Riders go 1-1 in Kamloops

Ghostriders lose 1 and win 1 in Kamloops

Sicamous 3 @Fernie 1 
On Friday the Riders played the Sicamous Eagles in Kamloops and lost 3-1.
The Riders allowed three goals in the first period and only scored once in the third . Keelan Saworski from Kory Zinck and Kyle Klein scored the Riders lone goal and Justin Faiella was in net.
No shots were recorded, Fernie was 0-5 on the PP the Eagles went 1-7.

Fernie 4 @ Summerland 2   
On Saturday the Riders scored 1 in the first 1 in the second and a pair in the third for their 17th win on the season.

Johnny Elias (Sombrowski -Ford) scored in the first.
Gavin Lawrie (Nemes- Susinski) scored on the PP in the second.
Dylan Defosse (Saworski- Lawrie) scored the game winner on the PP in the third to make it 3-1. 

Then the Steam's Morey Babakaiff scored with 8:30 left to make it a 3-2 game but  Nikolas Sombrowski ended it when he scored into the empty net to seal up a 4-2 road win.

Riley Fonger was in the Ghostrider net Saturday.

The shots were even at 28 and the Riders went 2-5 on the PP and killed off 4 Steam PP’s.

 Rider Head Coach Jeff Wagner had this succinct comment on  the two Kamloops games. Wagner “It (The Summerland game) was a good bounce back game.” “We played 5 good periods of hockey this weekend”. 

The Ghostriders play in Creston New Year’s Eve

December 22 Rider News

Kimberley are clearly one of the top three or four teams in the KIJHL, they are +89  average 5.20 goals a game only lost 4 and have 52 points.

The Ghostriders are a step below right now with 36 points and +14 blah blah blah... but they can beat the KD and have already done it here at home a few weeks ago.   

So with that in mind the Riders were doing quite well on the road last week in the aforementioned K country and were tied 2-2 after the second period. 

Then as the teams were leaving the ice KD Spencer Kennedy left the penalty box and went right over to Jordan Kromm and speared him in the nuts. Derek Green then went in to deal with it as any player should, it’s in their DNA and the cages (as some had hoped) hasn't quite taken that away yet... and good on ya Derek you made the Fernie fans proud.

But wait it gets stupider...when the teams came back on the ice for the third period the Riders found out that Green had been assessed a Gross Misconduct and several other penalties and the end result was the Riders, not the team that started the melee, had to play the first 8 minutes shorthanded... and without defenseman Green (kicked out) , top scoring forward Kromm (injury)and head coach Jeff Wagner (kicked out) for the duration of the game. 

An absolutely astounding call, not only was he oblivious to a ton of high hits and questionable  boardings by both teams in the first two periods he essentially took away any chance the Riders had of winning the game... as the stats in the first paragraph say, the Riders need some shit to line up to win on the road not pile up.

Anyway Green's Gross Misconduct and any matching suspensions were rescinded the next day and Kennedy got 6 games for deliberately trying to injure a player.

Well wasn’t that a Christmassy story

In Golden the Riders had a 3-0 lead in the first period then surrendered 2 short handed goals and an ES goal and ended up tying the Rockets. Justin Faiella got the point in net.

In Fernie Friday night a motivated team and Riley Fonger shutout those same Rockets 6-0. The boys went 2-5 on the PP and outshot Golden 55-21. Golden was missing their top guns Dominic Turner and Briar Whyte though. 

Keelan Saworski is back in the lineup after missing two months, he scored on the PP and played the point on the PP Friday as the coaches try to ease him back in the lineup...he has been sorely missed.

Brendan Nemes has been scoring lots and is very noticeable on the ice, had a goal and an assist in both Golden games and has used his size to punish several players along the way... bring us another one like that santa

Jordan Kromm scored two Friday and now has 15 goals and is tied with Brendan Nemes in the goal scoring race. Line mates Nikolas Sombrowski and Kyle Ford are next with 11.

