Riders go 2-1 COF Celebrates Minor Hockey Week and a Little drivel

Tuesday January 21st the Ghostriders went into Kimberley and lost 7-2 to the Nitro’s. 

 Kimberley scored 1 in the first  3 in the second and 3 in the third for a convincing home ice win.

KIJHL scoring leader Brock Palmer had two goals and an assist and McDowell and Piva also had three point nights. Adam Anderson had the win in net.

Fernie goals were off the sticks on Owen Titus and Gavin Lawrie while  Brett Balas took the loss in net.
508 Fans at the game.
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On Friday night in Fernie Ethan Fitzgerald and his Riders turned the tables on Kimberley with a hard fought 3-2 win. Fernie had period leads of  1-0 and 3-1 then held on in the third.

Fitzgerald faced 52 shots and was a Player of the Game. Seamus Keith scored in the first Nolan Steer (3pts) and Gavin Lawrie scored the Rider goals in the second. Harrison Risdon scored for Kimberley in the second and Brock Palmer got the Nitros within one in the third but Fitzgerald shut the door. The shots ended up 52-26 for the KD. 
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On Saturday a relaxed Rider team easily bounced the last place Golden Rockets 5-2. Johnny Elias scored 2 nice goals  in the first and Alaister Standen, Jordon Kromm and Greg Susinski scored the other goals while Brett Balas had the win in  net. The Rockets had a few really good chances in the second but Balas made some great stops, the goal they scored in the second was only after he heroically stopped three or four in a row before they finally got him out of position.
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Notes
The Riders had 951 fans Friday, on Tuesday in Kimberley they had 508... how absolutely  stupid is it WASTING weekday games on these two teams when both of em get around 1000 on weekend's. Fernie had a Tuesday game back in September. The schedule will be very important next year because....

The City of Fernie celebrated Minor Hockey Week (January 19-25) with a big gala affair meeting where they told  FMH and everyone else that they intend to really jack up the rink rates next year  for all the users. I don’t know about MH but it will mean something like $20,000 for the Ghostriders... so if you can price the Riders and a few other tenants out of the building you won’t have to needlessly build a new arena and rec complex....

Wellcome to the Jungle... you don’t see hardly any fighting anymore but if your going do it, pick a D man... Dylan Nevil did that Friday when he fought KD Noah Danforth... never hurts to shorten up Kimbo's back end a bit.

Heartwarming moment, almost as heartwarming as Green Day at the NHL All Star Game... Jordon Kromm hammered a player into the glass Saturday then gave his his father Brent who was just inches away on the other side of the glass a huge smile. You can’t make this stuff up.

Creston picked up former Fernie goalie Jaden Little who was released at the deadline. Little was in Fernie for one game vs Castlegar a 7-4 win in November then went back to Jr A. 
Little won his first game with Creston Friday 3-1 vs the visiting Rockies then won 6-5 over Kimberley Saturday... could Creston with a Little help work their way into third place and a date with the Riders in the first round.... will Carson Small decide he wants to play again....wouldn’t  that make for an interesting series. Creston D better take better care of this goalie

The KI has a 49 game schedule- notice the games in hand

Riders win Friday... Hunters crushed no brawl new hockey and hardly any drivel

Seamus Keith scored what would turn out to be the game winning goal (and probably the nicest goal)  in the Riders 6-2 win over the struggling Creston Thunder Cats Friday night in Fernie.

Creston actually outshot Fernie in that game 56-44 but, although he was good, new goalie Brett Balas didn’t have to stand on his head or anything. The Riders usually do a pretty good job of limiting  Grade A chances against but do allow their share of low % shots. 

Balas was not picked as a player of the game probably due to the above paragraph. Hunter Maximnuk (1G1A) was, he was  traded for Cody Quinton a couple of weeks ago. Maximnuk’s on ice body language says he’s happy to be in Fernie and he plays like it. A different type of player than Quinton who scored 2G Saturday in Castlegar and was a player of the game there. A good deal if you ask me but who would...

One of the Riders absolutely crushed former Rider but now Creston goalie Justin Faiella to the ice during a scrum in front of the net. First I looked for the ref but he was on the other side of all the players so didn’t get a good look, then I looked for Creston to respond to what should have been a line brawl... but nothing. I like this new hockey less and less with each passing game.

All the scoring below



The Riders were without their top scorer Dylan Defosse  who served his final game of a 3 game suspension from the Sicamous debacle. Defosse (99) leads the goal scoring race with 19G followed closely by Jordon Kromm (99) with 18 and Seamus Keith the 18 year old with 17. Can the rookie win the race... 

The D -can  rookie Aaron Hladiuk with 26 points outpoint Greg Susinski (99) 27 points and Sawan Gill 21 pts.

Creston’s Carson Small was their top scorer... he decided to go home. Creston has a few new deadline players who look pretty good, they just don’t have quite enough of them...Small and his 24 goals would have made a difference

The Riders move on to a home and home with Kimberley and then play Golden next weekend. 

And finally, unless a complete meltdown by Fernie or Kimberley, the Riders will not catch Kimberley and no one will catch Fernie for second. 

But the race for third and fourth is alive and well, notice the games played. The KIJHL has a 49 game schedule and the playoffs will likely start on February 25th give or take a day or so.

Credit Golden's players for battling back from no home ice for several weeks and staying in the PO race... something that we haven’t had for a few years... normally by Christmas four teams get a Xmas present knowing they are in.

