Riders go into the Xmas break with a W

 The Ghostriders earned three of a possible four points last weekend. They lost 6-5 in overtime to the first place Rockies Thursday then won 2-1 in Kimberley on Saturday... don’t look in the rear view mirror Kimbo

Game report from the Rockies game

Game report from Kimberley

Notes from the off side

Kort Kisinger scored 2 goals and had 3 assists against the Rockies and had an assist in Kimberley, he leads the team in scoring with 23 points.

Dayton Nelson scored two against the Rockies and one in Kimberley... he is on an eight game goal scoring streak with 10 goals and 2 assists... and on a team that doesn’t score much this is important ... and  on the test.

The good... 

Fernie is a very low scoring team but blasted in 5 on Thursday...

The bad... 

They let in 6 went 0-7 on the power play, allowed 3 PP goals against and CVR's top scorer Colby Phillips had 2 goals and an assist.

The Ugly...

Ethan MacDuff was injured Thursday when he was viciously boarded in the first period... even with the new lights the referee didn’t see it. MacDuff was staggering after the hit and did not play the rest of the game or in Kimberley.  Admittedly MacDuff put himself in a bad position but come on 26 used the boards to his advantage and when you stagger it’s a brain injury... they said it wasn’t when I was young, can you tell...

It seems odd but D man Scott Sinclair scored his first goal vs the Rockies... he eats up lots of minutes has 7 assists and is pretty good at getting the puck out

Lots of kids in the old Zoo Thursday chirpin the Rockies players... could the real “Zoo” ever happen again... it was a complete gong show some nights

Jake Oviatt (Mitchell) scored the game winner in Kimberley, it was his second goal this season.

Dylan Lacroix was the first star in Kimberley... he was a beast in the third when the game was on the line and the shots were 9-1 KD

FYI Former Ghostrider Taylor Sincennes (pronounced Sincennes) is the Rockies assistant coach.

Tanner Chapman was moved to the second place Chase Heat last week, he scored a game tying goal against first place Kamloops Saturday and the Heat won 2-1 in a SO

The first place overall Osoyoos Coyotes beat their enemies from Summerland Saturday 6-5 and went 4-4 on the PP... you can’t even revenge cheap shot these guys or they kill you with their PP... I bet they would like to play the top teams on the east side of the league just to find out how they would match up in the KIJHL finals...

Anyone can win... be ready

The last place Rockets went into Invermere Saturday and surprised the first place Rockies 4-2, both Rockies’ goals were PPG,  Liam Furlong got the GW

And finally... Glass And Out means if you’re in trouble in your own end you bing the puck off the glass and get it out... but during the Christmas week and especially New Year’s Eve Glass and Out means something else entirely ... at least it did when I was younger

Ghostriders win another weekend set and are inching their way to the top

They won’t support your kids hockey team either so remember that when you do your Christmas shopping 

The Ghostriders won both games this weekend 4-1 in Creston and 4-3 at home to the Nitehawks

Game sheet from Creston is here

Game sheet from the Nitehawk game is here

A few notes from the weekend

Ethan MacDuff scored the game winning goal in both games.  So far he has 9 goals, four of them game winners  three on the power play. 

Dylan Lacroix won both of the weekend games and now has a 5-3 with 1 shutout and one shootout loss record in nine games

It took about six weeks to really get going but now Dayton Nelson is on fire and on a 6 game goal scoring streak and had a hi light reel goal in Creston Friday and started the Teddy Bear Toss Saturday. Nelson has 11 goals and 17 points and has gradually caught up with Rider top scorer Kort Kisinger 

Fernie scored three power play goals Saturday and big Cole Fisher got one of them. Like the Nelson kid it took Fisher a few weeks to find his way in the league but now he looks like a dependable seasoned KIJHL D man

Matt Schulmeister scored his first of the season Saturday, he almost had two but missed on his penalty shot 

Every week I forget this but not this week. Thanks to Phil Iddon and the City of Fernie... what Phil’s not Mayor.... well anyway the new lights in the arena make it much easier to see the game... it hasn’t worked for the referees or anything but the fans appreciate  the lights... oh shutup ref's it was just a joke

Great moments in humour ....because Beaver Valley was just here we relive the time they stood in front of Trail’s bus to protest a suspension of one of the Hawk players Full Story Here

Next Home Game is Saturday vs BV and why they will be angry

 The Ghostriders next home game is Saturday night against the Beaver Valley Nitehawks... and the Hawks will be ANGRY, they lost their last game 6-1 in Grand Forks. The Forks are dead last in the league and that was their first regulation win in their 19 games.