Oddly enough Greg Susinski is the only D with a goal and he has 7.

The players and their coaches seem to have carved some sort of a glove in the face identity in the last few weeks that will go a long way come playoff time. They worked hard at it too. Also with the addition of Simon Bergsagel the other players have had a little extra jump in their stride. It’s all good.

Grant and Lori Defosse who are avid watchers of the Ghostriders internet broadcast team brought what they called Texas Touques for the Crew. The brothers are from L-R Ted, John, Dan and Budgie Freska.

One of the coaches has aspirations of being an officer of the law, his first arrest was right here for murderin the English language



I got these from Ruth of the Booster Booth, Im gonna hang em up Christmas Eve but first I asked the old lady if she could fit a 24 in em... she smirked ya sure... she better not   be lie’n.



Have a Merry Christmas Everyone

Saturday night, Kimberley and Creston win while Fernie Golden tie.

Fernie 3 @ Golden 3 

In Golden Simon Bergsagel (2) and Brendan Nemes had the Riders up 3-0 at the end of  the first period. 

The Rockets Brendan Sime-Vivian scored short handed in the second and and Janson Pashniak scored SH in the third before Bryce Trimmer scored the tying goal on the PP.
 OT solved nothing.

Justin Faiella and the Rockets Ryan Baker were the two goalies and the shots were 33-26 Golden.

Att 292

Columbia Valley 4 @ Kimberley 9

In Kimberley the Nitros scored early and often but the Rockies fought back and were only down 1 (5-4) at the end of the second but the Dynamiters ruled the third with 4 goals.
Chase Gedney scored 3 and Ryan Skitt had a G and 2A against his former team. Eric Delaire scored 2 as well.
Both Nitro goalies played.
Kimberley went 2-10 on the PP CVR 1-4
Jesse Carr scored 2 for the Rockies.
Att 566

Nelson 3 @ Creston 4

In Creston the T-Cats surprise the first place Leafs with a 4-3 win. Jordan Wood’s second goal of the game in the second period was the game winner. Logan Berggren had 3 A and Eric Samyn had the win in net.

Nelson’s David Sanchez had a G and an A for the Leafs.

Friday Night in the Division

Beaver Valley 7 Fernie 5 
In Fernie Jared Stocks third period goal with 1:19 left in the third broke a 5-5 tie and was the  game winner. Marty Ingram had 2 goals and Angus Amadio had a goal and an assist. Noah Decottignies had the W in net.
Fernie’s Nicki Sombrowski, Kyle Ford and Brendan Nemes each had a goal and an assist. BV was 0-3 and Fernie 3-5 on the PP.
Att 645

Kimberley 5 Golden 2
In Golden five  Nitros scored goals and Brock Palmer had a goal and 2 assists. Brett Anderson had the win in net.
Golden’s Briar Whyte had a goal and an assist and both teams scored on the PP.

Creston 2 Invermere 4

In Invermere the Rockies  Connor Davidson broke a 2-2 tie with 2:54 left in the game then Dace Prymak (1G 1A) scored the insurance goal with 50: seconds left for a 4-2 win.

Ghostrider Update December 12th the usual drivel

Friday night the Beaver Valley Nitehawks are in town for the first time this year. The Ghostriders played in the Valley on September 8th and  lost 7-2, it was the second game of the season and they were short a few players because BC Hockey didn’t get them carded in time... too busy gloating over their new facemask rules or something

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Since then the Hawks had a terrible (for them) go of it but have gone through rehab and are  6-2-1-1 in their last 10 and they won both their games last weekend. They have 32 points in 28 games and have won 4 in a row. 

BV’s record is remarkably similar to the Riders who have won 5 in a row and have 33 points in 26 games.

You may see former Riders Cole Gibson and Kevin Duguid Friday, they are now on the Hawks stat page so are possible starters Friday.

