Gutter Snipes are next

This weekend, the East Coast Gutter Snipes players and entourage compromising up to 40 people will invade Campion Ice House to revive a series that has become one of the most popular and most competitive of all Suns home encounters.

Expected are 17 Gutter Snipes players ages 26-58 (average age 38). Game times are 7:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20-21. Sellouts are expected. Hailey Ice is the benefit.

Last January, the Gutter Snipes dominated the Suns 7-2 and 8-6 as 11 different East Coast players scored goals and the Snipes outpointed the Suns 39-15 on the scoresheet.

Movie director Bobby Farrelly’s Snipes improved their advantage to 19-13-0 in the 16-season, 32-game rivalry dating back to 2006. The Snipes maintain a 193-175 scoring edge in the series and have now won three straight games. The Suns last prevailed 5-4 back in 2020.

Suns skaters back on ice with Wheels weekend

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SV Suns take two from McCall

On a end of year weekend the SV Suns picked up two more wins and victories in the last 15 of 16 contests

Suns sweep past Mountaineers in McCall

The Sun Valley Suns men’s hockey team improved to 6-0 with 4-3 and 6-3 victories over the McCall Mountaineers Friday and Saturday at McCall’s Manchester Ice and Event Centre.

Suns need overtime, take two from Desert Dogs

Robinson’s game winner lifts Suns to 4-0 record

Suns take two from Bozeman

It was a scoresheet weekend for the SV Suns men’s hockey team during the opening two games of the 2022-23 season. December 2-3 at Campion Ice House in Hailey. Thirteen Suns players scored goals as the Suns (2-0) entertained 1,044 spectators over two nights with the 12-3 and 8-2 victories over the Bozeman (Mt.) Stingers

Condolences to the Carnes family

The Sun Valley Suns would like to express their condolences to Tina Carnes and their family during these difficult times honoring the life and times of Jeff Carnes. Jeff and Tina for decades were always positioned at both entry doors during Sun’s games at the Sun Valley Rink. Thank you Jeff and our thoughts and prayers are with your loved ones! All the players past and present.

Suns Golf at Elkhorn Sep 10, 2022

September 10, 2022 marks the return of the Suns to Elkhorn Golf Course in Ketchum, ID. This year’s line-up will include a scramble format, with Suns players joining alumni and guests for 18 holes. Post golf celebrations will boast a silent auction that includes donations from Bobby Farrelly, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, and Mike Curry.

To buy your tickets or place your bids, learn more here.

Suns down Growlers in season finale

Finishing strong to end the 2021-22 season, the Sun Valley Suns had an excellent trip in sunny California, sweeping the Santa Rosa Growlers to come away with two one-goal victories last weekend. The Sun Valley Elite A men’s hockey team played two thrillers. A 4-3 win on Friday and a 5-4 overtime victory on Saturday with both games played at Santa Rosa’s Redwood Empire Ice Arena, a.k.a. Snoopy’s Home Ice, an homage to cartoonist Charles Schulz, who opened the arena in 1969. The series may have been the season finale for the Suns, but it was the first home series for the Growlers. History aside, the Suns trailed early on Friday, 2-0, but Sun Valley scored 4 of the last 5 goals to end it. Santa Rosa’s Alexi Kulikouskiy opened the game with a shorthanded goal, and then Justin Havriliak scored unassisted to put the Growlers up 2-0. Sun Valley’s Justin Taylor (Brenden McGovern assist) put the Suns on the board for the first time at the end of the first period. In the third period, Sean O’Grady had the game-winning power-play goal with eight minutes left. Forward Max Tardy had 2 goals, and defenseman Mike Curry had 2 assists while Bobby Bowden (6-6 record) finished with 23 saves. The Suns outshot the Growlers, 40-26. The Suns were 3-for-7 (43%) on power plays for the weekend, comparing well to their season average of 23%. In January, Santa Rosa and the Suns played for the first time, with the Suns winning 3-2 on a Darrell Hay game-winner and 12-2 at Hailey’s Campion Ice House. On Saturday, Santa Rosa jumped out to a 4-3 lead by the end of the second period, but the Suns reached down and mustered another comeback to score two goals in the third period to tie it and send the contest into sudden death overtime. The game went for only five minutes and a 3 vs. 3 format during overtime. Then, finally, forward Chad O’Brien (Tardy assist) found the net for the game-winner, giving first-year head coach Ryan Enrico a grand finale. It was also O’Brien’s second goal of the night. “I’ve never been so proud,” Enrico said. “I’ve asked for their very best all year, and they gave me that. So, I asked once more for their very best for the last 20 minutes, and the boys gave it all they had.” On Saturday, it was a complete team effort with four different Suns scoring: O’Brien (2), Robinson, Derek Grimes, and Tardy. In addition, assists were from Eric Demment (2), Dylan Shamburger, Ben Barton, Robinson, Justin Taylor, Doug Yeats, Sean O’Grady and Tardy. Matt Cooper (7-1 record) had 24 saves at the net, and the Suns outshot the Growlers, 39-28. Sun Valley improved its franchise record to 47-45-20 in 112 overtime games over 47 seasons by winning Saturday. They are 12-16 in 28 shootouts since 1998. Since 2009, the Suns have won 15 of their 31 overtime games Forward Max Tardy finished as the overall leader with 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists). Mike Curry had 22 points (2 goals, 20 assists) while injured Nick Curry still finished with impressive numbers with 19 points (12 goals, 7 assists) through only six games. Nick Curry also led the team in hat trick games with two. In those games, he scored 4 goals each. Tardy led the season with the most two-goal games with four, while DJ Robinson and Brendan McGovern had two. The Suns finish the 2021-22 season with a 13-7 overall record (9-7 home, 4-0 away).

