Ghostrider Notes and the usual drivel

Friday the Beaver Valley Nitehawks are in town, this is the third and final time these two teams will play this year. The Hawks  won the first two games so Friday will be the Ghostriders last chance to beat them in the regular season.

The Hawks only played one game last weekend, they defeated Golden 5-1. The Hawks are in second place and will finish there, they will probably play Grand Forks in the playoffs but Spokane could sneak into third place.

Ghostrider Notes

The Riders earned at least a point in 8 of the 9 games they played in January. They had 2 ties, 1 loss, an overtime loss and 5 wins putting them firmly in second place 6 points up on the Rockies.

The Riders lost 2-1 in double OT to Kimberley last Friday. The Riders are done with Kimberley until the playoffs. Their record was  1 win 3 losses 1 tie and 1overtime loss. The Riders are the only team in our division to tie and defeat the KD all season.

Simon Bergsagel (Gill-Saworski) scored the Riders goal against Kimberley and Riley Fonger was outstanding in net. In fact the whole team worked like hell. Plus 1140 fans were at the game. 

The Riders defeated the first place Nelson Leafs 5-3 on Saturday . Tyler Witzke scored both the tying and go ahead goals in the third period then with a 4-3 lead and less than a minute left in the game Witzke had his stick broken by a slash in his own end but still managed to block a shot then kick the puck out of the zone. He was clearly the Riders player of the game and he was the Tim Horton’s Player of the Week.

The McDonald’s Practice Player was the smooth puck handling Sawan Gill...who seems to be playing at another level the last few games.

Tyler Witzke’s two goals last week give him 21 on the season, both Jordan Kromm and Brendan Nemes have 20 . 

Josh Dalquist and David Lenzin are back on the ice skating again but are doubtful for the weekend. Greg Susinski is possible in the next week or so and is currently visiting Ohio University where he will check out the school and watch the team play.

The Ghostriders killed 4 penalties last weekend and are currently second best in the league with 89.25 % kill rate. Only Revelstoke has a better record at 92.17

Round the League

The Ghostriders lost Shawn Pierce, Eric Welford and Ethan Jang to season ending injuries this year. 

 Nelson just announced that five year veteran Logan Wullum has left the team because of concussions. He said in reference to the way the game is played  now with cages “I don’t feel safe playing anymore. There are so many high hits I can’t take another one. The game is not the same.” 

Nelson Head Coach Mario Dibella had this to say about the new rules.

"It’s a sad statement how the new full cage rule can dictate how some players can hide behind the cage, hit high and from behind without reprisal “ Full story here

That sentiment has been echoed throughout the league to no avail. There was even a petition filed on behalf of the Governors but it was rejected by the courts.

The problem was that the three league Presidents got together with BC Hockey last summer  with out consulting their respective governors and voted in the cage rule.  

Then if that wasn’t bad enough the three visionaries  went to the media beating their chests about how safe hockey is gonna be now with the said cages. One of them is no longer a President...two to go ?

Kelowna’s Brody Dale now has 104 points, first player in years to break 100, his team mate Ryan Stack scored 6 goals against Princeton earlier in the month... they have only lost 4 games 2 were in OT.

The Ghostriders play in Golden Saturday  and it is a scheduled Drive 99.1 Radio Broadcast Game.

The Columbia Valley Rockies are here in Fernie next Friday Febuary 9th.

Ghostriders prove to be a handful

The Ghostrider Coaches and Players passed a sort of litmus (where did he learn that word) test this weekend when they played Kimberley and Nelson at home. The boys lost 2-1 in double overtime to Kimberley and won 5-3 vs Nelson. 

Both teams are in first place in their respective divisions and Kimberley with 72 points is in the running with Revelstoke 70 and Kelowna 75 for first place overall in the KIJHL. 

Statistically Nelson is a tier below with 56 points and the Riders are right there with 53, already 19 more than last season.

To me the Riders 2-1 OT loss was an inspiring effort. The Dynamiters routinely average 4.95, well 5 goals a game and with 203 goals scored this season they have a plus 123  differential, meaning they have scored 123 more goals than they have allowed. The Riders who are a respectable plus 25 proved that when they play as a team they can shut down the best of them... and they do it every time they play them too.  The Nelson win (+54) was a nice touch as well.