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The Ghostriders played two games last weekend, they won 6-0 against Spokane then defeated Golden 5-2 in Golden. On Tuesday in Invermere the Riders won a close game 6-5 when Simon Bergsagel scored his second goal of the game with just 10 seconds left in the third period. Riley Fonger won at home and in Golden and Justin Failla won in Rockeyville

The boys have now won 15 games  that is how many they won all of last year... They are pretty happy about that... and they have a shot at second place too, the standings are below

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Ghostrider Notes

With 5 goals and 3 assists in three games Simon Bergsagel was named as the the Tim Hortons Player of the Week. 

Those were the first games he has played in months. It seems like the Riders  have a legitimate goal scorer now... Defence ?...ya  we jump over that late at night behind the bar when the coaches show up... 

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Kyle Klein was the McDonald’s Practice Player of the Week, he can skate and his decisions are getting better all the time. And he’s just 16. 

A hard thing for some fans to grasp when they are screaming at the players... some are just 16.

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Brendan Nemes had a night vs Spokane with 1 goal and 5 assists. He was a playoff MVP two years ago and a point a game P/O player  last year...lookin forward to February. 

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With 5 goals and 7 assists in his six game scoring streak Jordan Kromm has taken over the Rider scoring lead with 29 points in 26 games. He is also a roller hockey star.

Now that it’s legal everyone's gonna want to play roller hockey.

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Had a bunch of English tourists sittin behind me the other day...their favourite player,  Johnny Elias, they loved the speed.

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Kyle Ford (8th) from ( Sombrowski- Gill) scored his first goal in a few games in Golden, and it was the game winner. Sometimes he crushes guys too

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Gavin Lawrie’s PP goal late in the first period in the Spokane game was the Teddy bear Toss goal. The in your face “A"  Dylan Defosse had 3 assists against the Rockies and scored two in Golden.

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Simon Bergsagel’s PP goal in Invermere was the Riders 19th PP goal .

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Nikolas Sombrowski scored 2 goals against the Rockies and had an assist in both games on the weekend giving him 10 goals and 17 points... he has been a very productive rookie.

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Gregg Susinski leads the team in PIM with 74 and the D with 18 points. With 2  assists last week Sawan Gill is next with 13.
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He scored

Sebastian Iannuzzi who has been cast in a defensive roll by the coaches had a goal and an assist Tuesday, his first goal of the year. Pronounced I-an uzi 

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Fernie continues to kill penalties as well as anyone in the league and have an 89.92 % kill ratio... this gun stuff is gettin to me.  They are second best in the league behind Revelstoke who are at 94.37%

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David Lenzin had a goal and 3 assists last week giving him 9 goals and 16 assists. The Riders best all around player... if you ask me, and you didn’t.

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The Riders are in Golden again this Saturday and in Kimberley next Tuesday then return home to play Golden on Friday December 21st here in Fernie. On the solstice... whatever that is

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So the Rockies game on Tuesday  had some technical problems and was not broadcast. That game will now be moved to February 2nd. The Golden game this Saturday and Kimbo game Tuesday are scheduled Drive 99.1 radio broadcast games with Wylie Henderson at the Mike. Click here for the free internet broadcast  Not now illiterates, at game time

The Eddie Mountain Breakdance Saturday Dec 8 Fernie- Kimberley win.

In Golden  Kyle Ford’s second period goal was the eventual game winner, Dylan Defosse (PP/EN) had 2 goals,  Simon Bergsagel and Jordan Kromm each had 3 point nights and the Ghostriders won 5-2. Riley Fonger earned the win in net and the Riders have won 4 in a row

In Beaver Valley the Hawks’ Brad Ross scored 3 and Ryan Crisalli had 2G 2A as the Hawks picked up a 7-4 win against Creston. Shots 43-29 BV
Creston’s Carson Small had 2 goals.

