The Ghostriders lost the last two games against the Kimberley Dynamiters, 2-1 at home and 5-2 with (2 empty net goals) on the road in Kimberley. In the last two games the Riders turned it on and were easily as good as the Nitro's, and at times better, but had trouble solving Tyson Brouwer. The two games they won were when Brouwer was hurt and Brody Nelson was in net. Brouwer let in one bad goal in game 5 on a shot from the blueline... but turned out... it was an off side goal... it may have changed the series... The Riders didn't really show up for game 4 but still only lost 2-1. Jeff Orser kept them in that game and was as good enough in net to win the series.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview
Coach Craig Mohr recruited a pretty good group of players in his first year back with the Ghostriders and he was also named as the Eddie Mt. Coach of the Year. Mohr's coaching style makes for a fun game for the fans to watch and the players he brought in, plus what was left over from last year, put on a pretty good show finishing second overall in the KIJHL while playing an entertaining style of game.
Jeff Orser won the Eddie Mountain Top Goalie Award this year and was great in net, he will be 20 this year so is a possibility for next year unless he choses to go to school.
Cole Keebler led the Riders in playoff scoring but was hampered by injuries all season... he may have contended for the KIJHL top scorer had he been healthy, and may have had an even better playoff as well.
Spencer Bender only played the last game vs Kimberley... he had assists on both goals, he would have made a difference had he been healthy. Bender had 5 G 2 A in the five P/O games he played...
When you come back from injuries it takes a while to get in sync... Doan Smith 95 was skating on one good leg after missing weeks with a knee injury only had 1 A after a 35 G 62 pt regular season.
Sam Plaquin, Joel Burgess, Aaron Neufeld, Derek Georgopoulos and Captain Dylan Robertson, the twenty year olds were leaders off the ice and were in the top seven of Rider PO scorers... the Captain delivered several big hits on anything and everything and anyone including goalies. I know the fans and Coaches were liking it...the league, with help from Hockey Canada, seems to have gotten away from the physical game. Burgess and Robertson would have thrived a few years ago in the war zones. I would bet any of them would have a shot at playing in the BCIHL if that's what they wanted to do... more on the team and the 94's after the Banquet
Justin Peers with the big shot (could be the new McCulloch next yr) was just over a point a game in the PO and has developed nicely over the winter... and what D man want's to keep up to Jason Yan's foot speed.
Tayler Sincennes scored a few goals and had a few fights as well and David Kelly is a better player than he was in September and that's not bad after missing most of last year with a broken leg.
Travis Thomsen was the leader on the blue-line with a good mix of toughness and points and Evan Reid can definitely skate at the next level and had the most points of the D. Dustin Watt turned into a pretty good pickup from Golden early in the year and Matt Pronchuk is developing into a good all around D man but missed the last few games with an injury. Zak Kuchler and Will Lightfoot were the steady stay home D men the coaches wanted and Jaffray's Dan Burgess who didn't play for a couple of years fit right in after a few weeks. Would sure like to see him play out the rest of his eligibility here in Fernie. Brandon Butler was a great backup finishing with a great 13-5 record.
And Finally... the sixteen year olds Cavin Tilsley and Kyle Haugo... Both these players made real big leaps in their development as the season wore on. Tilsley is looking at the WHL next year so I hear... and Haugo earned a spot on D and at times up front. Tilsley has the speed to move up and Haugo has the size to get a look at the next level if that's what he want's to do.
Besides the two 98's that were just mentioned we sometimes forget that Peers, Reid, Yan, Kuchler, Sincennes, Pronchuk, Butler,D Burgess and Kelly were rookies, if they return next year Coach Mohr will have the so called good nucleus to start from...
Round the League
- The Kimberley Dynamiters led by Jason Richter will now play the Beaver Valley Nighthawks who's 98 Ross Armour leads the team in scoring. BV got off to a terrible start after losing several of their KIJHL, Cyclone Taylor and Keystone Cup winning players from last season. But a month or two in the big physical Hawks were back winning again and finished just behind the Riders in the overall standings and have home ice in the 3rd round. Kimberley can score or play D and could surprise plus have goaltending that will get tested by the Hawks who like to score... 40 G's so far.