The Hawks also have another axe to grind with the KIJHL bosses after they fined the team $2500 and suspended Head Coach and GM Terry Jones eight games for using two players who weren’t fully vaccinated. 

The players only had one shot but are fully vaccinated now... and there is no evidence the players had or spread C19. 

Saturday’s game will be Jones’ first game back after his exile on main street. 

 Read the full story here 

For those who don’t know this is a precedent setting suspension. 

Previously teams who were caught using ineligible players lost all the points from any of the games they had played in.

These were terrible rulings as the players who did the work for the points had no idea their coaches were to lazy to check their phones and the Hockey Canada web site to see if their players were eligible... just ask the Nelson Leafs who once lost eight points in the standings and had their coach suspended for the season a few years ago. And they weren’t the only team to lose points.
Read that Story Here

The Ghostriders are in Creston Friday night and BV is at home to Castlegar.

Ghostriders earn three of four points this week

 The Ghostriders won 4-3 on the road in Castlegar and lost 3-2 at home in a shootout on the weekend.

On Friday in Castlegar they were up 4-3 after two then in the third Dylan Lacroix stopped 14 shots and the Riders held on for the 4-3 win.

Game Report Here

On Saturday against the first place Columbia Valley Rockies they were up 2-0 but in the third they got stung for a power play goal and a penalty shot when a player was accused of putting his hand on the puck in the crease. The power play goal was in the last five minutes and the penalty shot was in the last seven seconds. The Rockies' Dylan Malarchuk was the only player to score in the shoot out.

Full Game Report Here

Note Book

With five goals in his last four games Dayton Nelson has taken the goal scoring lead with 9. Ethan MacDuff got one in Castlegar and has 7.

Kyle Klein was back after getting hurt Nov 13th in Creston and had an assist in Castlegar.

Tanner Chapman a former Sicamous Eagle had the game winner in Castlegar

Goalies, Rockies Grady Nicholas and Rider Dylan Lacroix were the first and second stars Saturday

Jock Michael scored his first goal with the Riders in Castlegar and was named as the first star. Meanwhile his former team in Golden got hammered  7-0 at home by Kimberley Saturday... they only had 15 skaters and another former Rider Nick Woodrow wasn’t one of them. 

Two things we don’t know... KIJHL teams rarely list their injured players and nobody makes them so we don’t know if  Woodrow was hurt and we also don't know why they gave up on the speed skating Michael... but I’m glad they did.

Kaden Slobodian got his first point Saturday, an assist on the power play. Slobodian was in Campbell River before getting moved to Fernie. The Storm are a first place team in the VIJHL and they must be loaded if they can let this guy go. 

With three assists in Castlegar Kort Kisinger leads the team in scoring

Taylor Schmideder scored Saturday, he’s from Kimberley... we don’t see that very often here in Fernie

Nick Mitchell is a Fernie local who for various reasons played a few games in Grand Forks and then played 31games in the VIJHL in Comox where his coach was none other than KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois... it’s a small world

Ghostriders Back in the Saddle Again and some Twitter fun

After losing four in a row the Fernie Ghostriders got back on track with a pair of W’s this weekend (Nov 27-28)

On Friday Fernie surprised the first place Rockies with a very determined effort that resulted in a 3-0 (one empty net goal) road win. Both goalies Dylan Lacroix and Rockies' tender Grady Nicholas were picked as game stars and Ethan MacDuff and Dayton Nelson (2) scored the goals. 

Full stats here

On Saturday 500 fans filled the Fernie Memorial and the Riders put out another gutsy effort and earned a 4-3 win against Creston.