In Kimberley the Dynamiters ran up the score on Spokane winning 13-1 and outshooting the Braves  63-16.
Chase Gedney had 3 goals and Brock Palmer, Neil Kingston, Ryan Skitt, Tyson Meir and Brady Daniels each had 3 points.

In Nelson the Leafs trounced the Columbia Valley Rockies 9-2.
Tyler Nypower and Emery Neilson each had 2 goals and Hunter Young had the win in net for the Leafs.
Brennan Nelson scored both CVR goals.

Fernie Kimberley and Golden win Friday in the Division

In Fernie Riley Fonger stopped 33 shots, Jordan Kromm and Brendan Nemes had 4 point nights and Simon Bergsagel scored two and had 1 assist in his first FGR game and the Riders defeated Spokane 6-0. 

In Kimberley the Nitros Chase Gedney scored on the PP in the third and Derian Bamber  (2G) scored into the EN for a 4-1  Dynamiter win over Nelson. Keegan McDowell had 1G 1A Adam Andersen had the win in net and the shots were 34-20 KD.

In Creston the Golden Rockets broke a 2-2 tie in the second period with 3 unanswered goals  for a 5-2 win over Creston. Dominic Turner’s second period short handed goal was the game winner. Ryan Baker had the win in net and Jayden Hendricks had 2 goals.

Ghostrider update Dec 4- wins, mastermind,conductive,coach of the year beer section and the usual drivel

THE TEDDY BEAR TOSS HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THIS FRIDAY DECEMBER 7TH

The Ghostriders only played one game last weekend and that was a 2-1 win against Kimberley that ruined their 12 game win streak. 

I thought at first that maybe the the Nitro's were a bit off and had big heads after winning so many in a row. I also thought  that the determination they faced in that game would have slowed down any team in the league. 

But I was wrong (no really) cause head coach and General Mastermind  Derek Stuart had this to say in the paper.

"I hope our guys learned a valuable lesson playing in that arena. It's not conducive to the way hockey is played nowadays."The skill and making plays in that arena its irrelevant, its so small.”

How to not get the coach of the year award,101- never give another team credit for a win. FYI the coaches vote on the award themselves.

Riley Fonger was in net and was the Rider game star, Nitro G Adam Andersen was also a game star.  Aiden Gleisner from Kyle Ford and Niki Sombrowski scored the first goal then Jordan Kromm from Gavin Lawrie and Greg Susinski scored the game winning goal. All the scoring was in the first period.

There was even a fight well sort of compared to a few years ago featuring on the main card Kyle Ford and KD's Mitch Fargey...thanks guys... you should do that during the stupid buzz killing media timeouts the KIJHL forces us to endure every period...cause we have so many adds we just can’t get them in during all the other stoppages. 

The KD game was easily the hardest I’ve seen the Riders play so far this year. Coach Jeff Wagner tells RN that the boys have been playing that way for the last five games, but agrees that the Kimberley game set a new bar.

If the guys scored on even half of the breakaways the Riders could have ran away with it... oh I forgot (in just a few paragraphs too) that small rink takes away all the skill.

After last weekend the Riders were second overall on the penalty kill at 88.68% and are tenth overall on the power play at 16%.

Gavin Lawrie had an assist in his first game and seems like a pretty good acquisition.

Brendan Nemes was like a bowling ball vs Kimbo and he was named as November’s Boston Pizza Player of the Month. Kyle Ford and Keelan Saworski were the POM's in September and October.

The McDonald’s Practice Player of the Week was Dylan Defosse and the Tim Horton’s Player of the Week is Sebastian Iannuzzi. Wagner says  “they do the little things the fans don’t notice” 

Injuries- Greg Susinski, Owen Titus and Keelan Saworski are all unlikely for this weekend. 

After the players did their traditional winning skate around the rink they all came back and jumped up into the glass in front of the beer section, kinda like what the Carolina Hurricanes do. The boozers loved it... and they pay the freight, Im all for it.