The above paragraph is how you win in the playoffs. 

 More good news, on the horizon top scoring D man Greg Susinski along with Josh Dalquist and forward David Lenzin are poised to return to the line-up before the regular season ends February 23rd.

Ghostrider notes in the next day or so.

Next home game Beaver Valley Friday February 1st. 

Saturday Jan 26th in the Eddie Mountain Division.

The Ghostriders won Saturday while the Rockies Creston and Golden lost their games. What that means is the Riders now have a 6 point lead on the Rockies for second place and the Rockies still have 3 points on Golden. The Riders have 7 games left the Rockies 8. 
Beaver Valley is here in Fernie next Friday.

Nelson 3 @Fernie 5

In Fernie Tyler Witzke scored two third period goals to give the Ghostriders a 4-3 lead over the Nelson Leafs then Jordan Kromm  scored into the empty net to seal the Rider win.

Both Brendan Nemes and Jordan Kromm scored power play goals, Dylan Defosse finished with 3 assists and Niki Sombrowski 2A.

Justin Faiella stopped 25 of 28 shots for the win in net. 

Shots 35-28 FGR Att 520

Kalem Hanlon, Shawn Grobowsky and Mitchell Lavoie scored the Nelson goals and Caiden Kreitz was in net. 

This was a close game until Witzke scored his two goals. There were a few PIM and some borderline hits but for the most part the players just played.

In other games...

In Invermere the Revelstoke Grizzlies defeat the Rockies3-1
The first place Grizz outshot CVR 47-18 as well. The Rockies made it close late in the third (2-1) but the Grizz scored with :27 left in the game. I assume it was in the EN but the game sheet does not say that.

In Beaver Valley the Golden Rockets lost 5-1. The Hawks scored four PP goals in a row and were 4-8 on the PP

In Castlegar Creston lost 6-2.

Friday Jan 25th in the division

Kimberley 2 @ Fernie 1

In Fernie Spencer Kennedy (Bertoia-Bamber)scored with 1:53 left in the second overtime to give the Dynamiters their 35th win of the year.

Simon Bergsagel (Gill- Saworski) scored the Rider's go ahead 1-0 goal in the second period. 

Keegan McDowell (Palmer-Bohan)scored the game tying goal in the third period.

The Shots were 46-28 KD

Adam Andersen had the win in net and Riley Fonger was in Fernie’s net. Both goalies made big saves.

Very few PIM and both teams just played the game thus the PP was not a factor.Good crowd on hand. Att 1140


In other games the Columbia Valley Rockies Eric Lloyd scored the game winner and CJ Wedenig was in the Rockies net for their 3-2 win over Creston.The win brings them a point closer to Fernie who are up 4 in the standings.


Golden defeated Spokane 4-3 in OT when Dominic Turner scored in the second OT.

It was a big point for Spokane who are fighting with Castlegar for the final PO spot and now have 9 points on CR.The Rebels lost 9-2 in Grand Forks tonight.

The Summerland Steam and Osoyoos are two of the most penalized teams, they played Friday and didn’t disappoint...for sure the Coyotes didn’t disappoint anyway read the game sheet here


The Nelson Leafs did not play Friday but are in Fernie Saturday the 26th

 

Fernie, Golden, Creston and Kimberley win Saturday Jan 19th

Fernie 5 @ Grand Forks 3

In Grand Forks the Ghostriders took a nice 2-0 lead into the second period only to have the Bruins tie it up in the last few minutes of the period.

In the third the Riders went ahead once again only to have the plucky Bruins tie it 3-3. The Riders took the lead for good after that by scoring two in a row to give them  their second win on the weekend.

Jordan Kromm’s second third period goal was the game winner. Aiden Gleisner, Brendan Nemes, and Keelan Saworski scored the other Riders goals. 

Riley Fonger stopped 44 shots and Bruin Ross King stopped 50 of 55 in a losing cause.
Fernie had 1 PPG and 379 fans were at the game. 