Presley Gordon, Dayton Nelson and Ethan MacDuff (2) scored the goals and Dylan Lacroix had the win in net.

Full stats here

Notes

The Riders had two new faces in the lineup Saturday and in my opinion they make the Riders a better team.

Forward Jock Michael skates well and competes hard at both ends of the ice and D man Kaden Slobodian fresh off the highway from Campbell River was immediately thrown to the lions and played Saturday... and by the end of the game he was playing a regular shift and saw power play time. He also stopped a certain Creston wraparound goal in the first period with a diving goal line play. 

Fernie’s penalty kill is one of the best in the league but got scored on when Adam Redding slid one under Lacroix’s pads... the ref lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle but a second later the puck trickled across the line... he allowed it anyway but probably knew he blew the whistle a little early,  everyone heard the whistle though.

The game started out with no calls and lots of hitting then all of a sudden (probably sensing things could go sideways) the whistle came out and by the end of the game Creston was furious after being called for five in a row to end the game, three in the third. 

Fernie  was 1-7 on the PP and Ethan MacDuff scored the goal... and much to the chagrin of Creston it was the game winner, his third goal on the weekend. 

Dayton Nelson (7) and Ethan MacDuff (6) lead the team in goals but Kort Kisinger with 2 assists Saturday has the most points at 12 . With 2 assists Sean Jacobs who I like more every game has taken over the lead in D scoring with 6 pts.

Captain Kyle Klein is still injured with no return date  listed.

With an 8-3 record here in Fernie McCoy Bidewell earned himself a Jr A spot in Cowichan and will not be back. 

Big time Twitter fun

First place Osoyoos played and won in Summerland last week in a game of cheap shots. Here is a couple of the Twitter comments

Tim Hogg was right... here are the results of the gong I mean game

Riders lost two this weekend

 The Ghostriders lost both games this weekend 6-1 in Golden and 4-3 at home to Castlegar. 

In Golden the Riders only goal was a power play goal from  Ethan MacDuff  The PP has been weak so that was a good thing...but they also allowed two shorthanded goals. Anyway Dylan Lacroix was in net and named as the Riders 1st star. Full report here

The team had a better showing at home against Castlegar but lost 4-3.

The Ghostriders were leading  2-1 after the first on goals by 17 year old Taylor Schmideder (2) and Cole Fournier (3)  Owen Johnson got the assist on Fornier’s goal, it was the 16 year old's first point.

 In the second Fernie local Liam Samycia scored his first goal and the period ended 3-2 Fernie. 

But in the third the Rebels scored two  for the win. Full game report here

Injuries 

Kyle Klein (C) , Scott Sinclair, and Dayton Nelson were all selling 50/50’s

After the weekend Fernie found themselves in last place... but not out of the playoffs.  This is because Spokane took another year off and the Murdoch division only has four teams. So that means whoever has the most points between the last place team in our division and the fourth place team in the Murdoch division will make the playoffs but will have to playoff in the Murdoch division. 

Essentially what that means is our division and Nelson, BV and Castlegar are getting an early Christmas Present because of Grand Forks who are almost guaranteed to miss the post season... even by my math See the next story

Full Standings Here

Around the League

The 0-14-0-1 Grand Forks Border Bruins got their first point Saturday night in Golden after tying the Rockets with one second left in the game...they lost in the shootout but still got a point. 

As of Sunday AM the Columbia Valley Rockies were in first place overall with 25 points. Osoyoos is next with 23 but have 3 games in hand. The Rockies are here in Fernie December 4th Creston next Saturday November 27.

Two of the premier KI teams are Kamloops and Revelstoke, they are tied at 20 but have 4 and 3 games in hand on the Rockies.

The  Osoyoos Coyotes won 8-3 Friday night and outshot Chase 68-19... I wish we could see them but Covid and travel costs mean they will only play here in the KIJHL final.

