Riders Split with Kimbo...

The Ghostriders split a home and home with the Kimberley Dynamiters losing 3-2 in Kimberley then winning 3-2 in overtime here in Fernie last night (Tuesday) in front of 1140 mostly joyous ( there were several Kimbo fans who weren't exactly joyous)  fans.

Last Monday in Kimberley over 1000 watched the Riders get out to a 2-1 lead in the first period but they couldn’t hold on and the Dynamiters scored two goals in the third for the win. Aidan Wilson from Zach Befus and Coleton Dawson scored the first goal then Ryan Kennedy from Dawson and Alex Cheveldave scored the second and the first ended up with the Riders leading 2-1. In the third the Nitro's scored two for the win.

The Riders lost Alex Cheveldave and Zach Befus in that game to slashes to the hands and Aidan Wilson had some teeth knocked out with another uncalled high stick.

The next night here in Fernie the Riders were without the aforementioned regular’s Befus and Cheveldave along with Cole Keebler, Trevor Broad and Mack Differenz. Wilson played with a cage.  Kimberley was missing last season's Top Scorer Jason Richter who they say is down for the rest of the regular season but will be back for the P/O's. They don't say why or what his injury is and don't even list anything on the KI website. The Riders have the little crosses you can click on and not really tell what the injury is but at least you know who is out. 

Kimberley scored the first goal on the power play in the first period then the Riders tied it up at 1 when Dan Burgess scored his first of the year from Aidan Wilson and Kevin Pierce early in the third. Justin Peers' bullet shot was the go ahead goal 11 minutes in from Dustin Watt and Tayler Sincennes . The Dynamiters tied it up on the power play with just :03 seconds left in the game. 

In the OT Nolan Lagace scored the game winner from Mitch Titus at 4:04 of the OT. 

HC Craig Mohr "It was a character win... you know what I'm proud of all our guys". I think the turning point was when we killed off the 7 minute power play in the second". 

Assistant Coach Pascal Morency "The boys paid the price to sacrifice themselves for the team. They took responsibilities to each contribute. We won the game through little details that created the difference at the end."

You know what...I think Nitro coach Jerry Bancks was saying something like that when he jumped on the ice in the second period (without getting kicked out ?) to rationally talk to the referee. 

Pretty good effort from Aidan Wilson who is finally back in the lineup after a longterm injury, picked up an assist on the tying goal and can now do a nice Bobby Clark imitation... all the kids are saying Bobby who... Team Canada 72 

Great to see F/D  Dan Burgess get the tying goal, a perfect time to get his first of the season.

We keep spelling his name wrong but Nolan Lagace who was an inch away from scoring the insurance goal late in the third was rewarded with the Game Winner in Overtime. 

Jeff Orser got the starts in Kimberley and at home, he was stung for one bad fluke goal but as Coach Mohr says he is back to playing Orsereskly... well he said something like that anyway. Mitch Traichevich was in net for the Nitros Tuesday and Tyson Brouwer was in net Monday.

Coleton Dawson has made a huge impact on the Ghostriders with his size and willingness to use it... along with 3 goals and 5 assists in 8 games, he was right in the middle of all the fun in the second and he got his stick in the lanes a couple of times in the neutral zone, it's easy to do but not all players figure that out. Dawson is also the only Rider with the big hair now that Evan Reid has chopped his off... will he beat him up for that indiscretion 

The Riders were arguably the better team in the third... what does that mean  for the Dynamite... when they lost a game or two earlier in the season Bancks was quoted as saying  "were going to work really hard on our fitness"... which for the uninitiated means I'm f**n pissed off so we'll be bag skatin. The Riders lost Ryan Teslak in the second for a fight and Keagan Kingwell missed most of the game with the flu. A couple of important D out that left a big hole but the Riders still outscored Kimbo 3-1 in the 3rd and the OT plus the only goals they scored were PP G's... sharpin up them skates boys.

Riders play Kimberley Tuesday here in Fernie, hair raising fun and a card shark

Tuesday's Game

The Ghostriders play the Kimberley Dynamiters on Tuesday, they are in Kimberley Monday so this will be the fourth time these two teams have played this season. Kimberley won the first game 4-3 and Fernie won the second game 3-2 in OT, both teams won on the road. They will play each other four more times in February.