- The first place overall Osoyoos Coyotes will play Kamloops who's GM Barry Dewar always recruits a very good team. Osoyoos won their clinching game 3-2 against Summerland by scoring 3 PP goals, I think their players get so much offence going the other teams have to take penalties on them. Acc to the KIJHL Special Teams chart they had 12 PPg's on 70 chances. Yeah I don't know if it's accurate either but here is the chart if you want to look at it Kamloops had 7 PP G's on 35 PPO.... Osoyoos scored 47 G's as well, they will be a handful.
- He was clearly the most fun player to watch last year with Beaver Valley leading all scorers at the Cyclone and Keystone Cups.. Dallas Calvin has signed with Selkirk next year you can read the full story Here
- Well the worst kept secret in the league is out there now as Sicamouse has announced that former Golden Head Coach and GM Ty Davidson will coach the Eagles next season. Full story here Davidson takes over from Blair Robinson who coached there for 18 years and always made the playoffs and won everything in 2001-02 as well, a sad ending getting axed in the playoffs for a longtime good coach. Another story on that is here
- A full 16 teams have been eliminated from the playoffs and the players have gone home and the KIJHL still hasn't posted the League Awards yet...great marketing guys, cause you don't want to sell the league to the next group of players or anything.
- The series with Fernie and Kimberley was very close but not hotly contested...if anyone thinks the series with Kimberley was a rough tough series you are new to hockey and were not around a few years ago.
- If there were more game 7's some teams like Kimberley would have had to start the 3rd round immediately and play 4 games in a row.... now don't go blaming the league President, it was the Team's Governors who voted to have a 52 game schedule and all series' be a best of 7 ...fully knowing that this could happen because of the Cyclone Taylor start time... I wonder what parents think of that, or Hockey Canada...
The way your supposed to do it http://www.bchl.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&page=86697&stype=11 …
 | ||||
| Kamloops Storm's Mark O'shaughnessy  Mark scored the series clinching goal and set up one more as the Storm eliminate the Wranglers with a 2-1 win on Mar. 7 PLAYER PROFILE |
|
| Kimberley Dynamiters' Braden Saretsky  Braden scored the GWG in overtime on Mar. 6 as the Dynamiters evened their series with Fernie at 2 games apiece with a 2-1 win .PLAYER PROFILE  |
|
| Summerland Steam's Cole Woodliffe  Cole scored another overtime GWG, as the Steam won 3-2 and now trail Osoyoos 2-1 in the Okanagan Division Final with game four to be played March 7 in Summerland PLAYER PROFILE |
|
| Fernie Ghostriders' Dylan Robertson  Dylan scored 3 times and added an assist as the Ghostriders took a 2-1 series lead over Kimberley with a 7-4 win on Mar. 4 PLAYER PROFILE |
|
| Kamloops Storm's Bailey De Palma  Bailey stopped 26 shots, earning a shutout and helping the Storm take a 2-0 series lead over 100 Mile House PLAYER PROFILE |
|
| Fernie Ghostriders' Aaron Neufeld  Aaron scored twice and set up the GWG as the Ghostriders evened their series with Kimberley with a 5-2 win on Mar. 2 PLAYER PROFILE |
A longtime Elk Valley Blazer
and Fernie Ghostrider supporter and
former co-worker of mine, Bill Penman,
retired a few years ago and now lives in
Summerland where he volunteers some time
helping out the Steam. Bill tells me
Jack Mills got a puck in the face
in game 3 of the Kelowna series and
missed 3 games but wanted back
in for game 7.....
| |
| Summerland Steam's Jack Mills  Jack scored both goals, giving the Steam a 2-1 win in game 7 eliminating the Kelowna Chiefs from the playoffs. PLAYER PROFILE |
| Kimberley Dynamiters' Eric Buckley  Eric scored the GWG and set up one more as the Dynamiters take a 1-0 Eddie Mountain Division Final series lead with a 5-2 win in Fernie on March 1PLAYER PROFILE
AND they're gonna bring back fightin in hockey as well http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/utah-passes-death-sentence-bill-to-allow-execution-by-firing-squad-1.2273708 …
|
No comments:
Post a Comment