The Weekly Roundup -Hawks grave diggin-hate level-knees ah f cards and a queen

The Ghostriders earned 3 of a possible 4 points last weekend with an 8-1 road win against the defending KIJHL Champions from Beaver Valley and a 4 -4 tie with the Kimberley Dynamiters here in Fernie.

On Friday the Riders surprised the fans and probably even themselves with an 8-1 win in BV. The Riders led 3-0 after one and and 5-0 after two.  Cole Keebler was the star of the show with 3 goals and an assist and Josh McCulloch surprised no one with another couple of goals. The other goal scorers were, Justin Peers, Joel Burgess and David Kelly. Spencer Bender finished up with 3 assists as well.

With an 8-1 win you may think goaltender Jeff Orser had the night off, but the Hawks hit a few posts and generated 40 shots on the night. So Orser, who was given the player of the game by  the Nitehawk's on the game sheet... earned his win.

One of the Hawk play by play guys who is a longtime colleague of mine sent me this message after the game. Good speed, passing and discipline, the coach is doing a good job. Well the players and C's will be happy to hear that K.

The next day after a 4:30 AM arrival time back in Fernie the Riders were at home to the enemy from Kimberley and found themselves fighting back for most of the night and with a short bench by the third period. They were down 2-0 at the end of the first, tied 2-2 at the end of the second and down 3-2 four minutes into the third when Jared Marchi (more on him in a minute) scored a shorthanded goal. After that Justin Peers and Evan Reid scored to give the Riders their first lead of the game but with just  00:14 showing on the clock and their goalie on the bench Nitro Jason Richter scored the game tying goal. Neither team could score in the OT. The other Rider goal scorers were Tayler Sincennes and Aaron Neufeld. Jeff Orser was in net and got the no decision stopping 36 of 40 shots.

Ghostrider Notebook

I was surprised when the boys won 8-1 in BV last Friday, but maybe I shouldn't have been... every game they have lost on the road they have had enough good scoring chances to win... the difference ... they buried most of their great chances... They will need to do a little grave digging in Kimbo this Friday.

With a 12-2-1 record and a 9.21 save % after last weekend Jeff Orser has the second best record of all KIJHL goalies. 

Jason Sandhu (KS)	16	10	2.29	.903
Jeff Orser (FG)	15	12	2.30	.921
Brett Soles (OC)	14	11	2.36	.908
Olivier Charest (SE)	10	6	2.37	.931
Patrick Kasper (SE)	10	4	2.47	.930
Lawrence Langan (OC)	21	16	2.51	.911
Brett Huber (SS)	17	9	2.60	.906
Chris Turner (KC)	19	9	2.80	.915
Adam Maida (NL)	13	6	2.82	.881

With another couple of goals last week eighteen year old Josh McCulloch now has 22, only twenty year old Brian Lubin of the Castlegar Rebels had more with 23. McCulloch was injured on a  late hit in the Kimberley game so was held to 2 goals last week. He is listed as day to day by Coach Mohr.

Spencer Bender was hurt when he was hit with a knee by Jared Marchi that the referee didn't make a call on. He is fairly new to the stripes so we won't work him over here, we desperately need officials in the East Kootenay. Looks like the hate level has been raised a notch. Anyway someone from Fernie then gave Marchi Kimberley's Player of the Game on the game sheet Saturday as well... I don't want to do that job so I'll shut-up ... ah f*8* Richter was their best player by a mile and scored the tying G...

Joel Burgess had a goal and 3 assists last week...Aaron Neufeld has had a point in each of his last five games and rushing defenseman Evan Reid scored the fourth goal against Kimberley helping the Riders remain undefeated at home with a 12-0-1 record. On the road they have a 5-4-0-1 record. Reid was named as the Tim Horton's Player of the Week and the emerging Matt Pronchuk was the McDonald's Practice Player of the Week.

Round' the League

The Kamloops Storm have a 6 game win streak going on right now but we don't get to see them this season unless both teams make the KI final. Kamloops next game is against 100 Mile but it will be played in Williams Lake as both team's Governors want to get  teams in WL and Quesnel next year. They played in Quesnel last month and had about 300 fans. For the record 100 may have the best attendance in the league right now.

After kicking a trio of revellers outta Dodge a few weeks ago Nelson has had a 6-3-0-0-1 record... the Riders will get a great tuneup and measuring stick for the playoffs when they play Nelson twice in January after the final cuts to the rosters are all done.

On December 1st all teams have to get down to a total of 25 players and cards. Probably on average teams keep about 22 or 3 players with room for a couple more at the deadline. No sleep for GM's, some players and as usual, the revellers ...

Lineswoman Cydnie Rice @cyd_icequeen became the first female to work a BCHL Jr "A" game last month.

"She is one of the more accomplished female elite officials in this province. The BCHL recognized an opportunity to give her the next step," said Sean Raphael, Referee in Chief with B.C. Hockey. "It is a bit of an unprecedented situation for a female in our province, and in fact, anywhere across the country that they get to this level. Cydnie has done a lot of the same things male officials do to establish themselves and she deserved it." - See the full story here