The Dynamiters entered the Christmas break in first place in our division and were first overall in the KIJHL with 55 points. Because Golden has only won four games the Dynamiters have already clinched a playoff spot.

Before the break Kimberley played two games, they lost 5-2 in Creston and won 8-0 against Golden. Their top scorers are Jason Richter, Jared Marchi, Eric Buckley and D-man Jordan Busch. Tyson Brouwer is their #1 goalie with a 20-4-0-1 record. Jerry Bancks is the Head Coach and Mike Reid is their GM.

The Ghostriders played two games just before the Christmas break, they won 7-4 when Creston was here but lost 6-2 when Beaver Valley (who are a first place team and look like it) visited us on December 19th.

More before the Christmas Break

Despite missing several games with an injury Cole Keebler was still in third place in KIJHL scoring with 48 points and was in second place in goal scoring with 24. Kimberley’s Jason Richter has scored one more goal and leads the KIJHL with 25. Keebler was leading the KI with 4 shorthanded goals.

The Ghostriders with an 8-1-0-1 record in their last 10 games are tied with Creston at 41 points.

AP Dalton Bouvier scored his first of the year in the Creston game.

Justin Peers had 2 goals and an assist in the BV and Creston games. Tells me something when a player scores against the better teams.

As we said in an earlier post, Nolan Lagace was too good not to be scoring... he has had 5 points in his last 3 games

Mitch Titus (97) had at least a point in his last 6 games.

Colton Dawson had 8 points in 21 games with Beaver Valley... in 4 games with the Riders Dawson has 6 points, think he was surprised...

How quick was Sara Mouton's trigger finger catching 18 flicking his head back

Zach Befus scored 10 power play goals and was in second place in power play goals scored. Kimberley’s Richter also has 10 and Creston’s Carson Cartwright, who will be here in Fernie January 2nd, has 11.

Injuries like fleas on a rat still plague the Riders, Cole Keebler, Ryan Teslak, Mack Differenz, and Dan Burgess are all listed as day to day with injuries. Differenz is unlikely, the others are possible.

Round the League

The Ghostriders play in Creston for the Cat's annual New Year's Eve Game then return to Fernie for the rematch January 2nd. This game is not a Drive 99.1 Radio Broadcast Game... What... Howie don't want to spend New Year's Eve on the bus.. Monday's game in Kimberley is a broadcast game and Howie will be doing the play by play with the one and only Gerry Pang on hand as the colour commentator.

As mentioned earlier, Kimberley has clinched because of Golden's record and now Beaver Valley has the "C" word in front of their name as well because of Spokane's record. Osoyoos via Princeton  should be next, but Summerland may have something to say about that when they play a home and home with the Coyotes.  Kamloops via Sicamous' record are next in line but they have to wait as they are off till Jan 8th.

Card Shark

The Nelson Leafs executive  who were voted (by me) as the most lenient of all KIJHL bosses last season released HC & GM  David McLellan just before the break... or so they say... McLellan, (you can read it here), says he quit... but not before he spent a pile of cash then got the Leafs a $5000 fine for tampering . (For the uninitiated, that means he was trying to steal carded players from another team), you can't even phone them or contact them at all.

 Anyway... Carded was a concept never really embraced  by the GM, last season the Leafs  lost  points in the standings two different times for using un-carded players and McLellan was suspended for several games as well. 

On top of not learning after the first infraction, with all the lost points, the Leafs, who were in contention for second place and a home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, finished in fourth and lost to Beaver Valley in five. A second place finish would have given them home ice advantage and a date with the possibly more favourable Rebels along with 1 more gate worth a few more thousand... and still the Leafs stuck with him again this year.  Here is Nelson Leaf President  John Dooley talking about tampering, money and McLellan

The Leafs new Head Coach and General Manager is a local,  Mario DiBella, you can read that press release here

Riders Have Two Home Games Thursday and Saturday

Last Saturday night the Riders piled on the Golden Rockets for eight goals in an 8-2 romp over the visiting Rockets. Tayler Sincennes scored 2 goals and had an assist, Coleton Dawson had 2 goals and Travis Thomsen, Ty Carron and Alex Chevledave each had singles. Jeff Orser was in net for the win. The shots in that game were 68-20 for the Riders and Golden will not make the playoffs, actually with 11 points and 20 games left they can't catch Kimberley with 53 meaning the Dynamiters have clinched a playoff spot.

