Rider News Sept 25

An expanded version of the upcoming Free Press Story

Returning goalie Dylan Lacroix and his Fernie Ghostriders opened the season with two wins, 6-2 in Golden and 5-4 at home against the Rockies.

A great start to the season for the coaches and players. It’s always hard to win on the road and the Rockies are a formidable opponent, they won their home opener 6-3 against Kimberley and made Lacroix earn the win. 

Last year’s goal scoring leader Dayton Nelson hasn’t missed a beat, he had a goal and three assists in Golden then scored the game tying and dramatic game winning goal with just seven seconds left against the Rockies. The 510 fans were relieved after watching the Rockies take a 4-3 lead on two quick goals early in the third.

Cole Fournier finished the weekend with four points along with Nelson’s slick skating line mate Ethan MacDuff and Kort Kisinger with three. 

Promising newcomers Aiden Kalin and Taylor Haggerty each scored their first goals along with Sean Jacobs and Liam Samycia (below) Could this be the so called secondary scoring beer sections round the world dream about.

The Riders just acquired twenty year old former Dynamiter Jack Karpyshyn from the Chilliwack Jets. Karpyshyn will join his former teammate Jacob Prebushewski in annoying Fernie writers and broadcasters who can’t speak or spell. Both these players will be good adds… well at least we’re good at math. 

The Golden game had a few harsh moments featuring Ravnoor Randawa getting a one game suspension but the Rockies game was basically a no hitter, both games were wins though.

The Riders are in Kelowna, Princeton and Osoyoos next weekend then return home to play Kimberley on Saturday Oct 8th… this one won’t be a no hitter, bring a helmet with a full cage.

In other news KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois was given a five year extension, so we better get used to him. It’s a nice change to have a former longtime coach in charge. It almost feels like he’s one of us... until my Twitter feed runs away

Here is what the league said when he was first hired, basically his coaching resume

And finally 

It’s election time in Fernie. The current Mayor and some Council members were not particularly friendly to the Ghostriders and now it costs a fair bit more to ice a team for the locals and the tourists the city says it loves so much. 

Anyway... Tracy Audia Kelly is a former Fernie Minor Hockey President and would likely be much more in tune with exactly what it takes to run a team in the KIJHL. You can read about here here

Riders win first road game

 The Ghostriders won their first game of the season on the road in Golden by a 6-2 score. They play the Rockies tonight (9/24/22) in Fernie

The line of Kisinger MacDuff and Nelson dominated the Rockets and Dylan Lacroix had a  good outing in net stopping 29 of 31 shots.

Three hundred fans were out in Golden, that was a nice turnout for the Rockets.

The Ghostriders play the Columbia Valley Rockies in Fernie tonight (Sat Sept 24)  Game time 7:30

The hometown Rockies beat Kimberley 6-3  last night CVR’s De La Salle wore #14 and had four goals.

In other news Revelstoke beat 100 Mile 9-0. Both those teams will play here in Fernie this year.

Rider News Sept 20/22

The Ghostriders play their home opener on Saturday night against the Columbia Valley Rockies. 

The Boys are back in Town

It will also be the home opener of the famous beer section as well. So as Thin Lizzy once prophesied  “The drinks will flow and the blood will spill, and if the boys wanna fight you better let em”. You can see I still live in the 1970’s, only now without hair or real teeth.

The Riders lost 4-3 in overtime in Fernie then lost 9-4 on the road to the Rockies last weekend. Both teams were using players who probably won’t be on the ice this weekend. The Rockies have some pretty good players and will be a handful this year.

Purple Haze

The Fernie Creston ex game was cancelled last week because of a hazing incident... maybe now this kind of thing will stop... but how many times have we heard that before. Read the story here

This un-scientific poll was taken an hour or so after the Creston hazing was announced. As you can see hazing is still a thing in some leagues.

 

A New AC

Former Ghostrider  Mike Anderson has signed on as an assistant coach. Mike was an integral part of the 2010/11 Silver Medal winning Cyclone Taylor Cup team. 

Two new players showed up last week, forward  Taylor Haggerty and defenceman Josh Prebushewski . Prebushewski played in the evil empire (Kimberley) last year and was part of a future considerations deal, we don’t see Fernie Kimberley transactions very often. Haggerty scored two goals in Invermere and had an assist at home vs the aforementioned Rockies.

Great News

This year JrA teams can only keep 23 players in stead of 25 so expect even more new faces in the coming weeks.

More Great News- I think anyway

After watching the exhibition games it looks like the overall talent level in the league has taken a step up from last year. This season should be interesting.

Will the league and the referees listen this season, they did last week for Kelowna and Osoyoos 

We needed this kind of sensibility last year in the Kimberley debacle seen below

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Ghostriders played three exhibition games

Sept 14

The Ghostriders played their first three home exhibition games last week. They lost 5-4 to Creston, defeated Kimberley 3-1 then lost 3-2 to Golden.

Remember, this is the pre season where players are trying out for their respective teams so you can’t  take the results to the bank or to the bar or any other places of worship. However, I will say the hate level against Kimberley was reassuring, we could have an interesting season.

In the main camp I noticed a puck land on top of the net and the players started chopping at it and it went in… I think it was the Junior B Michigan.

One thing the Ghost will have right off the start is size on the blueline. Cole Fisher, Scott Sinclair, Hayden Grabas, Kaden Slobodian and newcomer  Ravnoor Randawa are all over six feet and Sean Jacobs acts like he is.

Last week the Riders named Scott Sinclair as their Captain. Sinclair was named as the Top D man last year and he’s a quality twenty year old so should be a pretty good choice to lead the team. 

Kort Kissinger and Ethan MacDuff will be wearing the A’s . Kissinger was the top scorer and both he and MacDuff were named as team MVP’s last year.

The Riders play the Rockies in Fernie on Friday. The home regular season starts on the 24th vs Invermere.  

See you at the rink.

Ghostriders exhibition games

 The Ghostriders completed their main camp and will now play six exhibition games. Four of the games will be here in Fernie. 

Lots of the younger guys expected in the lineup on both sides for Creston game but as the week rolls on more and more veterans will see the ice.

After Creston on Wednesday we get Kimberley who will be playing their first ex game. Always potential for some fireworks when these guys go at it.

After the main camp GM Ty Valin signed.