Rider News August 30

The Ghostriders are in Kimberley tonight, this will be their third exhibition game but Kimberley’s first.

Ideally, for evaluation and fan fun purposes it would have been better if both teams were into their third or fourth X-games so that they could ice lineups that were close to what they’re going with on opening day... but it is what it is...because the KI starts too early according to Nitro Coach Stuart and most coaches agree, wait till Jr A is done.

So far the Riders have two 2-2 tie games. Also so far, three veterans have scored the goals, Owen Titus and Eric Welford scored in Invermere and Brendan Nemes scored both goals in Golden. 

Coach Wagner says he still has 14 forwards, 8 defensemen and 4 goalies in camp. Time for new guys to score and make the team is now...

Speaking of new guys the Riders have signed 17 year old forward Niki Sombrowski who is fresh off a season with the Edge Prep ( a school focused on athletics and academics) just out of Calgary.  The Sombrowski family, if you don’t already know, owns the private school here in Fernie. Niki may play in Creston on Saturday.

Wagner also signed soon to be 16 year old defensemen Kyle Klein from Elkford. Kyle played 4 games with the Riders as an AP last season.  “He was our best D in Golden"

The Riders had two, 2-2 ties and last night Golden tied the Rockies 1-1. Come on you guys this is exhibition season shouldn’t we have some 6-5 extravaganzas . Are we gonna need minus numbers and algebra to figure out the scores in the tighter regular season?

Without ice in the Fernie arena the Ghosties are forced to practice in Cranbrook... but the old arena has an ammonia leak, just like in Fernie so it is closed. The players will get to skate in the big rink on Friday Sunday Tuesday and Thursday before opening the season up in Spokane on Friday.

The boys aren’t off the hook between practices either Wagner “We’ve been doing circuits with a lot of high intensity interval training”. 


Greg Susinski and Kory Zinck have returned from Jr A camps. Susinski actually got into a fight in Golden with Steve Bigam... with cages, is that some sort of KIJHL trivial pursuit question I’ll be asking when I’m 64 or something... oh wait a minute. 
Zinck is scheduled to play in Kimbo tonight.

Ethan Jang is still in Alberni’s camp as well, he was a pretty good 16 last year but missed 10 or so games with injuries. 

After reading the Worksafe report about the arena leak It’s Here
there will be lawyers just pouring into the province, check out the hi way tomorrow afternoon at about 4:00...

Ghostrider update August 21

The Ghostriders have finished up Main Camp and are still in Calgary where they are working out both on and off the ice.

The boys will be back in time for Monday and Tuesday's games in Invermere and Golden then the Thursday game in Kimberley.

If this exhibition season is like all the others we won’t learn very much in the first couple of games but when the teams cut down and get a lot closer to their opening day rosters...

It is a disadvantage not being here in Fernie on home ice but the cup half full philosophy (where did he learn that word)  would go like this... all players and coaches will tell you their team becomes more of a team after their first big road trip... and the Riders will be on the road for a month before finally playing here in Fernie on September 15th.

After Main last weekend Coach Wagner said “We have a good foundation coming out of camp and a good group for the exhibition games” I’m excited to see where it goes.”... well actually Jeff, so am I, and that goes for all the other fans too.

The Riders also have some practices scheduled for Cranbrook between their four exhibition games. It’s hard to get ice in August.

Ghostrider returning players, in no particular order are

Forwards
Brendan Nemes
Keelan Saworski
Jordan Kromm
Dylan Defosse
Sam Rousseau
Owen Titus
Devyn Stewart

Defense
Tristan Downe
Derek Green
Shaun Pierce
Eric Welford
Greg Susinski (at a Jr A camp )

New players are

Forwards
Brody Bauder
Patrick Ramos
Chase Fioretti
Justis Rutas
Sebastian Iannuzzi
Cole Gibson
Chase Gregory
Kory Zinic (at a Jr A camp)
Niki Sombrowski (at a Jr A camp)

Defense
Sawan Gill
Kyle Klein (AP last year)
Matt Kachmar
Ryan Van Boven
Josh Dalquist (at a Jr A camp)

Goalies
Returning- Zak Larson, Broc Merkl 
New- Justin Faiella, Saran Virdee

Coach Wagner wants his players to be fit and  says he’ll be pushing them both on and off (gym) the ice.

