STORY BY MICHAEL DAVID
VIDEO BY KAREN BOSSICK AND CAMERON MARTIN
The Sun Valley Suns kicked off the 2018-2019 season in victorious fashion, defeating their Black Diamond Hockey League rivals, the Bozeman Stingers, twice to sweep the opening two-game series.
The Suns held on for an exciting 6-5 win Friday night and played solid hockey to capture Saturday night’s contest, 4-2 at the Campion Ice House in Hailey.
Just like they did on Friday, the home team came out of the gates strong on Saturday night, grabbing the early lead from the Stingers. Capitalizing on a Bozeman high sticking penalty two minutes into the game was veteran Sun Derek Grimes. Grimes scored the power play goal with assists from newcomer Darrell Hay and Justin Taylor.
Hay, who last played with the Idaho Steelheads, got in on the scoring action at the 16:35 mark, drilling a slap shot from just inside the blue line into the back of the net to give the Suns a 2-0 lead before most fans had settled in their seats with their cold beverages and warm pretzels.
It didn’t take long for Sun Valley to tack on another goal and push their lead to 3-0. Second-year forward Dylan Shamburger took a centering pass from another new Sun, Rasmus “Rusty” Andersson, and beat the Stingers goalie in the top right corner of the net.
Despite being outshot 17-11 in the period, the Suns, behind the strong play of Matt Cooper, took the 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
Bozeman flexed their muscles in the second period, scoring 31 seconds into the period on a power play to cut into the Sun Valley lead, 3-1. They scored again with seven minutes remaining to make the score 3-2 at the final break.
The Stingers killed off three penalties to keep the game within reach, as the Suns were unable to turn several scoring chances into goals. Bozeman pulled their goalie with one minute left, and the Suns took advantage immediately as DJ Robinson found the empty net, assisted by Taylor to provide the final tally, 4-2.
A portion of the proceeds from the weekend’s games went to the local non-profit Girls on the Run. The Suns are back in action at the Campion Ice House next Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7-8, against the Austin Wolves. The puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights.