The Ghostriders won all three games this weekend, 6-4 vs Nelson, 7-4 in Castlegar and 8-3 in Spokane.
Captain Dylan Defosse had a 5 point night in Spokane and 9 points on the three game weekend.
Gavin Lawrie is on a 9 game point streak, 15 pt’s in November. Aiden Gleisner is at 6 games Johnny Elias 5
But as usual in this league those points could get changed a bit on Monday when the coaches of the league get out their chisels.
F/D man Owen Titus scored in Spokane but the Riders Twitter says he had 2 goals... you just can’t depend on the online game sheets.
Congratulations to Jordan Kromm, he has 5 goals in his last four games and has signed up along with Greg Susinski to play at a college next season.
A couple of weeks ago #8 Seamus Keith head butted a Nelson player and the Leafs scored a PP G in OT to win that game. In a rematch last Thursday Keith dug out a puck from the Nelson goalie and fed Elias for the game winning goal late in the third. Redemption...I like the wild card in the lineup, plus he’s a player.
The Riders brought in goalie Jaden Little last week, he stopped 49 of 53 shots in Castlegar for his first win. Now they have to make a decision, move the 8-3 Chance Griffith or 5-6 Ethan Fitzgerald this will be interesting for a couple of different reasons....
All teams have to get down to a total of 25 players and cards on December 1st. Most GM’s go to 21 or 22 players so they have room in case a good player shows up at their door.
According the the FG web page Fernie has 24 players... sooo
The Riders tried to move Derek Unerberger and Kole Fujita to Campbell River last week but they wouldn’t report... the River needs bodies, they have whole host of injuries including broken legs, fingers a few concussions etc ... hitting is alive and well in that league. For the record the River is a perennially very good team, are a recent Cyclone winner and have a fan base like Fernie.
If a player wants to stay closer to home, especially at this time of year when you are going to get released in a few days anyway. Don’t go ! After all BC Hockey and Hockey Canada want you to have positive experiences, that’s why, at the next level they allow CJHL teams to trade players clear across the country and if they don’t go they suspend em for 30 days.
Do the teams keep track of concussions, does the league...
Last season before the fine system we had several coaches from different leagues complain about the head hits, this year the leagues and BC Hockey have been very successful at silencing them.
Anyway in the Nelson home game last Thursday Mike Holowatuk was on the receiving end of a hit to the head from Jaden Shumulak and he left the game and didn’t play all weekend. It was clearly a 5min major but was called as 2...
Head hits are cumulative and are starting to show up on the limited KIJHL discipline page. CTH = check to the head
Anyway the Rider players had a great weekend and have now won 5 in a row and have taken over second place.
Kimberley has kept pace and are on a 6 game win streak, they won their last game 4-0 vs Creston, KI top gun Brock Palmer had 3G1A and Piva his line mate had 3A
December will be an interesting month for the Fernie Kimbo rivalries that are not nearly as hot as they used to be but the games are better than the usual ones and there’s always the possibility of fireworks.
In other news Osoyoos coach Dean Maynard and the Coyotes have parted read that here
First place Kelowna lost 6-3 to Summerland Friday then won 4-1 vs Grand Forks Saturday.... someone laid down the Law Saturday...
The Ghostriders and Rockies put on a show for the fans Friday scoring 11 goals and firing 77 shots at each other in a game the Riders won 6-5.
The Riders got up 6-3 when Greg Susinski scored what would turn out to be the game winner late in the second. Susinski, for the record, missed last weekend when he flew down and committed to the U of Jamestown where he will play with a who’s who of former KIJHLer’s . Castlegar’s Hunter Maximnuk and Creston’s Trail Thompson and Andrew Clark also committed at the same time
The Riders in their press release said they are proud when a player graduates, Creston said they were beyond proud in their release, does that go back to the Lawrie -Green trade CVT made happen in September... anyway it’s worked out well for both players. Lawrie has 9 points in his last 6 games and Green a D-man has been unleashed and has 16 in 18 games.
In the Rockies game Nolan Steer (who looks better every time I see him) scored two while Lawrie, Defosse and Standen chipped in with singles. Chance Griffith got the W in net.
The Rockies are alright to watch and could have even won that game like they did in Invermere the week before. I look forward to seeing them and their GM and HC Wade Dublielewicz, who says he’s getting a good D man back and his young team is on the way up, again in December
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On Saturday the ZZ Top coached Osoyoos Coyotes were hunted down for a 7-1 loss. Game summary is here Ethan Fitzgerald had the W in net.
Levi Young scored 3 goals in that game, his 3-4-5th goals and 8th point in 7 games. He’s solid as a rock with a Jr A shot but got caught up in the end of the game fights. Young gave a player a crosscheck in the back after he looked like he had snowed the goalie then Coyote Chance Derickson attempted to cross check Young in the face so he had to defend himself. Kole Fujita was also dragged into it but no instigator was called so all four were suspended.
Also, what the video didn’t show was one of the coaches throwing things on the ice... but it did show a linesman steer wrestling a Coyote to the ice... I thought he was gonna tie his legs together with a rope or somethin.