The brine lines are now hooked up... still hearing things will be on time.

Main Camp Day one

 The Ghostriders are into the second day of their main camp. Here’s what head coach Jeff Wagner had to say about day one.

Day one was a good day to finally meet all the players. We had a practice that was designed to showcase both skill and execution combined with conditioning and battle and compete levels. 

It was a quick indication of how each player spent their offseason and I’m looking forward to seeing how the games and dryland sessions go on day two.

D-man Grayson Neufeld has committed to Minot State

D-man Grayson Neufeld has committed to Minot State

The Ice Plant is here

The Latest Arena Update

The good news is that according to the COF the arena will open on time !   That means Rider fans will see their first home game in the  Fernie Memorial on Saturday September 15th vs Creston.

And I'm told the plant should be in place in the next week or so as well.

Now for a little bad news (readers should be used to that kind of thing by now). The rink needs some structural work done to the roof before it snows ... like it’s going to cave in or something, the snow melts off when the heaters are turned on but what do I know.

Anyway the arena will close for about a month in late October or November so contractors can do the work.

That means the Riders will have to try and schedule a few games on another ice surface. The good news is wherever they end up playing the games the roads will still be good.

I can’t believe the structural problems just showed up out of thin air, they must have known months ago. And they have been allowed back in the rink for several months as well but nothing was done... also it didn’t help that one of the investigating teams waited two months to show up... thus agonizingly delaying this screamingly slow process.

Ghostrider Update July 30th

The Fernie Ghostriders Head Coach and General Manager Jeff Wagner has hired former Ghostrider Justin Peers as his Assistant Coach for the upcoming 2018/19 season. You can read Jeff’s full press release here


 Justin, who is 22 years old will be a good fit for the Riders and the players should be able to relate to him as he’s just a couple of years removed from being one of the inmates himself, so he’ll know what they are going through. 

Peers played three seasons with the Riders, had a scoring touch and was a very likeable guy with a great sense of humour... he even  mugged for this tweet one summer when he was working at Fernie Home Building Centre.


How can you not like a guy like that.

Next up is the Ghostriders Main Camp on the weekend of August 17-19.

Players who want to attend camp can get hold of

Head Coach and General Manager 

Jeff Wagner
Cell Phone (Team) 1-250-423-0619
Cell Phone 1-403-512-9631
Email wagner.ghostriders@gmail.com

The Riders exhibition schedule

In Invermere  Aug 27

In Golden      Aug 28

In Kimberley  Aug 30

In Creston     Sept 1

Yes I know it’s all road games... remember the part about the arena not being open yet...

As September inches ominously closer... the arena saga continues...

The pad for the new ice plant or “Chiller” has been poured and is ready, if and when the new plant shows up.
 At one time we were told it was going to be in place by August 1st...

On July 30th I asked Mayor Mary Giuliano via email if the arena would be open on time and her reply was.

“Were waiting on some information to make a final decision. It does look like this date (Sept 10th) is possible and certainly everyone is going for it.”

This report says the workers were not aware of the danger a  small hole in the “Chiller” presented.
Betting the lawyers are salivating so much they’ll need floor drains in their offices. 

More from Jeff Wagner
The Fernie Ghostriders are pleased to announced the KIJHL commitment of '00 Forward Kory Zinck. Kory spent the last 2seasons playing Midget AAA in Alberta, most recently with the Airdrie CFR Bisons where he scored 3 goals and added 7 assists in 35 games. Welcome to Fernie @koryzinck12!

I have never seen Zinck on the ice... but usually AAA players can play in the KIJHL. 

Some of the other new players this season are


Defenseman Ryan Van Boven. Ryan played in 25 games for the Midget AA Gold and scored 5 goals and 4 assists.

Defensemen Josh Dalquist, Josh had 5 assists in 35 games for the Midget AAA Calgary Flames.

Forward/ Centre Kyle Ford. Kyle scored 12 goals and added 14 assists in 27 games for the Midget AA Stamps.

Defenceman Sawan Gill. Sawan played 24 games for the AA Midget Canucks last year scoring 3 goals and adding 12 assists.

Also David Sanchez’s rights were acquired via the Nelson Leafs, he is a left winger.