BY MICHAEL DAVID

Merriam-Webster defines a guttersnipe as “an outcast boy in the streets or a person of the lowest moral station.”

Bobby Farrelly’s East Coast Guttersnipes came to town on Friday night and redefined that term for the Sun Valley Suns and their faithful, defeating the Suns 8-6 in front of a large crowd at The Campion Ice House in Hailey.

The visitors came out firing in the first period, scoring the game’s first three goals and putting the Suns in an early 3–0 hole. The hometown boys did not lie down as they clawed their way back into the contest.

Former NHL player, Christian Hansen, donning the Suns uniform this weekend, scored on a blistering snapshot with 4:55 remaining in the first period to get Sun Valley on the scoreboard and stop the early bleeding. DJ Robinson, with the help of Max Tardy and Mike Currie, added a power play goal two minutes later to pull the Suns within one goal, 3-2 at the first intermission.

The two teams then battled without scoring until Dylan Shamburger beat Guttersnipe goalie Andrew Clark at the 12:16 mark of the second period to tie the game at 3-3. That tie was short-lived as Danny New flew through the air and directed the puck past Bobby Bowden to give the lead back to the Guttersnipes.

DJ Robinson once again tied the game with a snapshot past Clark with 3:35 to go in the second period. Mike ‘Taco’ Currie picked up his third assist of the contest on the Robinson goal.  The score remained tied at four goals apiece as the squads began the third and final period.

The Suns had a power play to start the third, hoping to take their first lead of the hockey game. But once again they were thwarted by the Guttersnipes, who scored a full-strength goal immediately following the power play to go ahead 5–4 2:25 into the third stanza. Less than two minutes later Taco found a streaking Bryan O’Connell who found the net to tie the game 5-5.

This tie score would last a mere 10 seconds as 37 year old David Borelli from Ontario, Canada would score to make it 6-5 in favor of the Guttersnipes. Borelli may have been inspired by the hearty rendition of the Canadian anthem performed before the game by Eddie Finocchiaro, who traveled here with the squad to sing both national anthems.

After a good old fashioned hockey brawl between the Suns’ Trevor Thomas and the Guttersnipes Ryan Thornton, the visitors scored with six minutes left in the contest to stretch the lead to 7-5. Hansen scored his second goal of the game after the Suns pulled their goalie to get back within one with 56 seconds remaining, but the Guttersnipes scored an empty netter as the horn sounded to capture the 8-6 victory.

The Suns and Guttersnipes battled in another tough contest on Saturday night in front of another huge crowd in Hailey. Once again, victory was elusive for the Suns, as the bad guys won in a shoot-out 7-6.

Sun Valley Suns Hockey Club will be back in action next Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26, in Bozeman, Montana as they take on their BDHL rivals on the road. They will be back home in Hailey Feb. 8-9 against the Holy Cross Crusaders. Puck drops at 7 p.m.