The next game is in town against Nelson who with 33 points are tied with Kimbo for 1st overall and they just beat Grand Forks 10-1... maybe both teams will have big heads next week and things will equal out.
Look at all the former KIJHLers playing Sr Hockey in Rossland
The Riders lost a close game on a PP goal in OT last week vs Nelson, the offending player didn’t play Friday so the coaches must agree it was a legitimate call... but you don’t just do that without provocation.
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Full Rider scoring
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The 100 Mile House Wranglers are getting back on track with a nice 5-3 win vs Revelstoke. Darian Long had 3G. 100 is hosting the Cyclone so it will be interesting to see who Duner can pickup in the next few weeks.
The Rockies won 4-3 vs North Oak and Kimberley won in Golden 4-3 Saturday. Even the Nitro’s aren’t running away with games this year.
Does the league track concussions
And finally... I have heard over and over again both sides of the Don Cherry saga... the one thing I totally agree with is how Rex Murphy ended his editorial
I’d rather walk down a dirt road on a cruel February night listening to Don Cherry telling hockey stories than spend a whole warm evening in a banquet hall with his preening detractors.
The Ghostriders lost both of their games this weekend, 5-2 in Invermere and 4-3 in OT at home to Nelson.
Alaister Standen scored both goals against the Rockies, his second goal with 2:11 left in the game made it 3-2. The Rockies scored 2 in the empty net after that. You have to try, I can’t count how many times, even at the NHL level, teams fail to score into the empty net.
The Riders lost 4-3 to Nelson in Fernie. This was on my Twitter after the game.
Nelson scores on the power play in OT
Questionable goals and non goals and a late penalty that both players participated in
Glad I wasn’t the ref tonight
Good road game by the Leafs
Riders were good enough to win as well
Both goalies (F-Fitzgerald N- Violette) made nice saves
Lets get this straight I am not blaming the ref for the loss
Rider goals were by Dylan Defosse, Gavin Lawrie and Andrew Bonham . Defosse was the Riders player of the game and a nice slick player named Cole Wyatt (2G inc the OT winner) was Nelson’s POG
The Riders newest player is Nolan Steer, he’s a pretty mobile skater and should add to the Riders scoring. He was playing in the SJHL in Weyburn before he came to Fernie... wondering how he ended up here ? Here is a screenshot from their stats page, recognize anyone...
The Riders were without a couple of assistant Captains on the weekend, Greg Susinski and Jordon Kromm were out of the lineup because they were visiting a school in the USA about a potential partial scholarship.
This is what the Coaches say when they are recruiting players, "we are all about moving players on”, . So some guys missing a couple of games to move on shouldn’t be a problem, at least it never was before. If they go it will be up to the team to announce it not me.
Rider D Sawan Gill was named as one of three Hot in the KIJHL stars of the week. Read that story here
The division is close so far..Golden couldn’t afford to lose two points... read on
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Nelson and Kimberley lead the league with 29 points, the Riders have 21. Fernie is very close to those teams, they were not last season the gap between the top teams and the above average teams like Fernie is small, adding the Standon’s Young’s and Steer’s of the world has made it even smaller.
Osoyoos won their first game Friday, they beat Kamloops 3-1, then on Saturday they tied 100 Mile 2-2... all without their head coach on the bench... what does that mean... I don’t know but they are here in Fernie next week.
Nelson and Kamloops had a spitting contest last weekend and a Twitter account called @KijhlS (KIJHL Sniper) reported on it and a few days later most of what he said was proven true in a story by Marty Hastings one of the best writers the league has. Read that drama here
The KiJHL Commissioner went crazy in that article and even called him a coward who was trying to destroy the league or something prompting the Sniper to post this.
If you want to learn what REAL search and destroy is type in NHL on Twitter you will find some of the nastiest personal s**t ever on teams and players.
So don’t worry about some obscure Twitter account, all you do is call attention to it... besides you have much bigger fish to fry like the whale of a disaster that hurts recruiting and everything else when your teams play ineligible players. Golden is the latest team to do that, Summerland was the recipient of the points. There is a simple answer to this, either hire a registrar or use the BC Hockey on line game sheets. This happens almost every season, you just have to make it idiot proof....
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And Finally and not a moment too soon ... I am not the Sniper, many of you think or probably hope that I am but it ain’t me
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RIP Earl McPeek, Earl was one of the founders of the Elk Valley Blazers senior hockey team of the 1980’s. Some of the players are listed here
The Blazers played in the old AAA WIHL for the Allan Cup. Fernie never won it but we saw Cup winning teams from Spokane and Cranbrook right here in town. I’ll never forget it, it really was old time hockey with several ex pro's... A former Blazer remembers Earl
The Ghostriders lost 4-3 to Creston and 8-3 Beaver Valley last weekend then redeemed their points with a 5-4 OT win in Creston and a 4-2 win against BV in Elkford this weekend.