Some games in the middle of the province were cancelled because of the flooding, the games are listed here

McCoy Bidewell got his first two starts with Cowichan of the Jr A BCHL. Cowichan is a last place team, they lost 4-1 in Langley who are in first place. Bidewell was the game’s third star, they lost in 5-3 in Coquitlam Saturday. Bidewell is still listed as an AP

Credit hockey columnist Greg Drinnan for this amusing stat.

Cranbrook Bucks are averaging 2,236 fans through five home games. That’s second in the BCHL,behind the Penticton Vees (2,342). . . . Because you’re wondering, the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice, which has played nine home games in the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena, is averaging 1,603... the goal was always to move the Ice to Manitoba 

The Riders lost two games this weekend

 After getting at least a point in eight straight games the Ghostriders lost two in a row. In the ultra tight Eddie Mountain Division this is what that means

Friday AM standings

Sunday AM standings

The Riders lost 2-1 at home against Kimberley and the shots were 47-26 Kimberley. Goalies McCoy Bidewell and KD Matt Fleet were named as the stars of the game. Although they lost Fernie still had a few good chances to win it late. Full stats report here

On Saturday they lost 4-0 in Creston, no chance to win it late there Full game stats here

Notebook

Star goalie McCoy Bidewell is getting another shot at Jr A this time with Cowichan in the BCHL. We hear he’s going as an AP but if he wins some games maybe he sticks . No one is more deserving of that chance.

He’s coming on

Team Captain Kyle Klein went his first 11 games without a point then had a goal and 2 assists two weeks ago and scored the lone goal against Kimberley.

D man Scott Sinclair left the Kimberley game with an injury and didn’t play Saturday in Creston. He is a top two D and leaves a big hole when he’s out. Sinclair is considered possible for next weekend .

Because of stupid Covid teams are allowed to carry 25 players this year . Unfortunately that means there has been very little trickle down from Jr A so far. 

The Ghostriders have brought on Aaron Conlon as an assistant coach . Conlon is a former player who spent seasons in the AJHL with Fort Saskatchewan and Olds and in the BCHL with Merritt. 

The Ghostriders brought in goalie Dylan Lacroix from the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL after trading Brendan Lloyd  to Creston . Lloyd did not play Saturday but Lacroix did. 

Fernie heads to Golden on Friday and on Saturday Castlegar is here in Fernie . This is the only time Castlegar will play here this year . The Riders shut them out 2-0 in Castlegar Nov 5th.

Ghostriders play Kimberley Friday Nov 12

 The Ghostriders play Kimberley tonight (Friday Nov 12 ) in Fernie. It’s a battle to hold on to second place... or even end up in first place. The Columbia Valley Rockies are in Creston Friday as well.  

The standings are tight in the Eddie Mountain Division and who knows who will be in first place  Sunday AM . 

 The defence first Ghostriders actually scored 5 goals and shutout Grand Forks last Saturday and won 2-0 in Castlegar Friday. Good road wins... hope they get 5 or how about 7 against Kimberley

 

Around the League.... A group in Quesnell  is asking the City to help them secure a KIJHL franchise. Read about it here The KIJHL says they are open to expansion now after turning down both Quesnell and Williams Lake a few years ago. The small towns should be worried, it’s easier to recruit to a City vs a small town. The team in the most danger is 100 Mile House... if I was them I’d vote no.

Ghostriders have traded goalie Brendan Lloyd to Creston for future considerations. Looks like they are going with Jesse Schindel as Bidewell’s backup.

Defensemen Kyle Klein had a goal and 2 assists last weekend and McCoy Bidewell had 2 shutouts, both players were named as KIJHL Players of the Week read about it here 

Kelowna and first place Osoyoos fought it out last weekend and here are the results

Riders get a point in a shootout

 The Fernie Ghostriders went into Saturday’s home game against Golden on a 5 game win streak ... then the wheels fell off... or went upside down or something

 

Well it wasn’t really that bad, I just saw this car in the ditch they other day and wanted to use the pic. The Riders lost 5-4 in a shootout and still got a point and remain in second place.

Both teams took turns leading in the game but in the third Golden scored two  and took the game to OT then a shootout where they won.

