STORY BY BOB B. OAR

PHOTOS BY TONI MARCROFT, AMY MCCABE and MIKE MCKENNA

 The Sun Valley Suns Youth Hockey program sent three teams to compete in the annual Boise Winter Classic Tournament over New Year’s weekend. All three teams had very successful runs in the City of Trees.

 The high-scoring Squirts (ages 9-10) sent over two teams and both went 4-1 with the Sun Valley Red team avenging an earlier loss to the Sun Valley Black team during round robin play and claiming victory in the championship game.

Besides beating each other once, the Squirts teams went undefeated against two Idaho Falls Eagles squads and the Boise Junior Steelheads. The Suns teams scored an astounding 88 goals over the weekend.

Aspyn Strickland and Everett Gorringe each had three wins in goal, while Barrett Gorringe and Jaxson McGrew each had a win in net.         

Eldon Conover (10 goals), Hunter McCabe (8 goals) and Owen McNulty (11 goals) led the teams in scoring with 14 total points. Camas Jolley tallied 11 goals and 2 assists for 13 points. Jackson Golub with 9 goals and Gael Castro with 6 goals each had 10 points for the weekend.

Porter Gingrich had 5 goals and 8 points. Caleb Rosser had 4 goals and Sam Robbins scored 3 times as they each had 6 points. Gavin Deal (3 goals), Jaxson McGrew (2 goals) and Dillon Wyman (2goals) both had 5 points.

Elise Bullock (3 goals), Everett Gorringe (1 goal) and Kaden Jolley (1 goal) each recorded 4 points. Theo Kurtz had 2 goals and an assist. Ryan Nimmo had 3 assists. Greyson Siegel had a goal and an assist.  Aspyn Strickland had 2 assists. Barret Gorringe and Wyatt Stone each tallied an assist. And Hadley Nelson skated hard all weekend for teams coached by Jo Golub, Kevin Bullock, Jeff Conover, Ryan Deal, Devon Jolley and Lincoln McNulty.

 AS FOR THE PEE WEES….

The Pee Wees (ages 11-12) squad went 3-2 in the very competitive holiday tournament and made it to the championship game.

They beat the Tri-City Junior Americans, Portland Junior Winterhawks and, after losing to the Bend Rapids in the round robin stage, came back to beat them in a nail-biting semi-finals game that went to a shoot-out.

The Suns lost to the top Pee Wee team in Idaho so far this year--the McCall Mountaineers--in the championship game.

 Naomi Gorringe had two wins in net, including a huge save in the semi-finals shoot-out. Caleb Kurtz picked a win in goal, as well, and both players also helped the team by skating out.

Will Lamoureux led the team in scoring with 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points. Mason Bucknell had 4 goals and 5 points. Paddy Hebert and Sam McKenna both tallied 2 goals and 4 points. Charlie Reid had 2 goals. Taj Redman and Kolton Marcroft each had a goal and an assist. Leila McGrew and Alex Carlson both notched an assist. 

Peyton Cooley, Emmett Crist, Joe Mathews and Lennon Southward also helped the Pee Wees have another successful weekend. The team is coached by Andrew Hebert, Mike McKenna and David Reid.