BY MICHAEL DAVID
The Sun Valley Suns Hockey Club welcomed the Connecticut Bantam Beauties to town on Friday night, but Bobby Bowden decided to be a less than hospitable host.
The first-year goaltender kept the visitors off the scoreboard for the first two periods of play, and the Suns held on for the 3-2 victory at The Campion Ice House in Hailey.
The Suns continued their winning ways on Saturday, defeating the Bantam Beauties 6-4 to sweep the two-game set and push their season record to nine wins and one loss.
On Friday Max Tardy got the Sun Valley scoring started 4:58 minutes into the contest, beating the Connecticut goalie to his right with the backhand. Veteran Eric Demment continued his ascent on the all-time Suns scoring list with an assist, along with a helper from Doug Yates.
The two squads checked each other closely for the remainder of the period, including trading successful power play kills.
Penalties would continue as a theme in the second period, as the Beauties racked up four minors in a four-minute span early in the stanza. The Suns were unable to take advantage of a two-man advantage and also could not capitalize on the third Connecticut penalty.
They broke through with a power play goal during the fourth successive penalty when Bryan O’Connell found the net after skating through the crease. Tyler Lovejoy had the assist, giving the home team a 2-0 lead halfway through the game.
The Beauties managed to survive another Suns power play at the 8:41 mark of the period, but Trevor Thomas scored a full-strength goal off the Rusty Andersson pass with 6:15 seconds remaining in the second to give the Suns a three-goal cushion.
Bowden preserved that lead going into the second intermission, stoning a Connecticut breakaway with 2:37 minutes remaining. Two simultaneous Suns penalties on the breakaway gave the Bantam Beauties a two-man advantage, but Bowden and the crafty Sun veterans frustrated the youngsters from the East Coast, turned all of their scoring opportunities away and took the 3-0 lead into the locker room.
Connecticut finally cracked the seal with a goal one minute into the third period, but the Suns tightened their defensive belt, fought through more penalties and shut out the Beauties for the remainder of the game, with the exception of a meaningless short-handed score by the visitors with 21 seconds remaining after they had pulled their goalie.
A portion of the proceeds from the two-game series this weekend benefited the Sun Valley Soccer Club. Suns are back in action at The Campion Ice House next weekend as they take on Bobby Farrelly’s East Coast Guttersnipes Friday and Saturday, Jan. 18 and 19.
Farrelly always brings a talented, fun-loving team to town, so be sure to get down to the arena to catch the exciting hockey action. Puck drops at 7 p.m.