Courtesy photo. Sun Valley Youth Hockey PeeWees and their coaches celebrate last weekend’s McCall Icebreaker tournament win.
The Sun Valley Youth Hockey PeeWee hockey team (ages 11-12) took first place with a 3-0-1 record and a 18-8 goals-against tally in the McCall Ice Breaker Challenge eight-team tournament this past weekend.
Sun Valley came out of the chute hot Friday afternoon, defeating the Coeur d’Alene 6-2. Ike Buxton got Game MVP and scored twice. Also lighting the lamp were Tiernan Naghsh, Paxton Bunting, Barrett Ott and Teagan McAvoy.
In their second game, the Suns fought hard but ended with a 5-5 tie against Lewiston. Leading goal scorers were Paxton Bunting (Game MVP) and Tiernan Naghsh with two goals each. Sam Fenn also scored.
Saturday afternoon’s action had the Suns facing off against the Boise Junior Steelheads, and the Suns came out victorious 4-1. Game MVP was net-minder Andrew Nelson. Finding the twine for Sun Valley were Ike Buxton (2), Tiernan Naghsh and Barrett Ott.
With the win, the Suns earned a spot in the championship game against season rival, Boise Hawks. The PeeWee Suns had previously lost a shoot-out to the Hawks in their home tournament last month and were seeking redemption.
The game was hard fought. Suns coach Chris Zarkos said, “It was a total team effort!”
Barrett Ott started the Suns scoring with a minute left in the first period and the boys never looked back. Ott scored a second goal, and Luke Marcouiller followed suit.
Defensive stalwarts Flynn Stewart, Luke Worst, Sam Ballard and Barrett Ott combined with the fine goaltending of Andrew Nelson to shut down the Hawks’ offense. The Suns domination led to a 3-0 win and the championship banner.
Suns players attending the tournament were Tiernan Naghsh (4 goals/3 assists), Ike Buxton (4/2), Paxton Bunting (3/3), Barrett Ott (3/1), Teagan McAvoy (1/3), Sam Fenn (1/1), Luke Marcouiller (1/0), Klayton Douthit (0/2), Sam Ballard (0/1), Flynn Stewart, Luke Worst and goalie Nelson.
Midgets grab bronze at IAHA state hockey
The Sun Valley Youth Hockey Midgets (ages 15-18) high school hockey posted a huge 2-1 win over the Boise Junior Steelheads “A” team at the crack of dawn Sunday and ended up finishing third in the Idaho Amateur Hockey Association Midget “A” state tournament at Idaho Falls.
Sun Valley went 1-1-2 with a 6-6 goals against. The Suns relied on the reliable goaltending of Willis Sanchez-duPont (108 weekend saves) and the defense in front of him. Action took place for the five-team tournament at Joe Marmo-Wayne Lehto Ice Arena.
In Sunday’s exciting 2-1 win over Boise Junior Steelheads “A”, Sanchez made 33 saves and benefited from two goals by Eli Conrad, with assists to Cam Jenner and Hagan Barsch. The Steelheads entered the game undefeated in three games with a 12-2 goals-against in its first three contests.
Boise Junior Steelheads went on to win the championship 3-2 in overtime over Idaho Falls Eagles later Sunday.
Friday, Sun Valley opened with a 1-1 tie against Idaho Falls. Sanchez-duPont stopped 37 shots and Erik Wilander scored, from Eli Conrad. The other Suns tie was 1-1 against Boise Junior Steelheads “B,” Wilander scoring in the first period and Sanchez-duPont (21 saves) doing the rest.
The only Suns setback was 3-2 to Boise Hawks Friday night. Scoring were Wilander (Eli Conrad, Riley Sibbach) and Roger Figge (Barsch, Gus Conrad). Sanchez-duPont came up with 17 saves.
The Midget “A” tournament was part of a three-day, 25-game competition featuring teams in Girls’ U-19 and U-14 divisions, plus Bantam “A” and “B” groups (ages 13-14).
Idaho Falls teams captured gold medal honors in four of the five divisions contested last weekend. The Idaho Falls Bantams “A” prevailed 3-1 over Treasure Valley and the Bantams “B” team from the host city won 4-3 over Salmon in a shootout. The Idaho Falls Girls U-14 team won the title 3-0 over Sun Valley, and the Idaho Falls U-19 girls won 1-0 over Boise.
U-14 girls at the state meet
Sun Valley’s U-14 girls’ hockey team enjoyed a fine weekend at state in Idaho Falls.
Morgan Benson earned the game puck Friday afternoon as Sun Valley defeated Idaho Falls 3-2 on goals by Sydney Roberts (power play, assist by Sophie Nasvik), Meg Johnston (Anik Zarkos) and Audra Mary (Nasvik). Evi Johnson had 8 saves on 10 shots, as Sun Valley finished with 16 shots.
Idaho Falls bounced back Saturday with a 5-3 win over the Suns, scoring an empty net goal with 26 seconds left.
Sun Valley out-shot Idaho Falls 22-12, and Taylor Hebert earned the game puck in the second game. Delivering first period Suns goals were Meg Johnston (Scout Hutchinson), Nasvik (Audra Mary) and Sydney Roberts (Mary).
Sunday’s final with Idaho Falls was scoreless going the third period, with the home team winning 3-0—the final goal into an empty net. Evi Johnson had 9 saves for the Suns, and the game puck went to Denali Stevens.
Earning the “Tournament Jersey” for outstanding play was goalie Evi Johnson. Also skating for coaches Chris Benson, Eddie Grimes and Dale Johnson were Abigail Benson, Kasey Johnson and Abby Robideaux.
