Suns, Gutter Snipes split games
SUNS HOCKEY SUMMARY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
GUTTER SNIPES 6, SUNS 5
ECoast Gutter Snipes 0.................. 2 .............. 4 ..................6
Sun Valley Suns 2.................. 1 .............. 2 ..................5
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Justin Taylor 8 (Stephen Inman), 5:44. (2) SV, Max Tardy 10 (Sean O’Grady, Mike Curry), 17:08.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) East Coast, Brendan Rempel (Corey Elkins, Colton Kerfoot), 0:58. (4) SV, Spencer Brendel 3 (Tardy, Nick Curry), 10:43. (5) East Coast, Corey Elkins (Kerfoot), 12:38.
THIRD PERIOD—(6) East Coast, Bobby Farnham (Luke Stevens, Clay Harvey), 0:10. (7) East Coast, Scott Shaunessy (unassisted), 0:24. (8) East Coast, Corey Elkins (Kerfoot, Collin Elkins), 5:15. (9) East Coast, Collin Elkins (Corey Elkins, Jimmy Mahoney), 8:13. (10) SV, Ace Cowans 1 (Dylan Shamburger), 16:38. (11) SV, Joey Sides 4 (Mike Curry, O’Grady), 19:22.
SHOTS ON GOAL—East Coast 14-16-13 for 43; Sun Valley 10-11-18 for 39.
GOALIES—East Coast, Brian Mike Clemente (55 minutes, 3 goals, 30 saves) and Chris Johnson (5 minutes, 2 goals, 4 saves); Sun Valley, Ben McLean (58 minutes, 6 goals, 37 saves, 4-2 record).
OFFICIALS—Max Battimo and Gordon Klepec (referees); Chris Benson and Drew Barsch (linesmen).
SPECTATOR COUNT—747.
NOTES—Sun Valley forward lines were Owen Powers-Justin Taylor-Parker Weekes, Spencer Brendel-Max Tardy-Nick Curry, Joey Sides-D.J. Robinson-Dylan Shamburger, Niels McMahon-Derek Grimes-Ace Cowans. Defensemen were Sean O’Grady-Mike Curry, Stephen Inman-Doug Yeates, Ben Barton-Drew Tallet…….Gutter Snipes forward lines included Harvard’s Colton Kerfoot-Ohio State’s Corey Elkins-Oakland University’s Collin Elkins along with Yale’s Luke Stevens-Brown’s Jeff Ryan-Brown’s Bobby Farnham, and Boston’s College’s Rich Braccia-Norwich’s Jack Griffin-St. Michael’s Nick Hermary. Sun Valley Suns veteran forwards Johnny Miller took some shifts for the Snipes. Average age was 35.3 counting the 16 rostered Snipes players. All told, the Snipes boasted players with 1,997 professional games, led by the 579 pro games of tonight’s 2-goal and 4-point scorer Corey Elkins, 38, from West Bloomfield, Mich. Elkins played 102 games scoring 27 goals for Ohio State University from 2005-09, then went on to skate 213 games with 39 goals for HIFK in Helsinki, Finland from 2013-17. He played in Norway in 2020…..Gutter Snipes goalie Mike Clemente, 33, from Great Falls, Va., notched 32 victories in 107 games for Brown University from 2008-12, and went on to play 107 games with 53 wins for the Manchester Storm of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League from 2016-18…….Dishing out 3 assists tonight was Colton Kerfoot, 27, from West Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Kerfoot played 82 games for Harvard University from 2016-20 and skated in Finland in 2021…..
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
SUNS 7, GUTTER SNIPES 3
ECoast Gutter Snipes 0.................. 2 .............. 1 ..................3
Sun Valley Suns 2.................. 2 .............. 3 ..................7
FIRST PERIOD—(1) SV, Sean O’Grady 2 (Dylan Shamburger, Mike Curry), 5:22. (2) SV, Joey Sides 5 (Mike Curry, O’Grady), 7:41, power play goal.
SECOND PERIOD—(3) SV, Parker Weekes 14 (Mike Curry, O’Grady), 5:51. (4) East Coast, Collin Elkins (Colton Kerfoot), 6:28. (5) SV, Ace Cowans 2 (O’Grady, Mike Curry), 10:34, power play goal. (6) East Coast, Corey Elkins (Kerfoot, Clay Harvey), 18:14, shorthanded goal.
THIRD PERIOD—(7) East Coast, Nic Hermary (Jeff Ryan, Harvey), 0:34. (8) SV, Sides 6 (Justin Taylor), 9:24. (9) SV, Chad O’Brien 1 (Nick Curry), 10:35. (10) SV, Weekes 15 (Cowans, O’Brien), 15:36.
SHOTS ON GOAL—East Coast 11-8-10 for 29; Sun Valley 15-13-13 for 41.
GOALIES—East Coast, Mike Clemente (34 saves); Sun Valley, Tripp Hutchinson (26 saves, 5-1 record).
OFFICIALS—Max Battimo and Gordon Klepec (referees); Tyler Hanson and Eric Wingard (linesmen).
SPECTATOR COUNT—764.
NOTES—Playing without center Max Tardy tonight gave Suns coach Ryan Enrico a chance to tinker with his forward lines. They were Spencer Brendel-D.J. Robinson-Nick Curry, Owen Powers-Ace Cowans-Parker Weekes, Joey Sides-Justin Taylor-Dylan Shamburger…….In his first Suns games, 5-8, 170-pound forward Ace Cowans from Beverly, MA. scored 3 weekend points including a power-play goal tonight. He played 90 games for the Univ. of Vermont from 2017-21, then was the second-leading scorer for Kalix in Sweden in 2021-22 (17 goals, 28 assists) and also skated in Germany and Australia in 2022-23…….Unusually, defensemen led the weekend Suns scoring with Sean O’Grady (1 goal, 5 assists) and Mike Curry (6 assists). 11th-year blueliner Curry is now No. 14 on the all-time Suns scoring list with 66 goals and 168 assists for 234 points……..Ageless Gutter Snipes captain Scott Shaunessy, who turned 60 Monday, Jan. 22, celebrated the weekend with a goal…….This was the 18th season since 2006 that the Gutter Snipes have visited the Suns for January games. East Coast leads the 36-game series 21-15-0, but the Suns were able to collect their second straight Saturday night win over the Snipes tonight. Normally, the Snipes (leading 13-5 in Saturday outcomes) take the second-game victory. It’s been a high-scoring series, the Snipes leading 213-196 in goals-against. Together, the teams average 11.4 goals scoring per game and they were right on target this weekend with 11 goals Friday and 10 goals tonight.…..Two more packed houses greeted the Suns and Gutter Snipes Jan. 19-20. A total 1,511 spectators crammed into Campion Ice House over two nights, an average of 756. Over 10 home games, the Suns have drawn 6,929 fans, an average of 693 per game. Counting the Dec. 22 holiday exhibition that attracted 588 spectators, the total Suns home count is 7,517 for 11 dates, an average 683 each game………