Riders Play Two Home Games This Weekend

The Riders play two home games this weekend and in between them they go to Octoberfest in Kimberley on Saturday. The Kimberley game is not a Drive 99.1 Radio Broadcast Game. You will have to either go there or watch their broadcast as they turn their cameras away from any controversy .

On Friday the boys play the Columbia Valley Rockies for the eighth and final time in the regular season. The Rockies are hot right now winning 7 of their last ten games plus they have a winning 5-2 record against the Riders, but the Ghost won the last game 3-1 and this is a battle for third place and a date with Creston in the first round... 

Well at least a likely date with Creston as they have not clinched second but have 5 games left. The Cats have Golden at home Friday ( likely a W)  go to Grand Forks Saturday but that will be a challenge as they have not clinched third and Nelson could catch them. On the 17th they go to Nelson who as stated before are in the mix for third then they host Nelson before a home and home with Columbia Valley who are fighting for third and maybe even second. A possible very interesting last two games.

The Rockies won again Tuesday against Golden and now have 56 points and are tied with the Riders for third place in the division but have played 1 more game. They have three games left after Friday's game, they play Golden and then a home and home with Creston. 

After picking up 4 points last Tuesday Michael Cardinal is now the KIJHL’s top scorer, and the top goal scorer with 32 goals and 73 points in 46 games, and he has a decent 101 PIM. The Riders Cole Keebler was leading the KIJHL but has missed so many games he is now out of the race. In 30 games he had 58 points and was scoring at a  1.9 PPG pace. A shame really as Keebler would easily have been in the top 5 or even won the race and would have been a first team all star as well.

The Riders finish off the weekend with a home game vs Golden. This is also Golden's third game in a row so anything can happen. They just lost their "C" Travis Kelly (95) to a broken foot, a bad way to finish his Jr.

 Next Friday the Riders are in Beaver Valley and next Saturday February 20th they play Kimberley in Sparwood at 7:30, the last regular season game of the season.

Jeff Orser was in net for the Creston- Kimberley games and despite only letting in 3 of the 5 goals (2 were empty net goals) he was saddled with the losses. 

Injuries
Cole Keebler, Ryan Kennedy, Kyle Haugo,Trevor Broad, and Justin Peers are all day to day with injuries.

It looks like Alex Cheveldave will be back in the lineup this weekend, that is a little bit of good news but Derek Green (99) who filled in so well as an AP on the Blue-Line for the last few games is not expected to play this weekend.

Around the League

Kimberley and Osoyoos have clinched first place in their respective divisions. Kamloops and 100 Mile House are only 1 point apart and will go down to the wire to determine first place. Castlegar is a longshot but could catch Beaver Valley for first.

Osoyoos will play North Oak, and Summerland will play Kelowna in the first round, all the other matches are yet to be determined.
The schedule is 52 Games