Golden 3 @ Columbia Valley 2

In Invermere Terrell Vekved scored with 1:48 left in the game to give the Rockets a big 3-2 road win. Chad MciLwain had a G and 2 A and Jake Bennett stopped 30 of 33 shots for the win.

Both teams had a PPG and the shots were 33-27 CVR.

Spokane 1 @ Creston 4
In Creston 4 different T Cats scored and Sam Burford had the win in net. Trey Plotnikoff, Trail Thompson (former Brave ) Austin Dennison and Aiden Wong scored the goals. 

Kimberley 2 @ Castlegar 0

In Castlegar Spencer Kennedy and Cam Russell scored the goals and Brett Anderson had the shutout. The shots were 34-30 Rebels and neither team scored on the PP despite having 7 and 9 chances.

With the Riders win and Rockies loss Fernie now has 5 points on the Rockies for second place. The Riders play Kimberley and Nelson next weekend in Fernie. 

Fernie and Kimberley won Friday Jan 18th

Fernie 2 @ Spokane 1 OT

In Spokane Joe Fleckenstein scored midway through the first period but with just :44 left in the period Ghostrider Johnny Elias tied the game at 1.

The Riders outshot Spokane 50-35 but despite 85 shots between the two teams neither team could score again in regulation.

The game went into overtime and with just :06 seconds left in the first OT Owen Titus from Elias scored the game winning goal for the Riders.

Justin Faiella made 34 saves in the Ghostrider net and Campbell Arnold made 48 saves was in the SB net.

The PP was not a factor

The Ghostriders are in Grand Forks Saturday and Spokane is in Creston.
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In the other divisional games Kimberley scored 2 PPG and 1 SHG and defeated the Rockies in Invermere 8-1  Ryan Skytt scored a pair on his former team and Keegan McDowell had 2 as well.
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Creston lost 6-4 in Beaver Valley.     10 different players scored and BV outshot CVT 43-28
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With the Rider win and subsequent Rockies loss the Ghostriders  now have a 3 point lead on the Rockies for second place.

Riders win both games last weekend.

After playing two intense physical games with Kimberley the Ghostriders played a pair of easier games that didn’t feature hits from behind etc last weekend, and they won both of em. 4-1 vs Creston and 6-4 against Castlegar.

In the  Creston game the Riders had 2-0 and 3-1 leads after the first and second periods before scoring an empty net goal in the third  for a 4-1 win. 

The Castlegar game was a different animal, the Riders found themselves down 3-0 in the first five minutes of the second period to a motivated team that is in a battle with Spokane for their playoff lives.  But the Riders woke up and scored five  in a row for a 5-3 lead after two.

The Rebels scored their second PP goal against a pretty good Rider PK late in the third to put a little fear into the boys before Keelan Saworski scored the insurance goal to end the game 6-4.

Ghostrider Notes

In both of the games on the weekend it seemed like there was no real sense of urgency compared to the week before. Still the Riders managed a pair of wins and have now overtaken Columbia Valley who only played one game, a 3-2  loss to Spokane, in the standings. The Rockies have 2 games in hand though and are here this Tuesday for a second place showdown.



Gavin Lawrie had a goal and an assist in each game, newcomer Tyler Witzke assisted on both goals and scored one of his own that turned out to be the game winner against his former team, Creston.

Kyle Ford scored 2 goals in the Rebel game and Johnny Elias got his 4th in the last 6 games while Dylan Defosse keeps chipping away with 9 points in his ongoing 6 game point streak.

Derek Green scored his first of the season against the Rebels and it turned out to be the game winner, he also had a decent chance in the third. Green and Greg Susinski (8) are they only defensemen with goals.

With Josh Dalquist, Greg Susinski, out for a few weeks the Riders are down to four D, Derek Green, Tristan Downe, Kyle Klein and Sawan Gill. So they enlisted forward Owen Titus to help spell off the over worked D. 

Titus was clearly one of the fastest skaters on the ice, did a good job filling in and at times looked really good out there. I found myself thinking too bad he didn’t start the year on the blue line, he would have jelled by now... at the very least Titus can now fill in at a couple of different positions if you need him to.

Brendan Nemes and Tyler Witzke scored their 18th goals on the weekend Jordan Kromm is next with 16.

Justin Failla was in net for both games last weekend and got his 6th and 7th wins. 