The Full game report with all the scoring is HERE

Notebook

Dayton Nelson hadn’t scored scored since the Nelson game, he got two Saturday... he gives you everything he’s got all the time.

Kort Kisinger scored his 4th and Tanner Chapman who came here in a trade for goalie Kevin McConnachie scored his 4th as well.

Brendan Lloyd got his first start in net but was pulled late in the overtime where he had made some big saves... an unusual move, I couldn’t tell if he was hurt, or maybe they just thought McCoy Bidewell would handle the shootout better if it came to that and it did ... he stopped 5 of 7 Golden’s Mike O’Sullivan got the SO win stopping 6 of 7 .

Creston loves playing here before the time change, they get home an hour earlier... they never change their time.

Oct.23... Osoyoos’ Levi Lamotte and Princeton’s Jake McCulley each got 3 games for participating in a staged fight... the refs hardly ever call that...it wasn’t that long ago they were almost daily... I'm a dinosaur 

The winner of the KIJHL playoffs goes to the Cyclone Taylor Cup that will be held in Delta this year.   The Ghostriders hosted this in 2011 and came in second. Peninsula won. Kimberley hosted in 08 and came in second, Grandview won.

Kimberley Coach Derek Stuart who rarely gives credit to other teams thinks they lost in Fernie because of the ice. The Fernie arena has a small180 x 80 ice surface and Kimberley has a 200 x 85 surface so it's a legitimate difference.... for both teams 

Alex Johnson was traded to Golden last week, he faced off against his younger brother Owen Saturday, no goals but each one had a minor PIM .

Some Jr A players are starting to trickle down into the league now. Everyone has to get down to 25 players and or cards December 1st so things will heat up in the next couple of weeks

Things you never see... even the last place Rockets are above .500

 

Ghostriders win fifth game in a row

 The Ghostriders won 2-1 at home against Creston Friday night . Cole Fournier scored the first goal and Kolby Hennessy scored the game winner on the power play .  McCoy Bidewell had the win in net... he is the real McCoy

The Riders don’t score many goals (19 so far) but don’t allow many either (21)... but they kill penalties with the best of em 86.4% and killed 4 Friday and scored 1 on their 5 PP chances .

Golden is in Fernie tonight. They lost at home 3-1 to Kimberley Friday and are now in last place, but have 2 games in hand. 

The Rockies also lost Friday in Nelson 6-3. The Rockies will miss Guage Lajeunesse for a game or two after a 5 Min head contact call .

Some people in town don’t like speeders

A Tweet from Friday night, the Coyotes are kinda the opposite of Fernie who relies on defence vs offence .

After Friday Fernie is in second place.

Fernie makes a statement with a 2-1 SO win in Kimberley

 

Fernie 2 @ Kimberley 1 SO

With the 2-1 shootout win in Kimberley Tuesday night the Fernie Ghostriders are starting to make believers out of this writer and the local fans .

Rider goalie McCoy Bidewell was the game’s first star and Trystan Self was the second star. Both goalies had to stop several "Grade A” chances. The shots were 36-29 KD .

The third star was the Rider penalty kill in the third period,  they killed 3 of 4 when the game was on the line .

The Riders scored the first goal on a Kimberley miscue in the second period. Kimbo scored on themselves and Kort Kisinger was credited with the goal.

Halfway through the third Nitro Kade Leskosky scored and tied the game, it was on the power play and it was a Kisenger penalty... the hockey gods evened things up, or something like that anyway.

Cole Fournier was the only player who could score in the shootout, I think he was the only player on both teams who actually got off a good shot . There was snow on the ice or something and some of the players had trouble controlling the puck . But the good guys won anyway .

Creston Friday and Golden Saturday here in Fernie 

Ghostriders defeat Kimberley and a little Round the League

 The Ghostriders only played one game on the weekend and they won it  4-3 against Kimberley in Fernie Saturday  (Oct 23) . It was the Riders second home win in a row vs the Dynamiters, the two teams will meet up in Kimberley Tuesday night @ 7:00 . I really like the 7:00 start

The Riders scored the first goal Saturday and held the lead all night, but late in the game the Nitro’s scored one and put a bit of a scare into the 500 hometown fans . 

