Riders have a wild weekend and a few other things

The Ghostriders only played one game this week and that was in Kimberley against the first place Dynamiters.

The Riders lost that game 3-2 when  Nitro Carter Spring scored with just 15 seconds left in the game.

Kimberley’s Cash Regan  scored in the first then Kyle Klein (3) scored in the second only to have Connor Klassen score to regain the one goal lead.

In the third Ethan MacDuff scored his 14th tying the game up a 2-2 but as we said earlier Kimberley scored late for the win.

The Rider’s were outplayed and outshot 45-26 in that game but new goalie Casey Thomson gave them a chance to win and was named as the first star, he stopped 42 of the 45 shots he faced.

In the last seconds of the game the Riders had a chance to score but couldn’t beat Trystan Self. Just after their chance one of the Nitros knocked Ben Couvier down from behind in front of the net and when he got up he speared the first player he saw.

Anyway after that the fists were flyin and Couvier was mobbed by several Nitros and the Riders joined in as well  

The results of that little team building exercise :

Fernie Ghostriders head coach Ty Valin is suspended 2 games for failing to control the bench at the end of a period 
 Ben Couvier is suspended 8 games as the result of being assessed a Match Penalty for Spearing 
Jock Michael is suspended 5 games as the result of participating in a post-game altercation and being assessed a Major Penalty for Fighting 
Cole Fournier is suspended 2 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation
Jake Oviatt is suspended 2 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation 

Kimberley Dynamiters head coach Derek Stuart is suspended 2 games for failing to control the bench at the end of a period
Conner Furukawa is suspended 6 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation and being assessed a Major Penalty for Fighting 
Ty Smith is suspended 3 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation
Tyler Russell is suspended 3 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation
Kasey Miller is suspended 2 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation
Adam Kennedy is suspended 2 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation 
Matthew Fleet is suspended 2 games as the result of leaving the bench to participate in a post-game altercation

In other news... on Saturday the hometown Rockies beat the aforementioned Nitros by the same 3-2 score keeping them in the race for first place, Scott Tompson had the W in net but Trystan Self had to be the first star in the KD net... but they were a little shorthanded...

The Rockies will now have a great chance to capture first place...

In Creston the Cats beat Castlegar 6-1 and in Golden the Nelson Leafs won 4-0 virtually assuring themselves a date with the Rockets in the first round. Nelson will lose John Carmichael for three with a Gross Misconduct in that game.

We still don’t know who Fernie will play in the first round ... the teams play a 42 game schedule here are the standings.. there will still be some movement

The KIJHL asked the coaches who their unsung heroes were and Ty Valin picked Jock Michael

The guys respect him for the way he plays on the ice,” said Head Coach and GM Ty Valin. “He plays an honest game. He blocks shots, wins faceoffs, and he doesn’t care what we ask for him to do, he will go out there and do it. That is something that is huge on the team. Everything that he does – the way he practices, plays, is wearing off our dressing room – it’s contagious.”

Terry Cryderman was named as the winner of George Majic Spiritus Award.

Cryderman is a former Minor Hockey and KIJHL referee... he used to sit down and smoke a pipe between periods... and us linesmen never thought anything of it... it was a nice change from the cigarettes... it was a long time ago in a different era

Now A History Lesson

The late George Majic, who the award was named after was one of the founding fathers of the Ghostriders and he was the first ever President of the team back in 1991.

Some other winners with ties to the Ghostriders are

Former Treasurer Anita Palmer  (2011)

 Anita’s money juggling and President Phil Iddon's stern hold on the wheel  kept the team afloat at the end of Fernie’s Jr A days in the crazy expensive AWHL and NAHL allowing the Ghostriders to survive until they joined the much cheaper to play in KIJHL 

Gerry Pang  

(2018) "The Panger”  was a former Assistant Coach with Barry Wolff, Craig Mohr and Will Verner

And the first ever recipient of the award was the late Benny Mangone (2006) Benny was a great fundraiser for the Riders and many other causes for decades