Rider AGM and Round the league... the usual drivel

The Fernie Ghostriders held their Annual General Meeting Thursday May 17th, here are the results of the meeting.

First off the public was addressed by Team President Barb Anderson and she, to make a long story short, had this to say. 

1/ The Ghostriders lost money everywhere, tickets, beer sales, 50/50 advertising you name it everything was down.
2/ The damage ended up being $78,382
3/ The team was kept alive because of what was in the team bank  and contingency fund accounts.
4/ The team has enough money to start the season.
5/ The team played out the season last year because of the generosity of the City of Sparwood and Community Services assistant Sheri Taylor.  Sheri was instrumental in helping us get set up in Sparwood and ensured that our team was looked after and welcomed.

Next up was the election of officers, well election is a stretch, how about the acclamation of officers.

President Barb Anderson- (now in her 6th year as President)
Vice President - Mike Causalt
Treasurer- Tom Murdoch

Billet Co-odirnator Ashley Charette
Booster- Booth Ruth Murdoch

Secretary- George Hurlbut... hands down the ugliest secretary in the Province

Board Members
Lynda Moulton
Gail Knee
Earle Price
Daryl Hutchinson
Mark Charette
Rose Mangone
Jon Levesqe 

Rocky Feregotto

Team Accountant (not a board member but one of the most valuable volunteers the Riders have)
Jason Traska

So there you have it, the Ghostriders lost a ton of money and if anything goes wrong next season... like say... the rink doesn’t open the team will fold.

On that front Anderson says that a contract was awarded and the contractor has started building a new non- ammonia fuelled plant. The plant is scheduled to be put in service around August 1st and the ice should be in use by September 1st. 

There are lots of skeptics out there mostly because the inside of the arena isn’t finished yet and there doesn’t exactly appear to be a hive of worker bees flying around stingin stuff either. Plus from what I've seen these big projects never seem to finish on time. I hope the skeptics are proven wrong.

Long time assistant goalie coach Gerry Pang was recognized for his contributions to hockey in Fernie and awarded the George Majic Spiritus award. Full story here Congratulations Gerry... I still think he won’t be able to help himself and will show up at practice once in a while. * George Majic was one of the founding fathers of the Ghostriders back in 1991.

Hey what’s with all the empty Perrier cans Panger... you mixing good rum in that swamp water 

 

Fernie’s Tyler Palmer was drafted by Chris Moulton and his Spokane Chiefs in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft . Tyler’s dad Mark played 5 years of junior here in Fernie with the old Jr A Ghostriders in the Rocky Mountain, and America West leagues a few years ago.

Read Tyler’s story here

Round the League

Longtime head coach of the Osoyoos Coyotes Ken Law was not rehired last month but has landed on his feet as the HC in Kelowna Read that story here    In Kelowna he will team up with former head coach Jason Tansem and GM Grant Sheridan who has recruited some really skilled players over the years and at one time his warriors led the league in PIM too... but it hasn’t translated into playoff success. Im betting the Lawyer will make a difference.

There will be no Prospects of a long Christmas break this year because the league will hold a showcase for the college scouts with all teams participating, instead of the January prospects game. 

The KIJHL bosses say that despite what you may have heard the scouts will show up at the showcase even though the Mac’s tournament in Calgary is at the same time.

Great idea for some teams but the Riders who have money problems will lose. The games are at Christmas time December 27-29 and that is when the Riders have their biggest crowds and beer pyramids with the rival Dynamiters and Creston in attendance. Sometimes these games are a make or break for the team. 

Beaver Valley’s HC and GM Terry Jones had this to say in the local paper . "It is unnecessary. Any player who is a solid player in our league can play in the ACHA or Div 3 NCAA hockey league. The individual cost for each player is what determines whether they can go or not”. 

 “Tuition fees for these schools range in the 50K per year amount, with scholarships and bursaries amounting to about half of this amount. With the American dollar as it is, it leaves a 30K per year allotment per student.” FULL STORY HERE

Here in Fernie I know several players have been offered one of these partial scholarships but have turned them down because of money. Terry has a point but I love the showcase idea, just not the timing... 

Crossovers

We will be seeing more teams this season, apparently the governors have decided that maybe the crossover schedule was not costing the teams all that much money. As we stated right here way back then, you still have to travel to games anyway, just more within your division...is it such a big deal to go a few hundred extra miles, don’t you think your fans will get sick of the same teams over and over again. 

Anyway the Riders will play the Okanagan Division  on the road and the Doug Birks Division will play games in  Fernie. This is a win win for the fans and for the players who like going to different towns. 

This was me a couple of years ago trying to get the “Crossover Schedule” back .