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.

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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.