Rider weekend 1-1

The Ghostriders won one and lost one on the weekend.

On Friday in Sparwood against Kimberley Brant Mack scored shorthanded early in the first to give the Riders a 1-0 lead. In the second the Nitro’s scored two, Bamber and Palaga had the goals and Kimberley was up 2-1.

Late in the third with Zak Larson out of the net Kimberley scored two EN goals and that was the game.


On Saturday the Riders were in Golden in a game that featured the return of Brendan Nemes who hadn’t played since December 15th. When Nemes is going he is a point a game guy.

Also just back from injury was Defenceman Eric Welford, Eric opened the scoring on the PP in the first then Keelan Saworski scored in the second. In the third period Brendan Nemes made it 3-2 and Saworski with his second of the game and 23rd on the year scored what would turn out to be the game winner because Rocket  Nick Runnalls scored at 3:14 on the PP to make it a close 4-3  game. Broc Merkl had the win in net. 

Notes

The Kimberley game was yet another one goal game (2 EN goals ) that the Riders haven’t been able to win when they play Kimberley. They will be playing the Nitro's in the first round of the playoffs so will have to find a way to win those close games.

Brendan Nemes was nemed the Player of the Game in Golden with a goal and an assist in his first game back, he was the Riders playoff MVP last year and the post season starts on or about Friday the 23rd in Kimberley this year. They will need him going at his best then.

Mitch Titus had 3A in Golden taking him up to #7 in KIJHL scoring with 58 points.

Goalies
Coach Craig Mohr continues to play Zak Larson one game then Broc Merkl the next... it will be interesting to see who the coaches pick to start the P/O’s, or will they continue to do the one and one routine. 

D-man Eric Welford covers a lot of ice for the Riders and plays with an edge so I was kind of surprised his goal in Golden was his first. Hope he can stay healthy.

Brant Mack’s short handed goal was the Riders 9th SHG this season, they are tied with Kimbo in that department. KD has allowed 5 PPG against and Fernie 4 . Things to watch out for in the P/O.

Jace Woodley has joined Ethan Jang the injury list now and is out for a couple of weeks.

In other news
Kimberley has had trouble with Creston lately, they had several suspensions in a lopsided loss earlier in the season then their Coach blamed the referee in another bad loss a couple of weeks ago. We’ve heard that before from the Kimbo coaches over the years, they never seem to just lose a game once in a while without some sort of reason. 

Did they break the spell ? 
The Nitros won 4-3 at home last night against Creston outshooting them 40-24 according to the on line  game sheet. Mason Palaga was given a match as well according the notoriously unreliable on line game sheets.  He is an all star D who has had some discipline problems. Top  KIJHL scorers Liam Plunkett and Ron Wilkie were shutout by the Dynamiters last night as well.

On the other side the Osoyoos Coyotes scored 3 PP goals for a 6-3 win vs Kelowna. With the 3 PPG they now lead the league with 70 power play goals... nearest competitor, Revelstoke with 64. Kimberley has 50 and Fernie 36.