There were very few penalties compared to last weekend and probably no suspensions, well maybe... Nitro Conner Furukawa took a 4 minute spearing penalty at the end of the game and is starting to become known as a cheap shot artist here in Fernie especially after last weekend when he was suspended two games for kneeing.

McCoy Bidewell had the win in net and the shots were 43-25 KD, Trystan Self was in the Nitro net.  Jake Oviatt’s first goal was the game winner. Scoring and stats are from the game sheet Sunday AM . And as usual are subject to change .

Round the League

Fernie traded banger/crasher Ty Moore to the VIJHL’s Comox Glacier Kings for D man Nick Woodrow who also played a few games for Kimberley at the start of the season .

Last weekend Rider goalie McCoy Bidewell (4-2)  had wins against Kimberley and the first place CV Rockies and was named as one of the KIJHL’s Three Stars of the week . 

Summerland Steam Head Coach Nick Deschenes and the organization  have mutually agreed to part ways. Deschenes is a known fitness nut and was a former Grand Forks and Trail Smoke Eater  head coach. Assistant Coach Gus Cave is now the HC .

Last week Kimberley had both Lee Christensen and Max Mills leave the team, both players were termed by HC Derek Stuart as his two best D men. Christensen left to become a fireman Mills just quit . 

Kamloops is in first place but head coach Ross Grimwood says the Revelstoke Grizzlies are the best team he has seen.

The Osoyoos Coyotes are easily the most improved team so far this season . They have the most points 14 and have the most goals 46...but some of those goals were against the last place Posse (1 win) who they bowled over 13-3 Saturday .

Three of the KIJHL division’s have one or two weak teams but the Eddie Mountain Division is easily the most competitive, see below and notice the games played .  The full league standings are here

The Ghostriders make their way into Kimberley on Tuesday for the first time this season. Then on Friday they host Creston who have won 3 in a row, on Saturday the  Golden Rockets who were in 1st place for the first couple of weeks but have lost a couple of games lately are in town . 

Big weekend for the Ghostriders

McCoy Bidewell, remember that name .

The Riders won both games last weekend  1-0 at home vs Kimberley in a shootout and 3-2 on the road vs Columbia Valley also in a shootout .

Bidewell stopped all 41 shots and 3 shootout attempts vs Kimberley and 50 of 52 shots and all 3 shootout attempts vs the Rockies... he was the star of the weekend if you ask me... ya I know you didn’t . 

Kolby Hennessy scored the lone shootout goal vs Kimberley’s Trystan Self . 

Hennessy also scored the first goal vs the Rockies on the PP and Kort Kisenger scored shorthanded. In the shootout Ethan McDuff beat Tyson Gregory to get the Riders the extra point and that point got them ahead of Creston in the standings and brought them up to .500 

Fernie- Kimberley game sheet

Fernie @ Invermere game sheet

In other news

The Kimberley game featured two fights at the same time, (just what the crowd expected in a FG-KD game)... sorry HockeyBC the fans still liked it.  

Anyway, in this new  “Suspend em all and let God sort it out" hockey world we live in that meant Rider head coach Ty Valin and Nitro head coach Derek Stuart each got a one game suspension and Fernie's Dayton Nelson got two . Other lucky winners were Nitro’s Matt Saretsky, and Adam Kennedy along with Conner Furukawa who got two for kneeing. The only suspension I  agree with.

Notebook

Fernie’s 6’4” Brady Stange was called up to the Jr A La Ronge Ice Wolves and didn’t play the last two games. Him and 6’7” Cole Fisher were an intimidating dual on the blue line... Kort Kisenger and Ethan McDuff lead the Riders in points with 4 each ... Ty Moore with 24 and Kyle Klein 21 have the most PIM... McCoy Bidewell has a .947 save% Fernie locals Liam  Samyica and Owen and Alexander Johnson  got some ice on the weekend...Golden lost their first game last Saturday in Nelson by a 3-2 score...Kimberley lost their other weekend game, 7-2 to Beaver Valley

And finally Nelson head Coach Mario DiBella was suspended for harassing officials in Kimberley last week . Officials are hard to get in our area so the league should protect them . Actually we need them and can’t play without them . Kinda like the anti-vaxers harassing the doctors and nurses... someday they may really need em and probably can’t heal themselves without them

 

 

		Oct. 22, 2021
		Oct. 23, 2021

Ghostriders win their home opener and how the rest of the division fared on the weekend

 The Ghostriders defeated the Nelson Leafs 5-2 in their home opener . 