Riley Fonger missed two games for "precautionary reasons” according to the coaches so AP Dylan Baker was the backup in both games.

On Friday there were 825 fans and on Saturday there were 506, not bad for a two game weekend, but those two game weekends are killers attendance wise.

Besides the aforementioned Fonger Susinski and Dalquist the Riders David Lenzin is also out for Tuesday. Simon Bergsagel missed Friday’s game but played Saturday and Fonger is possible.

Round the League

Before the Fernie game the Rebels lost 4-2 in Golden, lots of action in the second period... See the PIM here

After losing 3-1 here in Fernie Creston went home and lost 10-2 to Golden... Dominic Turner had 3G 2A (31 G) he could be a handful  in the first round. 

Despite outshooting Summerland 53-28 Revelstoke lost 4-3... and they didn’t like it. Check out the third PIM

Nelson defeated Kimberley 2-1 in OT in Nelson... they must have small ice there. Nelson also won 7-5 vs Grand Forks Saturday. Kimbo and Nelson  are here January 25-26.  Two first place teams, scratch those dates with a key on your fridge door.

Friday Jan 11 in the Eddie Mountain Division

Creston 1 @ Fernie 4

In Fernie the Ghostriders Johnny Elias and Tyler Witzke (Lawrie-Defosse) scored goals in the first period then Gavin Lawrie (Witzke -Defosse) scored in the second.
 Nikolas Sombrowski finished the game off with an EN goal late in the third.
Justin Faiella had the win in net and the shots were 42-28 FG.
Carson Small scored for Creston and Eric Samyn was in the T-Cat net.
A very tame game with few PIM .
Att 850

In Nelson Michael LeNoury scored in OT     and Caiden Kreitz stopped 32 of 33 Nitro shots for a 2-1 Nelson Leaf OT win. Cole Wyatt had the first NL goal.
Adam Anderson stopped 16 of 18 shots and Brock Palmer scored the KD goal. 
Att 450

In Canal Flats the Rockies hosted the Spokane Braves but it was the Braves two goals in the second period by Braiden Sparks and Kade Levins (PP) that sealed the 2-1 win for Spokane... and a 47 save performance by SB goalie Campbell Arnold.

Chase Hawkins scored the Rockies goal and CJ Wedenig was in net.

In Golden the Rockets scored 4 goals in the second for a 4-2 win over Castlegar. Dominic Turner scored  shorthanded and on the PP, his 27 and 28th goals.
A hotly contested game, you’ll want to check the summary underlined above.

With a Rider win and Rockies  loss the Rockies still have a 1 point lead on Fernie for second place, and they have a game in hand.

Rider Notes, tear stained letter Hockey Gods, beer case ?

Ghostrider Notes

The Riders tied Kimberley 2-2 here in Fernie last Friday in front of 1140 fans but lost 5-3 in Kimberley last Saturday.

In Kimberley the Riders were down 4-1 but battled back and made it 4-3 before the Nitro’s scored into the empty net.

A valiant effort considering six regulars were out and Brendan Nemes the Riders top goal scorer was kicked out for  a check from behind early in the second.

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Dylan Defosse with a goal and 2 assists was in on 3 of the 5 goals the Riders scored in the Kimberley home and home.

Johnny fast feet Elias made the game in Kimberley a 4-3 game before they scored into the empty net. Elias was shutout of the scoring since October 6th but has had  3 goals in his last four games. He was picked as the Riders Tim Horton’s  Player of the Week.

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Riley Fonger was in net for both the Kimberley games. He has also written a few stories in the Fernie Free Press on what it’s like to leave home and be a junior hockey player. Check it out, here’s part 1 the FFP archives will have them all. He takes a nice pic too. Mucho better writin than you’ll ever sea here...

Coach Jeff Wagner says he will give Justin Failla the start in one of the  two home games this weekend. And he should, you got to keep both the failla's sharp.

