Sun Valley 19-17-12 for 48.
GOALIES—McCall Mountaineers, Jarod Secordo (238 saves); Sun Valley, Ryan Thomson (26 saves, 7-5-0 record).
OFFICIALS—Dave Patrie and Bobby Noyes.
NOTES—There were 79 penalty minutes in tonight's game and three game misconducts.....Last year Bryan O'Connell led the Suns with 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points in 12 games. This year OC tops the Suns with 26 goals and 14 assists for 40 points in 13 games. So, for his two-year career, he has 43 goals and 18 assists for 61 points. Having played many fewer games, OC's totals compare favorably with Suns Hall of Fame marksmen Dave Reichel (83 goals, 92 assists in 3 seasons) and Tom D'Andrea (64 goals, 95 assists in 3 seasons)......Ninth-year wing Ryan Enrico (119 goals, 140 assists for 259 points) needs 5 points to surpass Jimmy "Beets" Johnson (93-170 for 263 points) and moved into 10th place on the all-time Suns scoring list. Already, Enrico with his 119 goals is tied with Kurt Wenzell for sixth place on the all-time scoring list. Rico needs just two goals to jump pass both Wenzell and Billy Tryder into fifth place all-time behind Bobby Noyes (195), Vilnis Nikolaisons (173), Jamie Ellison (169) and Chris Benson (160).....Eric Demment (59 goals, 92 assists for 151 points) has tied Dale Johnson for fourth place among all-time Suns goal scorers as defenseman. Topping that list is John Finnegan (109) followed by Kris Webster (82) and Glenn Hunter (67).
Suns 7, mountaineers 3
Saturday, MARCH 3
McCall Mountaineers 0 0 3 3
Sun Valley Suns 2 1 4 7
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Adam Labarbera 1 (unassisted), 3:12. (2) SV, Bryan O'Connell 24 (Ryan Enrico), 7:27, shorthanded goal.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, O'Connell 25 (Jon Duval), 13:44.
THIRD PERIOD—(4) McCall, Cortland Smith (Matt Heady), 4:37. (5) McCall, Dalton Smith (Heady), 5:17. (6) SV, Duval 4 (Enrico, O'Connell), 6:06. (7) SV, Eric Demment 11 (Sinjin Thomas), 7:44. (8) SV, O'Connell 26 (Ivars Muzis, Duval), 9:18, hat trick goal. (9) McCall, Clark Gaynor (Bradley Stanton), 15:16, power play goal. (10) SV, Demment 12 (Enrico), 18:30.
SHOTS ON GOAL—McCall Mountaineers 4-8-6 for 18; Sun Valley 19-12-17 for 48.
GOALIES—McCall Mountaineers, Dan Beaudreau (41 saves); Sun Valley, Ryan Thomson (15 saves, 8-5-0 record).
OFFICIALS—Chris Benson and Eric Wingard.
NOTES—Suns forward lines featured Ryan Enrico-Jon Duval-Bryan O'Connell, Taylor Rothgeb-Matt Ward-Blake King with Sinjin Thomas rotating in, Adam Labarbera-Chad Levitan-Scott Winkler. Defensemen were Ivars Muzis, Eric Demment, Kris Webster, Bryan Winkler, Zak Greenawalt and Trevor Thomas......For the weekend the Suns were 3-for-9 on the power play, and McCall 1-for-11. Weekend penalty minutes were Sun Valley 64 and McCall 43.....The Suns outscored McCall 17-5, outshot the visitors 96-46 and out-pointed them 36-11 on the scoresheet....Top Suns scorers were Bryan O'Connell 6 goals and 2 assists, and Ryan Enrico 1 goal and 5 assists.....Eric Demment chipped in with 5 goals.....
2011-12 Sun Valley Suns statistics
(10-5-0 overall: 9-4-0 home, 1-1-0 away)
PLAYER GAMES GOALS AST. PTS. PMIN
Bryan O'Connell 13 26 14 40 8.0
Ryan Enrico 15 17 19 36 17.0
Jon Duval 15 4 17 21 25.0
Eric Demment 11 12 8 20 29.0
Chad Levitan 15 7 11 18 8.0
Ivars Muzis 14 2 14 16 12.0
Taylor Rothgeb 15 3 5 8 30.0
Blake Jenson 5 0 8 8 2.0
Blake King 11 3 4 7 32.0
Scott Winkler 10 3 3 6 4.0
Sinjin Thomas 12 2 3 5 14.0
Rob Morgus 4 1 3 4 2.0
Zak Greenawalt 9 0 4 4 7.0
John Miller 3 3 0 3 2.0
Charles Friedman 8 2 1 3 0.0
Trevor Thomas 15 1 2 3 67.0
Jeremy Mylymok 2 1 2 3 2.0
Danny Ward 2 0 2 2 2.0
Bryan Winkler 13 1 1 2 19.0
Jordan Pritchett 1 1 1 2 0.0
Ryan Kolquist 5 1 1 2 2.0
Adam Labarbera 5 1 1 2 2.0
Zeph Fagergren 2 1 0 1 0.0
Buddy Enzo 2 1 0 1 0.0
John Stevens 5 0 1 1 0.0
Br. Hendrickson 2 0 1 1 0.0
Ryan Thomson 13 0 0 0 0.0
Matt Ward 10 0 0 0 4.0
Weston Nash 2 0 0 0 0.0
Cody Levitan 2 0 0 0 0.0
Caleb Baukol 1 0 0 0 0.0
Kris Webster 1 0 0 0 0.0
Carl Jablonski 1 0 0 0 0.0
Ryan Skelling 1 0 0 0 0.0
Cody Proctor 1 0 0 0 0.0
GOALTENDER GAMES GOALS W-L AVG.
Ryan Thomson 13 53 8-5-0 4.08
Cody Levitan 2 7 2-0-0 3.50
Shots—Thomson 415, Levitan 51. Saves—Thomson 362, Levitan 44. Shootout saves—0. Shootout goals allowed—0. Shutouts—Thomson 1. Empty net goals—0.
BY PERIODS 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOT
Opposition 15 19 26 0 60, 4.0
Sun Valley 27 28 38 0 93, 6.2
INDIVIDUAL MARKS
Two-goal games (12)—Ryan Enrico 5, Eric Demment 2, Chad Levitan 2, Bryan O'Connell 1, John Miller 1, Blake King 1.
Three-goal hat tricks (or more) (9)—Bryan O'Connell 7, Ryan Enrico 1, Eric Demment 1.
Game-winning goals (1)—Charles Friedman 1.
Power play goals (12-57, 21%)—Ryan Enrico 3, Eric Demment 3, Chad Levitan 2, Scott Winkler 2, Jeremy Mylymok 1, Bryan O'Connell 1.
Power play goals (opposition): 12-61, (20%).
Suns shorthanded goals (10)—Bryan O'Connell 4, Ryan Enrico 2, Eric Demment 2, Chad Levitan 1, Taylor Rothgeb 1.
Shorthanded goals (opposition): 2.
Season penalty minutes: SV 290, opponents 243.
Sun Valley forward Adam Labarbera (middle) battles with McCall Mountaineer Zak Sjoberg of Hailey during Friday’s 10-2 Suns victory at Sun Valley Skating Center. Photo by Willy Cook
