Jackson Hole Moose had a little too much of everything for the Sun Valley Suns in a Senior A men’s hockey series last weekend at Snow King Center in Wyoming.
The Moose, returning 15 veterans including both goaltenders from last winter’s 18-7 season, had already played and won four games this time around. The Suns, meanwhile, were just assembling for the franchise’s 39th campaign.
Not surprisingly, Jackson Hole (6-0, 42-13 goals against) piled up 7-3 and 5-1 victories over the Suns (0-2) in another mismatch on Wyoming ice. The Moose lead the 14-year series 35-20-1 including a 21-6-1 edge at Snow King Center.
It was a full team effort for the Moose, who had six different goal scorers in Friday night’s 7-3 victory. In all, 12 different Moose players had either a goal or an assist for the weekend led by forward Justin Thomas (6 points). The Moose out-shot the Suns 82-50 over two games and boasted a 31-11 advantage in total points.
The Jackson Hole power play was well-oiled as well, going 4-for-11 with two man-advantage goals each night. The Suns were 1-for-10 with the extra skater and trailed 4-1 in the second period Friday, and 3-0 in the second Saturday.
A thorn in the side for the Suns was a newer Moose players, forward Austin Chow who scored a hat trick Saturday.
Chow, a product of the Vail Junior Hockey program, was Colorado’s top high school hockey player with 43 goals in 2005 leading Battle Mountain Huskies from Edwards to a 22-1 record and the state runner-up position. He was also a star for the Princeton Tigers club hockey team in college.
Scoring Suns goals were Doug Yeates, Chad Levitan (power play), newcomer Brad Miller and 11th-year wing Ryan Enrico, his 124th as a Sun. Taylor Rothgeb had two assists. Rookie defensemen Derek Grimes and Dimitri DiBrano assisted, as did Sinjin Thomas, Yeates and Levitan.
The Moose defense held Sun Valley fourth-year wing Bryan O’Connell in check. OC has been the Suns top scorer the past three years but didn’t have a point at Jackson Hole.
Goalie Ryan Thomson, starting his 11th season, was busy between the pipes with 70 saves over the two games.
At some point the Suns (597-251-29 all time) will exceed the 600-victory franchise mark.
They hope to make strides in that direction when they host Salt Lake City (Utah) for their home opener Dec. 27-28 at Sun Valley Skating Center. Then Jackson Hole visits Sun Valley for two games Jan. 3-4.
Check today’s Web site for a summary from Jackson Hole.
Suns Hockey Summary
moose 7, suns 3
FRIday, december 13
| Sun Valley Suns |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Jackson Hole Moose |
2 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
FIRST PERIOD—(1) Jackson Hole, Alex Biegler (Luke Smith), 8:45, (2) Jackson Hole, Spencer Morton (Sean Hannafin, Bryan Hannafin), 19:42.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Doug Yeates 1 (Chad Levitan, Taylor Rothgeb), 4:56. (4) Jackson Hole, Sean Hannafin (Justin Thomas), 6:29, power play goal. (5) Jackson Hole, Brian Upesleja (Nick Dolentz, Ryan Tufta), 10:57. (6) SV, Brad Miller 1 (Sinjin Thomas), 17:21.
THIRD PERIOD—(7) SV, Levitan 1 (Yeates, Rothgeb), 5:51, power play goal. (8) Jackson Hole, Justin Thomas (Sean Hannafin, Bryan Hannafin), 6:47. (9) Jackson Hole, Thomas (Nate Goss-Woliner), 8:25. (10) Jackson Hole, Austin Chow (Biegler), 17:44.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 7-7-10 for 24; Jackson Hole 13-8-22 for 43.
GOALIES—Sun Valley, Ryan Thomson (43 shots, 36 saves, 0-1-0 record); Jackson Hole, Dan Amborski (24 shots, 21 saves).
moose 5, suns 1
saturday, december 14
| Sun Valley Suns |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Jackson Hole Moose |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
FIRST PERIOD—(1) Jackson Hole, Justin Thomas (Bryan Hannafin, Spencer Morton), 5:13, power play goal. (2) Jackson Hole, Austin Chow (Alex Biegler, Thomas), 19:40.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) Jackson Hole, Chow (Thomas), 9:18, power play goal.