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Kimberley was pissin and moanin about Spencer Kennedy getting 6 games for spearing a Ghostrider December 18th. Read their tear stained letter to the world here    It didn’t get rescinded as best as I can tell but they wanted 3 of the 6 games taken back..cause they made the call up or something. They should throw a garbage can on the ice like they did a couple of years ago... I love that s**t

For the record when Harrison Risdon hit Gavin Lawrie into the boards Friday he was kicked out of the game but played Saturday... Lawrie did not play most of Friday, all of Saturday and is still listed as day to day... When Greg Susinski was hit from behind by Chase Gedny Friday  and there was no call, GS missed the rest of that game and Saturday’s game too... and is still day to day not to mention an uncalled obvious knee on Nicki Sombrowski who missed Saturday’s game... sometimes the Hockey Gods  even things out, so enough already serve the games and shutup.

 Sombrowski, Lawrie and Susinski are possible for this weekend but Dalquist and David Lenzin are not.
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Defensemen Eric Welford is out for the season, he will have shoulder surgery in February. Eric is the third player to leave the team with a season ending injury. Shaun Pierce and Ethan Jang were the other two players.

With D men Welford, Dalquist, and Susinski out of the lineup the pressure has been on the durable Tristan Down, Derek Green, Sawan Gill and 16 year old Kyle Klein (nephew of former Saber and Elk Valley Blazer senior player) Ivan Klein. And they have battled well for the Ghost. Nice work boys! AP Alim Darmenov as well.

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The Riders played Summerland in the KIJHL Showcase a couple of weeks ago, they are a very unusual team, they have 5 sets of brothers. The Riders had two last year Shaun & Kevin Pierce and Mitch & Owen Titus .

Seen and Heard

A player said yeah I talked to a scout... but he seemed like he was drunk... a good time was had by all. They were not all like that, most thought it was a Showcase not a beer case. 

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A game I want to see....The Ghostriders play the Columbia Valley Rockies this Tuesday January 15th. That game was rescheduled from November when the arena was down for roof repairs. 

That game will feature both teams with their final rosters as  the deadline to get down to 23 players and or cards is January 10th. 

Tuesday’s game is setting up to be a battle for second place... the eventual winner will get home ice in the first round against each other.

Fernie 3 @ Kimberley 5

Fernie 3 @ Kimberley 5

In Kimberley the Riders  were ahead 1-0 ofter the first period on a Dylan Defosse (Bergsagel) goal but the Nitros scored 4 in the second period. Cam Russell (2) Brock Palmer and Keegan McDowell scored the goals and the second ended up 4-1.

In the third the Riders battled back and scored two in a row Jordan Kromm (Titus) and Johnny Elias (Defosse- Darmenov) to make it a 4-3 game but Brady Daniels scored into the EN for a 5-3 final.

Brett Anderson had the win in net and Riley Fonger was in Fernie’s net.
Att 1052

Notes
The Riders were without 6 starters, 8 by the end of the game. Nikolas Sombrowski, David Lenzin, Gavin Lawrie, Eric Welford, Greg Susinski and Josh Dalquist.  Both Brendan Nemes and KD Noah Danforth were kicked out  for head shots in the second period and Kyle Klein in the third.
Kimberley scored 2 PPG and the shots were 38-18 KD

Fernie Kimberley tie and Golden defeats the Rockies in OT

Kimberley 2 @ Fernie 2 double OT

In Fernie Brendan Nemes (Defosse- Titus) scored the first goal in thesecond period then Brandt Bertoia (Bamber) tied the game up half way through. 
Kyle Ford (Elias- Gill) scored the Riders second goal on a breakaway and the period ended with the Riders up 2-1.

 Keegan McDowell (Bertoia) tied the game mid way through the third and that was it for the scoring.

The shots 41-34 KD and both goalies had to make some big saves.
Riley Fonger and KD's Adam Anderson were in net. 
Double OT solved nothing and neither team scored on the PP 
1140 fans were at the game.


Columbia Valley 4 @ Golden 5 OT

In Golden Bryce Trimmer scored with 1:17 left in OT for the Rocket win. Dominic Turner had 2 G and Ryan Baker had the win in net.
The Rockies Jesse Carr and Connor Davidson scored  third period goals to take the game to OT giving the Rockies a point in the standings.

The Ghostriders are one point behind the Rockies who are still in second place.
Fernie is in Kimberley tomorrow and the Rockies host Creston.