So here's the deal, the Riders also won Friday night as seen in the post above and have a 7-2-0-1-0 record in their last 10 games... but still find themselves in 3rd place... Why, cause Creston went 6-2-0-2-0 in their last 10 and Kimberley is 8-1-0-1-0 in their last 10 and on a 7 game win streak. No one is catching them with 53 points. But Creston and Fernie are tied with 39 points however Creston has played 1 less game so are in second. Thursday's game will determine second place... for a few days anyway.

The Rockies with 34 points and a 5-5 record in their last 10 are 5 points behind the Riders but a mile ahead of Golden with 11. The Rockies will be wanting to get out of 4th so they don't face Kimberley in the first round. They are still a threat to catch the Ghost with another 19 games to go, but they've played 3 more games than the Riders and still have 3 more games here in Fernie.

Players of the Game

Nice to see Tayler Sincennes get the Player of the Game Saturday, he had a pair of goals,  his second one was  shorthanded . He does lots of the little things that make a team win. 

On Friday Coleton Dawson was the POG, it was his first game as a Rider, honourable mention to Mack Differenz who scored two goals, then got in a fight in the Golden game.

 GM Craig Mohr used one of his remaining three cards to bring in the 6”2” 200 pound Dawson who was in Beaver Valley before the deadline but was released.  That means the Riders are at 23 players and two cards so can still bring in two more guys, but, on January 10th, they will have to finalize their roster at 23 players.  

So far Dawson hasn't disappointed, he scored 2 goals and also had 2 assists against Spokane and Golden, those were a big couple of games for the 6' 2" 200 pound forward, but the competition will get a lot more talented than Spokane and Golden in the next couple of months.

Tough Games Ahead
Ty Carron scored against Spokane and had a shorthanded goal against Golden, that was after going over a month without a point, the Riders will need guys like Ty to help out on the offence as they move down the final stretch of the schedule that features several always hard to win divisional games. Their next 6 games are against Creston, Kimberley and one first place Beaver Valley team thrown in for the amusement of the hockey gods. 

Zach Befus had 2 goals last week, his 18th and 19th goal and 39th point so far and Alex Cheveldave who is now a defensemen, is no slouch either, both 19 year olds have made a big difference this season on a team with several 17 and 18 year olds in their first years of junior.

17 Year old D Kevin Pierce had 2 assists last week and  has had a point in 5 of his last 7 games finding himself  just 1 point behind fleet footed Keagan Kingwell who had 3 assists last weekend.

Creston is here on Thursday

The Riders play Creston Thursday night, this is the fourth time these two teams have played. So far each team has won one game each in regulation and Creston also won one game in overtime.

Creston played two games last week against Kimberley, they lost 5-4 at home then lost 2-1 in overtime in Kimberley. Alec Wilkinson is their top scorer with 44 points andBrock Lefebvre is their #1 goalie with a 15- 8-1 record . Their Head Coach and General Manager is Jeff Dubois who is now in his second season with the Cats.

 

Saturday Night's Game

The Ghostriders play the Beaver Valley Nitehawks Saturday for the first time this season. The Ghostriders will play in Beaver Valley on February 19th.

The Nitehawks played two games last weekend winning 7-2 in Castlegar and winning 6-2 against Spokane at home. After last weekend the Hawks had scored the most goals in the league at 134 and at +52 they have to be a fun team to watch. BV jumped ahead of Castlegar and are now in first place with a 5 game win streak going. 
BV's top scorer is Jace Weegar with 37 points and their Head Coach and GM is Terry Jones.