THIRD PERIOD—(4) SV, Ryan Enrico 1 (Derek Grimes, Dimitri DiBrano), 5:59. (5) Jackson Hole, Bryan Hannafin (Morton, Sean Hannafin), 12:46. (6) Jackson Hole, Chow (Biegler, Ryan Krumbliss), 18:52, hat trick goal.
SHOTS ON GOAL—Sun Valley 10-7-9 for 26; Jackson Hole 10-16-13 for 39.
GOALIES—Sun Valley, Ryan Thomson (39 shots, 34 saves, 0-2-0 record); Jackson Hole, Nick Krauss (26 shots, 25 saves).
NOTES—Jackson Hole out-shot Sun Valley 82-50 for the weekend and out-pointed the visitors on the scoresheet 31-11 led by Justin Thomas (3 goals, 3 assists for 6 points) and four Moose with 4 points apiece—Alex Biegler (1-3), Austin Chow (4-0), Sean Hannafin (1-3) and Bryan Hannafin (1-3). In all, 12 different Moose players had either a goal or an assist compared to eight for the Suns……On the weekend power play, Sun Valley (0-2) was 1-for-10 and Jackson Hole (6-0 season) was 4-for-11 with two man-advantage goals each night.
Senior “A” Hockey League
All four teams in the Senior “A” Hockey League have won after two weeks of play in the 12-game league campaign at Sun Valley Skating Center.
Goalie Pat Ballou turned in the shutout lifting Lefty’s Bar & Grill (1-1-0) past Morgan’s Fine Finishes (1-1-0) by a score of 3-0 on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Shannon Flavin, Ryan Enrico and John Kearney Jr. scored. Christ Cook assisted twice.
Yoga College (1-1-0) broke a 3-3 tie in the third period and went on to a 5-3 victory over SV Auto/Grumpy’s (1-1-0). David Dredge tallied the winner.
Other Yoga goal scorers were Taylor Rothgeb (2), Mark Belanger and Matt Mahoney. Assists went to Tate Mills, Scott Winkler, Brad Dredge, Shaun Mahoney, Clint Lightner and Belanger.
Grumpy’s scorers were Charles Friedman (1 assist), Rian Timmons and Derek Grimes, assists to Vilnis Nikolaisons and Pete Prekeges.
Next league games are Thursday, Dec. 26 with Morgan’s going against Lefty’s at 7 p.m. and SV Auto/Grumpy’s vs. Yoga at 8:15 p.m.
B+ league hockey
Sunday night’s B+ Hockey League results:
Aardvarks (5-0-1) won 4-3 over SV Auto Club/Vipers (1-4-1). Scoring for the winners were Jeff Lamoureux (2 goals), Eric Wingard and Nic Thomas, assisted by Tim Jeneson (3), Chris Corwin and Bryan Speth. Vipers scorers were Dan Gralenski, Gavin McNeil (1 assist) and Greg Townley.
Hutch’s Bad Dogs (4-0-2) prevailed by the same 4-3 score over Flounders (2-3-1).
Dogs scorers were John Baker, Alex Baron, Dave McCormack (1 assist) and Dillon Witmer. Assists went to Richard Boullon, Dan Choma, Shannon Flavin and Ed Grimes.
Flounders goals came from Merri Whitehead (2) and Josh Green. Credited with assists were Gunnar Whitehead (2), Pete Prekeges, Terry Crawford and Brian Dirksmeier.
Lampl’s Garage (2-4-0) was a 5-3 winner over Sharks (1-4-1).
Clark Shafer (2 goals) and Ian Root (2) topped the Lampl’s scoring, with Todd Avison (1 assist) scoring a single goal. Tom Trieschman assisted. Sharks goal scorers were Ryan Baumgardner, Jeff Ford and Jay Hedrick. Assists went to Shaun Kelly and Casey Mills Kelly.
Coming Sunday, Dec. 22: 4 p.m. Blues vs. Wild; 5:15 p.m. Wolves vs. Racers; 6:30 p.m. Aardvarks vs. Sharks, 7:45 p.m. Lampl’s Garage vs. Hutch’s Bad Dogs; and 9 p.m., SV Auto Club/Vipers vs. Flounders.