Suns, Yeti split Campion clash

“It got a little chippy this weekend,” Suns head coach Ryan Enrico said. “They’re physical, as are we. Sometimes that boils over back-to-back nights. Our guys responded well. We played a full 60 minutes [Saturday], but we played about 47 minutes [Friday].”

There were 95 penalty minutes (55 for Vail, 40 for Suns) in all Saturday—for the weekend, Vail had 75 minutes, and Sun Valley had 52.

With the physicality taking over in the rink, it was a perfect time to pay tribute to Suns longtime general manager and head coach John “Cub” Burke. He was honored in the first intermission of Saturday’s game. Burke last coached the Suns in the 2019-20 season and finished his career with a 229-89-9 record through 17 seasons.

“[Cub] turned this program into a top-notch organization,” Enrico said. “He does it all. He’s unbelievable.”

Beyond the boxing matches, there was hockey that was played.

On Saturday, the Suns (11-7 overall, 9-7 home, 2-0 away) had difficulty getting into the groove. In the first period, they fell into an early deficit, 3-0, with goals from Vail’s Dom Panetta, Will Compton and Dalton Speelman.

In the second period, the Suns ended the drought through Sean O’Grady. Mike Curry and Jefferson Dahl got the assist to O’Grady, who scored again in the third period with assists from Curry and Max Tardy.

Speelman and Justin Elmore added goals for the Yeti to extend the lead.

It was a challenging game for goalie Bobby Bowden (5-6), who finished with 16 saves. For the Yeti, Spencer Gold finished with 29 saves.

According to Enrico, Saturday saw a different start for the Suns, which made all the difference.

The Suns came out with an offensive mission. Enrico utilized all four lines and used Charlie Evans and Doug King to rotate skaters out and get fresh legs in the lineup.

“Except for penalties, we wore them down,” Enrico said.

The Suns jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and didn’t allow the Yeti to get into rhythm. The Suns had five different players score by the game’s end, with Kyle Mitsunaga, O’Grady, DJ Robinson, Justin Taylor and Max Tardy all tallying goals. Assists came from Doug Yeates, Derek Grimes, Dylan Shamburger, Brian Dunford, Mitsunaga and Curry (2).

Mitsunaga had a lovely Saturday night with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist).

Over the weekend, Curry played phenomenally with 4 assists. O’Grady finished the two-game series with 3 goals and Tardy finished with 2 assists.

On Saturday, the player that kept the Suns polished was goalie Matt Cooper (6-1), who ended the game with 14 saves. Gold finished with 26 saves on Saturday for Vail.

“Coop played outstanding tonight,” Enrico said. “[Bobby and Matt] always give us a chance to win.”

The Suns have been on the upswing to end the season, going 5-1 in their last six games. Sun Valley is off this weekend before wrapping up the season on March 11-12, when they travel to Santa Rosa to play the Growlers once more at Snoopy’s Ice House.