At the December 1st cutdown day GM Jeff Wagner sent Chase Fioretti to the Nanaimo Buccaneers then brought in forward Gavin Lawrie who was with the Summerland Steam last season. Wagner also sent Kevin Duguid  to Beaver Valley where he will team up with former Rider Cole Gibson and be coached by BV’s Terry Jones who after beating first place Revelstoke last weekend now has 1000 KIJHL wins as a head coach. Quite an accomplishment...lucky for TJ they have bigger ice... 

Friday  the Spokane Braves are in town, this is the only time this season we see Spokane. The Ghostriders played in Spokane back on September 7th, it was the first game of the season for both teams and the Riders won 5-4 in overtime when Jordan Kromm scored his second goal of the game.

Spokane’s top scorer is 17 year old rookie Bear Hughes, he has 29 goals in 26 games and a total of 45 points. I want to see him, and see if the Riders can keep him off the game sheet... they have stopped a few top scorers lately, all of Kimberley’s, and the week before 20 goal scorer Rocket Dominic Turner, who also kinda plays with an edge, and we like that.

Saturday Dec 1st in the Eddie Mt Div

In Fernie Aiden Gleisner from Ford and  Sombrowski  and Jordan Kromm from Lawrie and Susinski scored in the first period and that was enough, the Riders hung on for a 2-1 win over the visiting Kimberley Dynamiters snapping their 12 game win streak. 

The shots were 32-30 KD and goalies Riley Fonger and Kimberley’s Adam Andersen were named as the game stars.
Neil Kingston scored the Nitro goal. 
Neither team scored on the PP and 892 fans were at the game.
Several PIM... the teams played hard.  

In Spokane the Rockies Jesse Carr scored the 5-4 game winner on the PP with 5:31 left in the third period.
Eric Lloyd scored 2 and Ben Kelsch stopped 37 of 41 for the win. 
Four different Braves scored and the shots were 41-38 Spokane, both teams had a PPG.

In Osoyoos the Coyotes went 3-10 on the PP and won 4-3 over the Golden Rockets Bryson Rody had a G and an A and Bailey Monteith had the win in net.
Dominic Turner scored a goal for the Rockets who went 2-6 on the PP.

Ghostrider update Nov 27...

Update 
The arena will open on time for Saturday’s game vs Kimberley. So rush down to the marijuana store and rejoice .

From Ghostrider President Barb Anderson
The Fernie Ghostriders and Kimberley Dynamiters will be playing the game December 1 as scheduled at the Fernie Memorial Arena at 7:30 PM.

The Fernie Ghostriders would like to thank the City of Fernie and Tyee for making this happen.
Come out and make some noise!

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The Dynamiters won 4-3 in OT against Beaver Valley last Friday, they have a 20-3 record and are on an 11 game win streak. Oddly enough Kimberley only has one player in the top ten KIJHL scorers and that’s Brock Palmer with 9G 24A.

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The Ghostriders split yet another weekend with a win and a loss… but are trending upward, both games went into overtime so they picked up three of a possible four points. And the games were divisional games that are quickly becoming must win games… as you can see below.

Note the games in hand.

Last weekend's points keep them in the running for third place and a shot at second with all the upcoming games against the Rockies…but no one is catching Kimberley.

Ghostrider Notebook

Nikolas Sombrowski scored the opening goal in Columbia Valley and the game tying goal in the Golden game, his 8th goal in 16 games, Kyle Ford  had an assist on 5 of them and has 7 goals of his own.

Kory Zinck was irritatingly back in the lineup Saturday after an almost month long injury. 

 Ethan Jang is now out for the season with an injury… rhymes with puck. That’s two, Shaun Pierce is another  player out for the season, more nursery rhymes, both used their bodies and were hard to play against.

David Lenzin also scored a goal in both games last week, he hadn’t scored in five, but still averages a point a game…he’s too good a player not to score, maybe the puck will start to go in now.