Riders pass a test Saturday

The Ghostriders passed a big test and answered a couple of questions Saturday night in Revelstoke.

First of all they won 4-1 against a top team from the other side of the KIJHL and their new goaltender Brett Balas who replaced Chance Griffith at the deadline stopped 49 of 50 shots for his first win with his new team.  

Also Hunter Maximnuk scored his first Rider goal, Maximnuk came from Castlegar for the playing rights of Cody Quinton .

This year unlike last year the Riders are legitimate contenders to win the KIJHL... and I think they still have one more card

Chance Griffith went to Carrot River wherever that is at the deadline. It is a reality of junior hockey... and our good friends at Hockey Canada agree... I think anyway

Riders win in Sicamous and some excellent reaction you’ll wanna read

The Ghostriders ran up the score in a controversial 8-2 game on the road in Sicamous Friday night.

Seamus Keith scored 3 goals and had an assist, Jordon Kromm 2 goals and an assist Johnny Elias, Gavin Lawrie and Aaron Hladiuk scored the other goals... this is all from the on line game summary Saturday AM Jan 11, BC- Before Chisels

So far Dylan Defosse has a 3 game suspension but Andrew Berkelaar’s Gross was not on the KI site. You should be able to figure out what the gross was for by the end of this post.

The Riders are in Revelstoke Saturday night in what will be a benchmark (but shorthanded)  game against the first place Grizz.  It is on the Drive 99.1 radio

The controversy as always was courtesy of both teams but from the various media feeds it looks like the Riders were pretty happy about beating the last place Eagles. Campbell is the Eagles PxP guy

An anonymous comment... but if the shoe fits 

Sicamous has 4 guys with over 100 pims and the team total is 987 pims. This shit show was bound to happen, it just happened to be us...  

Well it certainly was a “shit show” & neither team was innocent but those Fernie guys were down right rude! If you weren’t there don’t try to tell me what was being said everyone in the stands could hear it! #notwhatexpectedfromthemorus

Well now we know what the Gross was for....

The revised version of the PIM

Fernie wins two and the usual drivel

The Ghostriders won both home games this weekend, 3-2 in OT vs Golden and 3-1 against Castlegar.

Friday the Riders were down 2-0 but scored two in the third then Johnny Elias scored the overtime game winner ... but if they ever figure out how to finish even half of their breakaways penalty shots and other good scoring chances these games won’t go into OT. 

Fernie goalie Ethan Fitzgerald was in net for both games this week and last week vs Kimberley.  For his efforts Fitzgerald was named as one of three KIJHL Players of the Week .




Ryan Baker was in the Rocket net Friday and made several great stops and helped earn the GR at least a point. On Saturday Baker stopped 43 of 44 and  Jaden Callan scored in OT to give the Rockets a 2-1 win over Kimberley in Cranbrook.  

Cranbrook was fairly good for the Rockets, they had wins against Fernie 4-2 and Kimberley 2-1 but overall it probably cost them a playoff spot and a ton of money...



Seamus Kieth was hit by an unseen check to the head Friday and didn’t play Saturday... hope that wasn't one of the only four concussions BC Hockey says happen in the Province every year...

On Saturday Fernie defeated Castlegar who are in a fight for their playoff lives with Grand Forks by a 3-1 score. Both Golden and Castlegar are big on finishing their checks and that helped them compete and throw a little fear into the Fernie faithful. 

On Saturday Dylan Defosse scored all 3 goals but was credited with 4 goals on the on line game sheet even though only three goals were entered on the sheet. Tell me again why the league keeps on using esports. As a former webmaster I have a whole host of reasons to get rid of em... several other web masters round the league agree as well.



Thanks for the video Greg... At the end of the Rebel game they stole Fitzgerald’s water bottle  I really like this kinda stuff... discipline... oh shut up

 You can see the video here

pic.twitter.com/Wujjm5CWTV@suski99) January 5, 2020

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4:35 PM - Jan 5, 2020

Notebook

A few fans thought that Golden’s Colton Hutchinson was a Fernie local... Colton is from Calgary, the player they were thinking of is Dawson Hutchinson, he is playing with the Fernie Academy Fury this year. The shorthanded Riders probably would have used him as an AP but the Fury were in some sort of tournament 100’s of miles away.

Really starting to notice #21 Carson Cecconi  lately, he’s a former Fury player... and he is a hostile witness, the more the merrier... also fits the bill... Dylan Nevil has been out for weeks but played both games this weekend.

Looks like Connor Nolan is no longer with the FG and is in the SJHL with Melville, got someone else or shoulda kept Backhouse?

Fernie is at 22 now so have room for one more player...the trade deadline looms ever closer Jan 10

On Sunday the Rockies won 5-2 in Nelson, the Leafs  were assessed  five check to the head penalties and a 5 minute check from behind major
 Anyway it brought the Rockies a little closer to Fernie in the standings



100 Mile acquired Khale Skinner’s rights from the Rockies, he promptly went out and got a 6 game match. He’ll be back shortly but Bruin Josh Garlough-Bell who threw a puck at a linesman in Spokane last weekend won’t be. The accumulating check to the head penalties are also starting to show up now.



Congratulations to Canada’s juniors on their terrific comeback win in the Gold Medal Game. Next year the tournament will be in Edmonton and Red Deer. How much do they pay the Hockey Canada staff anyway


 Only in Canada you say