Riders win 5-2 and a few games of interest

The Ghostriders got a 5-2 win against Spokane last night in a game that saw the debut of Coleton Dawson who chipped in with 2 assists on Mack Differenz and Ty Carrons' goals.

Pretty quick sharp pass by Dawson to Carron from behind net on the first goal that was the "Bear Goal" 

Dawson (95) was in Beaver Valley until Dec 1st and has had stints in Grand Forks, Revelstoke and even in his hometown Nelson . He brings some very much needed size to the Rider lineup and he also made a couple of good quick thinking passes as well.

Zach Befus (18 G ) scored what would turn out to be the game winner, fittingly, for him, on the  on the PP his 10 PP G and Fernie's 33rd PPG.

The tireless Ryan Kennedy rounded out the scoring in the third, Keagan Kingwell got his 2nd assist on that goal, another tireless skater.

Brandon Butler had the win in net, he let in two goals, on on a Lance Noonan penalty shot and another that appeared to go off of a skate at the side of the net, but my eyes are old.

The shots were 47-15 and Spokane is almost guaranteed not to make the playoffs, the Riders are in Spokane January 22nd.


A few games of interest Round' the league...

Kimberley defeats Invermere 5-1 at home last night, that along with a Rider win gives Fernie a 5 point lead on the Rockies for 3rd place, plus the Riders have 3 games in hand.

Nice to see the two teams go at it with a couple of majors for head contact and checkin from behind. You can see the carnage in the 2nd click here

The Golden Rockets got their 4th win last night with a 1-0 win over Grand Forks who were not impressed... a few charges spears misconducts etc that you can see right here The Forks needed those points, they are in a battle with Nelson (who have lost 6 in a row)  for  third place and currently have 3 points on them Leafs. It's been a while since GF finished somewhere other than 4th or 5th.

The Osoyoos Coyotes had their 7 game win streak snapped with a 4-3 loss in  Castlegar Friday. The Rebels went 3-4 on the PP and also had the GW on the PP, Bet the Lawyer was pleased... D-man Headrick had 2 G 1 A Mcleod stops 40 of 43 shots. Few PIM but big W for the Rebels as BV also won against Nelson 4-2.

BV and Castlegar are tied for first with points and  almost for sure will finish 1 and 2 in their div.

Kamloops won in OT in Summerland (who are no slouches) when Wilson Northey scored his 2nd goal in OT with just :02 left in the 2nd OT ...The big deal here is the Storm who had a couple of players move up the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL last week won the game with 13 skaters. Game sheet here

Despite getting outshot 43-26 by Chase Duner and his 100 Mile House Wranglers got 3-2 win at home their 4th in a row and they are now just 1 point behind Kamloops for 1st.

Riders Play Spokane and Golden this weekend

The Ghostriders play two home games this weekend, Spokane is here on Friday and Golden is here on Saturday.

 Friday night is Teddy Bear Toss Night, when the Ghostriders score their first goal the fans can toss their Bears Touques and Mitts on the ice.

On Saturday it will be Bring a Non-Perishable Food Item to the game night, for the Salvation Army

Expecting to see this guy tonight in a Rider uniform 

The Roundup, weekend, dec 1st, the KI schedule and more NCAA fun

Last Weekend

The Ghostriders played two games last week, they had a 1-0 shutout in Invermere last Friday then at home they had their 5 game win streak snapped when they lost 4-3 in OT to the visiting Castlegar Rebels. So the Riders went 6-3-0-1 in their last ten games and are still in third. The Eddie Mountain has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years .

Sick Bay

Injuries continue to plague the Ghost, they just got D men Keagan Kingwell, Travis Thomsen and forwards Mack Differenz and Aidan Wilson back in the lineup only to lose Wilson again along with top scorer Cole Keebler and D/F Alex Cheveldave. D-man Ryan Teslak remains out with an uncertain return date as well. Keebler and Cheveldave say they will be ready for the two games here in Fernie this weekend.

So despite some scoring out of the lineup the coaches and players earned 3 of a possible 4 points last weekend and they now have at least a point in their last 6 games.
Or you could just say ...

Once again, the more we apply character... the more we know it is part of what we are about and gain the confidence.

