Independence? Please, Sun Valley will have none of it
By DAVID LARSON<br><i>The Wood River Journal ~ Sun Valley</i>
What do you get when you combine three solid lines, one experienced coach and a wealth of new talent? If you said an 8-0 start to the hockey season, you can not only read minds, but you're also obviously a Sun Valley Suns fan.
	Undefeated is where the Suns sit after sweeping the Philadelphia Independence last weekend at the Sun Valley Ice Rink in Sun Valley.
	Friday the squad won on a brilliant game from Paul Baranzelli, but first there was the ice to take care of.
	That's right, play was delayed for more than an hour as their were some soft spots on the ice. When play started, the officials decided to play two 25 minute halves. It appeared the delay hurt the Suns, as they quickly found themselves down 5-0 after the first chunk of action.
	Head coach Chris Benson, however, talked to his team at halftime about what they needed to do differently to win the game.
	"It was a gut check," Benson said. "I just told them we had to start moving our feet and throwing our weight around. We needed to play with a little more passion, we needed to play with more heart."
	The Suns took the advice to heart, particularly Baranzelli. The fifth-year Sun scored the final goal to send the game into overtime, then scored the winner in the shoot-out.
	"He played awesome," Benson said. "He had three points on the night."
	Maybe the only negative Friday was the loss of Ivars Muzis for what appears to be the rest of the season. He injured, or fractured his tibia on a questionable leg check by Philly.
	"He won't have surgery, he'll just have to let the bone heal itself. He's one of our top four defenseman, and we'll be lucky to get him back."
	Saturday's game saw tighter officiating in the first period to ensure no cheap shots were used by either team, and the result was a slow first stanza marred by penalties and breakaways. It was fun for the fans, but not a good style of hockey. And it didn't help that the Suns started off slow once again, falling behind quickly 2-0. Doug Melvin, John Duval and the brothers Winkler (Scotty, Brian), however quickly got the Suns going on offense, as they controlled the puck on the perimiter and Suns goalie Colin Zulianello made more stops than a short school bus. The first period  would end with 22 minutes worth of Suns penalties.
	"They were calling it tighter," Benson said. "There were a lot of 5-on-3 situations as a result. A lot of the calls were suspect, and they kind of let up in the second."
	Zulianello had 12 saves on 14 shots in the first, while Sun Valley took 13 shots of their own, the lone goal coming from Baranzelli off a pass from John "Chugga" Stevens.
	The second is where the Suns reclaimed the momentum, and in turn, the game. With Zulianello acting like a man in the net, the Winkler brothers, Kris Warrington and  Bill Tryder slapped the puck around, looking for a nice angle for a little slap-shot. At the 9:25 mark and the Independence in the middle of a subsitution, the Suns took advantage of the disorganized chaos. Scotty Winkler, playing his best game of the year, took a hurried pass from Vilnis Nikolaisons and punched it in, giving Sun Valley a 3-2 lead. Moments later, Nikolaisons would score, followed shortly by yet another goal, this one by Philadelphia. Going into the final third period of action, Sun Valley led 4-3.
	The question on everybody's mind was, 'were we headed to overtime?' Could the Suns hold on? The question was quickly answered early in the third stanza.
	"They tied it up with about five minutes left," Benson said. "We just didn't have as many opportunities."
	With the score tied at 4, the Suns got into a power play situation with one minute left. Scott Winkler capitalized on the opportunity, highlighting his brilliant game  by slapping in the game winner with less than 15 seconds left. It came on a pass from Warrington and gave the Suns another victory in what is slowly becoming one of the best starts in Suns history. It's this type of momentum that could help the team as they travel to Jackson Hole this weekend to take on their biggest rival.
	"It was a good test before Jackson," Benson said.
	
<b>Notes:	</b>

Eric Demment and Adam Swain were lost because of concussions, but according to Benson, both should be back this weekend... Unconfirmed reports say that the best start to any Suns hockey season was 15-0...On Muzis' injury, Benson said of the questionable call: "I thought it was a cheap shot. (Philadelphia) thought he stepped in a hole"...Caleb Baukol said Friday before the game he couldn't play because of broken bones in his hand. Saturday he was suited up and on the bench...One of the three officials had to leave Saturday's game because of a problem with his right skate. Said lead official Bobby Noyes: "He broke the plastic thing right here," motioning to the heel of the shoe.