BY MICHAEL DAVID

On Friday night the Sun Valley Suns welcomed the newest member of the Black Diamond Hockey League, the Park City Pioneers, to the Campion Ice House in Hailey for the first of two contests.

 The Pioneers quickly realized they were facing an uphill challenge as the Suns jumped out to an early lead and never looked back all weekend, winning 8-1 on Friday and 7-1 in a fight-marred game on Saturday night. The wins continued their undefeated streak.

 Derek Grimes put the Suns on top 1-0 on Friday with an unassisted goal seven minutes into the game. Grimes put the puck into the top right corner for the early lead and Nick Curry added another two minutes later, taking a feed from Max Tardy and beating the Pioneer goalie from an almost impossible angle. Former Idaho Steelhead, Darrell Hay followed up the Curry goal with one of his own, redirecting a DJ Robinson pass into the net for a quick 3-0 lead for the hometown club.

 The Suns completely dominated the first 13 minutes of the game, controlling the puck in the Park City end and outshooting the Pioneers 13-0. The visitors failed to put a shot on goal until the 6:54 mark of the opening period, and were unable to apply any pressure on the Sun’s defense anchored by their outstanding goalie, Bobby Bowden.

 Mike Curry, not to be outdone by his younger brother, scored a power play at the 2:19 mark of the first period to give the Suns a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

 Sun Valley picked up right where they left off in the second period, as another former Steelhead, Marty Flichel scored with assists from Robinson and third-year forward Dylan Shamburger to give the Suns an insurmountable 5-0 lead. The Pioneers scored their first ever goal in Hailey with 7:02 seconds remaining in the period, but the hosts bounced back and matched it with a Taylor Rothgeb goal with 21 seconds left to make the score 6-1 entering the final intermission.

 Flichel added his second goal of the night early in the third period, once again hooking up with Shamburger and Robinson to give the Suns a six-goal cushion. Nick Curry scored his second goal to provide the final 8-1 score and send a big crowd in Hailey home happy.

 The Suns handled the Pioneers easily on Saturday night, scoring four goals in the final seven minutes of the game to pull away for the 7-1 victory.  Kevin Kaiser and Max Tardy scored twice, and Flichel, Doug Yeates and Shamburger tallied single goals for the undefeated Suns, who moved their record to 6-0 on the season.

 Next up is the annual Futures game on December 28th at the Hailey Ice House. Come out and watch current and future Suns battle in this always entertaining exhibition. Puck drops at 7 p.m.