Pretty good game for the 422 fans Saturday against Castlegar, the Rebels had a 3-1 lead in the third but the Riders never quit and tied it up with two third period goals insuring the fans got some big time excitement and the Riders got at least a point. Justin Peers scored the first and third goals on the power play and Evan Reid had the second goal. Brandon Butler was in net . For the record, it looked like the Riders had enough chances to win the Castlegar game and they matched up fairly well against the Rebels who have 41 points and are currently in first place in their division.

The 1-0 win in Invermere was the Riders first win against the Rockies this year. They are 1-4 now with 3 games left in the regular season eight game series, and all the games are here in Fernie. The Riders get their chance to tie the series starting January 8th .

It's sure good to see Keagan Kingwell back on the line again. He is IMO the best all around defensemen the Riders have and he hits deceptively hard. Kingwell has been out for almost a month.

The Rider power play had been silent lately but scored a pair of goals Saturday, Justin Peers scored his third and fourth PP goals of the season, both were game tying goals. Peers had 18 goals and 22 assists in 44 games last year, so far in 21 games this year he has 11 goals and and 23 assists in 21 games. 1.6 PPG so far vs .9 last year.

The Riders with 31 PPG were tied with Beaver Valley for the most PP goals after Saturday's games. Rider fans get their one and only regular season look at the Nite Hawks on Saturday December 19th, the last home game before the much needed Christmas break.

December 1st

All teams had to get down to a total of 25 players and cards on Dec 1st. GM Craig Mohr went down to 22 players and has 3 cards left. Meaning he can sign 3 players... but if he does, and I'm sure he will, on January 10th he will have to cut down to 23 for his final roster.

The Releases

GM Mohr released three players, Lane Sim, Brandon Breithaupt, and Spencer Bender . All players are free to sign with another team or another league.

Bender was a particularly hard release for the GM, he has junior A skills but had injury problems. So with all the other injuries Mohr needed to bring in a healthy player and had to release Bender who was in his third and final season with the Riders. Bender has since signed with the Jr B Okotoks Bisons where he has played 2 games but has no points. Other Bisons you may recognize are Aiden Geiger, and Matt Pronchuk both played here last season, Geiger was traded and Pronchuk decided to play closer to home.

I checked the KIJHL schedule for November and there were no forfeits and no teams lost any points for using ineligible players. If you listen real carefully you can almost hear the KI Governors cringe when I write that... kinda like when you put a sea shell to your ear and can hear the ocean. Or...

I can hear the brewery

The KIJHL started up their Player of the Month again last week and Ghostrider forward Zach Befus was named as the Kootenay Conference's Player of the Month. Below is the Press Release. They made it sound like the winners were based on just points scored, but they weren't and below the announcement you can see the formula Kimberley Stats Guy Josh Lockhart used. Glad it wasn't me who had to go through all the game sheets etc to figure it out.

The KIJHL is pleased to announce the November Players of the Month:

 Kootenay Conference POM: Zach Befus (Fernie Ghostriders)

  Zach tallied 19 points in 10 games (8G, 11A)

 Honorable Mentions: James Severs (Creston Valley Thunder Cats); Jared Marchi (Kimberley Dynamiters); Jace Weegar (Beaver Valley Nitehawks)

Okanagan Conference POM: Jack Mills (Summerland Steam)
         Jack tallied 14 points in 9 games (10G, 4A)
 

Honorable Mentions: Josh Baird (Kelowna Chiefs); Kolten Moore (Chase Heat); Jacob Mullen (Summerland Steam)

How does this work?

It is a formula looking at goals scored, and assisted on at key times. Please note that this stats analysis is only as good as the original stats are. So if PP, SH and GW goals are not being tracked accordingly....

• PPG - 2 points for every one goal scored
• PPA - 1 pt for every one assist
• SHG - 2 pts for every one goal
• SHA - 1 pt for every one assist
• GWG - 2 pts for every one goal

The NCAA now has a "Class Action Lawsuit" on their hands,  accusing them of limiting the scholarship money they dole out. Looks like they will end up paying players... just like the WHL ? 

Anyway read the story here if your interested