Suns end season on bittersweet note
By DAVID LARSON
The Wood River Journal
23 wins and one loss isn't really all that bad.
Imagine back in November, when the majority of the team was still working at their full-time jobs. Imagine telling them before the season that they'd lose just once, with a schedule that included McCall, Seattle, Jackson and Missoula. Just imagine what they'd say.
"Probably that you're crazy," said Suns head coach Chris Benson. "I knew the teams that were coming in terms of strength, but I didn't know about these guys (Boston Bulldogs). I knew Bobby (Farrely, Boston's goalie and Hollywood producer) had a lot of connections, but the bottom line is that we shouldn't have lost."
Like his team and he has done all season, benson stayed on point, an honest answer in a magical year that had everything but a fairy tale ending. The Sun Valley Suns, playing in front of sell out crowds at the crickety Sun Valley Ice rink against a team with ex-NHL players gave it everything they had and then some, winning a Friday night thriller 6-5 before ending their season at 9:52 p.m. in the sixth round of a shoot-out.
Saturday's game appeared to be a cake walk for Sun Valley, as Vilnis Nikolaisons connected early on a 1-5 break, putting the Suns up 1-0. Boston, like they'd do all night, would respond and Sun Valley would get to more, one courtesy of Billy Tryder, to go into the second with a 3-2 lead.
"The boys were playing good," Benson said. "We were just kind of running our game plan. We were up two, had a bunch of shots, Ryan (Thomson, goalie) was playing good..."
And that's when Boston tried to respond, though Thomson did all he could to stop them.
Just four minutes into the period, the February Wood River Journal athlete of the month stopped a screaming puck by muting it with his left leg on the left side of the net, stopping a possible goal. Seconds later, Nikolaisons tried to connect with Jamie Ellison on a 2-on-1, but that was stopped. It looked like this game might not be as easy as originally thought.
"We gave them a couple," Benson said, "we thought they were done."
With Thomson taking shots in the chest (Man Law) and always seeming to be in the right place at the right time, it looked like Sun Valley would get to 4-2 as John Duval and Ryan Enrico found themselves on a breakaway. Enrico cut right, Duval took the puck into the middle, though hilarious movie producer Farrely made a lucky stop to prevent the score. Boston would get a goal at the 5:45 mark to notch is at three.
Just less than three minutes later, Sun alley found net, making it 4-3. Nikolaisons got the puck, found Enrico in the middle and like he's done so many times this season, Enrico put it in, putting the Suns up 4-3. Before Boston could yell "Cripes!" Blake Jenson took a pass from Ryan McDonald and in one motion gave the Suns all the momentum and a 5-3 lead entering the third.
It's the third period where the Suns turned conservative like Guiliani, playing a style that would limit offense and promote defense.
"I think it was with about nine minutes left when we went to the prevent defense," Benson said.
The team showcased a 1-2-2 defense, one that's based on trapping. "It was working good," Benson said. All of a sudden, however, the 83353 got a game misconduct after a warning because of too much talking to the refs, making it 5-4. With the packed house chanting, "let's go Suns!" Boston tied it up at 5 with 2:07 to go.
"They were done," Benson said. "Bobby had to make some huge saves. We were trying to keep them on the wide parts. It just didn't work out."
Sun Valley went into the five minute overtime showcasing stellar defense by Baranzelli as well as Thomson, who continued to make brilliant saves. Neither team scored, and the game and season, rested on a shoot-out.
"I thought 'OK, we'll take our chances.' Ryan's a better goalie than Bobby."
Boston's first four attempts were halted by Thomson, but it was the fifth that put them up. With the season on the line in the fifth round of the shoot-out, Jenson put the team on his back, and while falling after hesitating, found net on rough ice.
On the very next play, however, Boston responded to go up a point. It was now Jamie Ellison's turn, a veteran who's come through in the clutch before. This time, however, it wasn't to be, and the magical season came to an abrupt end, the Suns losing the shoot-out and the game, the final score reading 6-5, giving the Suns a final record of 23-1-0-1.
"The bottom line is that we kind of lost our composure," Benson said. "But what the heck, we lost in the sixth round of a shoot-out, packed house both nights...people all over town have been stopping me to talk about it."
And, people probably won't stop talking about this team, the 2006-07 Suns, for ages. Because this was a team for the ages.
2006-2007 Season Stats
Season Recap:
Two-goal games (12)-Jamie Ellison 2, Eric Demment 1, Jami James 1, Paul Cox 1, John Miller 1, Ryan McDonald 1, Ryan Enrico 1, Vilnis Nikolaisons 1, Adam Swain 1, Scott Winkler 1, Chris Warrington 1.
Three-goal hat tricks (or more)-Paul Baranzelli 2 (4 goals once), Adam Swain 2, Jamie Ellison 1.
Game-winning goals-Jamie Ellison 2, Ryan Enrico 1, Paul Baranzelli 1, Scott Winkler 1, Jami James 1.
Power play goals (43-120, 36%)-Jamie Ellison 7, Ryan Enrico 6, Eric Demment 5, Blake Jenson 4, Paul Baranzelli 4, Jeremy Schreiber 3, Chris Warrington 2, Scott Winkler 2, Adam Swain 2, Vilnis Nikolaisons 2, John Stevens 2, Kris Webster 1, John Miller 1, Ryan McDonald 1, Billy Tryder 1.
Power play goals (opposition): 23-142, (16%).
Suns shorthanded goals (14)-Paul Baranzelli 4, Vilnis Nikolaisons 3, Adam Swain 2, John Miller 1, Jon Duval 1, Eric Demment 1, Ryan Enrico 1, Ryan McDonald 1.
Shorthanded goals (opposition): 4.
Season penalty minutes: SV 470, opponents 415.