Jordan Kromm scored a PP goal vs the Rockies and made the nice pass to Brendan Nemes when he scored the game winner in double overtime vs Golden. That was Nemes' 11th goal and second game winning goal, he has 5 on the PP.

Aiden Gleisner played in Invermere after missing nearly a month due to injury then missed Saturday, he is day to day. Just like every other year injuries are starting to take their toll...didn’t BC Hockey say the facemasks would...oh never mind  

Keelan Saworski who was the Riders leading goal scorer last season is still on the shelf for at least two more weeks but is getting closer.

Justin Faiella got the win in net vs Golden and had one of the better hits too when a Golden player tried to skate behind the net and Faiella blatantly stepped into him… it was hilarious to the guys who were behind the net, then to argue the  interference call was amusing too. 

The D in the Golden game kept the Grade A chances down to a minimum, Derek Green, Tristan Down, Kyle Klein, Sawan Gill, Greg Susinski and Josh Dalquist all played Saturday. The F’s back checked hard too.

AP’s Carson Cecconi (16) and Alim Darmenov (17) played games last weekend. They are from the Fernie Academy Fluries hockey team. Mike Carlsen is the head coach there. Rider HC Jeff Wagner liked what he saw...but he doesn’t get to keep them.

All the Riders worked and battled really hard last weekend, with out any  players on the KIJHL’s top scorers list that's the style they will have to play to win games. They even outshot Golden 54-22 and the Rockies who are a pretty good team this year 31-28.

The Ghostriders have submitted a bid to host the 2020 Cyclone Taylor Cup, read that from team President Barb Anderson here

Round the League

Friend of the blog (because he always speaks his mind in the local paper)  Barry Dewar  was convicted of tampering and thus suspended and fined earlier in the season says they are going after him because he is heading up a law suit that is challenging BC Hockey’s right to force cages on our players. Retribution is the word in the story by Marty Hastings and it may go to court in December...  

That’s another don’t go running off to the marijuana store moment, have a couple of beers while you wait and don’t get your hopes up, so called safety rules are hard to get rid of.

Nelson and Spokane had a spitting war on Twitter a couple of weeks ago the KIJHL put them on notice or something. Read that here   It was really amusing but I think most of it is deleted, gutless pukes challenging fans to fight etc... I'm an old semi retired miner...so I kinda like that stuff.  Some left overs 

We see lots of celebrating and dancing etc on TV after wins in the NHL and in the NFL after touchdowns etc  but hands down my favourite gif is right here-, click on it you won’t have to read anything  CFL player wins the best celly with this one here

Next Friday Spokane is here in Fernie, their rookie forward Bear Hughes has 27 goals and leads the KIJHL in goal scoring.

Ghostrider Scoring

Saturday in the division Nov 24

In Sparwood Brendan Nemes double overtime goal gave Fernie a 3-2 win over the Golden Rockets.

David Lenzin and Nikolas Sombrowski with the game tying goal in the third scored the other Fernie goals and Justin Faiella had the win in net stopping 20 of 22 shots.

Golden’s Ryan Baker stopped 51 of 54 shots to give the Rockets at least a point and a shot at two points on the road. 
Att 300

In Castlegar Creston was leading 3-2 half way through the second then the Rebels scored four in a row for a 6-3 win.
Colby Winia had 2 goals and an assist and Cole Bright had the win in net. 
Creston’s Connor Scammell had 1G 2A.

In Invermere the Rockies Fraser McMann had the hat-trick and Ben Kelsch stopped 30 of 34 shots for the win 6-4 win against Spokane. 
Spokane’s Alex Enegren had 2 goals

Fernie Memorial Arena Update November 24th

The arena may not open by December 1st. You like me were probably wondering exactly what they are doing in there. Your wondering days are over....they were afraid the giant beams were going to cave in if too much snow got on the roof. 

All the main beams have been reinforced with channel iron



All the bracing has been reinforced with wood




They have installed threaded rods to tighten up the structure





The contractors made scaffolds to work off of as well