The Riders scored 3 in the second and 2 in the third for their first win on the season . 

Reese MacLean (PP) Kort Kissenger (PP) and the monstrous Cole Fisher 6’7 220 scored goals in the second and Dayton Nelson and Tanner Chapman (EN) scored in the third.  Goalie  McCoy Bidewell made some nice saves and got the win in net .

Good effort from the players who never seem to quit on a play and give it all they got . Four hundred and fifty fans were at the game. The big leagues are now allowed full capacity so it’s possible that could happen here in the near future.

Both Fernie and Nelson missed out on nice scoring opportunities because of bad passing or not being able to control the passes they received . It’s early and this always happens, the play will get a lot better in the next few weeks . 

On Saturday the Riders lost 4-1 in Golden, they took a pile of minor PIM and the Rockets scored two on the PP. Rockets now have a 3-0 record .

Kimberley lost 2-1 in Invermere Friday and were outshot 50-22 but they rebounded at home with a 2-1 win against Nelson Saturday. Nelson took a slew of penalties including Kevin Lawrence's Gross Misconduct. Kimberley has a 3-1 record .

After beating Kimberley Friday the Rockies won their second home game in a row 5-3 over the always powerful Beaver Valley Hawks. Both teams had over 40 shots... the Rockies could be for real, they certainly were before covid hit. Creston lost 5-1 in Beaver Valley but won 4-2 in Castlegar

Fernie plays in Invermere next Saturday but first they have to contend with Kimberley Friday night in Fernie.

.

Ghostriders Play Nelson Friday Oct 8th

 

The Ghostriders lost their first two regular season games on the road in Creston 4-0 and 4-1 in Nelson. They have a chance for redemption on Friday when they play Nelson here in Fernie at the usual 7:30 time .

Nelson appears to be one of the stronger teams in the league so this will be a good game for the fans to use to gauge their new team.

As of this writing the Riders had a few locals on their roster, Owen and Alexander Johnson, Liam Samyica, Hayden Grabas and Nick Mitchell.

Their full roster is here.

The roster today will likely change a bit as the BCHL and AJHL make their final cuts to start their Jr A seasons... and with an 0-2 start more than should have been put in front of the word likely.

 So far I have heard of no changes in the number of fans allowed in the building so 500 vaccinated fans will be admitted. 

Also, on a more important note, as I was driving by the rink today the Fernie Brewery was stockin up the shelves in the Beer Room.

Fernie is in Golden Saturday and Nelson travels to Kimberley to play the 2-0 Nitros.  Kimberley is in Fernie Friday October 15.

The Ghostriders play Saturday... and you can go, well maybe

Actual games, Saturday night, 500, gun shy, foaming vaccine mouthes, needle marks, AAA’s and locals

 It looks like the Ghostriders will play actual games this season. Not just a  ridiculous daily practice schedule like last year.

So far they have endured a training camp and won an exhibition game  5-4 on the road in Golden. Golden will be here in Fernie Saturday to return the favour  at 7:30.

It sounds like they will be allowed have about 500 fans, or half capacity. Read more here  But don’t bet on that number ... things change daily in this new stupid covid world. And the City, who may be a little gun shy after the arena debacle a few years ago, might have their own take on the number of fans allowed.

The KIJHL says all players and staff must be vaccinated but who knows about the fans or if they have to have a vaccine passport to get in. If there’s a pile of foaming at the mouth protesters in front of the rink...you better have needle marks in your shoulders.

The roster they posted before the Golden game had several locals and a few AAA guys from Alberta... AAA players can almost always play in this league. Hopefully a few local players can get through the first month of the season.