Smooth Sawan Gill scored the game winning OT goal in Creston and had an assist vs BV Saturday, this is great for the Riders getting him on the right track
Alaister Standen was back in the lineup and scored in Creston, if he can stay healthy...
Andrew Bonham Gavin Lawrie and Dylan Defosse also scored in Creston and Chance Griffith got the chance to start in net and won
Seamus Keith did not play against BV, he got 2 games for a 5 min Check from Behind in Creston. He can play again on Saturday.
Creston was 1-10 Fernie 0-3 on the power play, but those are KIJHL on line stats so are probably #$%^’d
Creston’s Logan Berggren had 2G and an A, he’s a nice player to watch and he’s big...all star
In the BV game Aiden Gleisner scored the game winner with :42 seconds left. Lindeman scored in the EN after that. Greg Susinski and Levi Young scored the other goals and Chance Griffith got the win in net and now has a .923 save %
With Kimberley losing 2-1 in Grand Forks the standings got tighter... but they won 3-2 (OT) in Spokane when Ryan Piva scored in OT, his 2nd of the game Palmer had the first goal.
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He said she said
In Nelson the Kamloops Storm were accused of racially taunting a Nelson player read that here then we saw this on Twitter
Nelson will be here in Fernie next weekend, they are on an 11 game win streak but play two more games before they get here. This will be a premier game and it’s in Fernie, see below
Osoyoos has the worst record, they are 0-14. The Columbia Valley Rockies have passed Golden in the standings by 1 point and have a game in hand. Both Osoyoos and CVR are in Fernie for a double header in two weeks... couldn’t they have played one of those games in Elkford.
I thought November 1st was All-Saints Day
The last suspension is the Sicamous goalie, here’s what they had to say
Former Rider Josh Dalquist seems to have found a home in Creston and was named as one of the three stars of the week.
Kelowna remains one of the top teams, they just defeated 100 Mile 9-2. 100 is hosting the Cyclone Taylor Cup in the spring, they need to be good... watch the transaction page Duner won’t be happy.
December 1st is a big cut down day in junior hockey... there will be lots of competition for players this season.
IMO The best teams are not a mile ahead of the above average teams so the KI Championship is open to more teams than usual. A few junior A cuts could change some stuff.
Went out last Saturday to watch the Ghostriders play Creston and the game ended up 4-3 Creston giving them a four point lead on the Riders for second place. Kimberley who just defeated Revelstoke 6-1on the road remain in first.
Kimberley picked up Ryan Piva last week, he had 4 points in Revy as did scoring sensation Brock Palmer... like they needed anymore firepower.
The Riders were trailing 2-1 after two then 3-1 about six minutes into the third vs Creston. They made it close when Spare Player who’s real name is Levi Young scored from a bad angle... it was a rocket of a shot. It’s not that hard to enter the players name on the esports website, I think the coaches call it attention to detail whenever they’re berating their players. Fernie is not the only team to miss that
In a nutshell, Creston was the better team in the first the Riders the second and in the third Creston wanted it more.
1/Nice to see former Rider Derek Green wearing an A
2/Carson Small had 2G
3/ CVT Kyle James showed flashes of brilliance, his brother was a star in the league a couple of years ago
4/Wingenbach and CVT Small were named players of the game
5/ Shots 40-39 Creston and 7 goals scored made it interesting
6/ Alaister Standen who we talked about last week did not play
7/ Dylan Defosse had an assist but missed on a couple of clear breakaways, could have changed some things...how does he get so open
8/Owen Titus scored as a forward but got put back on D. It may have been his first goal according to the website... but you can’t always believe what you see there
9/Creston loves playing here before the time change, they get home an hour earlier. The Riders are in Creston on Bill Ohlhausen time next Friday so it starts at 8:30, it is a scheduled Drive 99.1 Radio broadcast game
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Round the League
Nelson beat Beaver Valley 3-1 in BV Friday, they are a premier team and play here in Fernie next month. BV is almost here next weekend...but they are not, they play in Elkford
Fernie local Nick Mitchell was playing in Grand Forks and just got traded to the Comox Glacier Kings. Former Creston Coach Jeff Dubois is in Comox and played him Saturday.
Castlegar’s Hunter Maximnuk (3) and Nelson’s Jaden Shumilak (2) were recently suspended for harassment of officials. They don’t keep the suspensions up for more than a few days so you have to keep checking. Makes it look like the cages have sanitized the game... but they haven’t... and they aren’t the first players suspended for harassing refs, thick mouth guards so they can’t talk are next...
It’s now official North Oak has lost 8 points. Read it here
This seems to happen every year and it makes the league look really amateurish. If you can’t trust the GM’s to check the Hockey Canada registration page then you have to hire a league registrar . Make it so nobody can put a player on the game sheet who isn’t carded properly. Or use the Hockey BC game sheets, then only properly carded players and coaches can be entered. Yes we hear the esports web page won’t support the Hockey BC game sheets, why do we love esports so much...
The Jr A Calgary Mustangs were rumoured to be moving to Cranbrook last summer but never were, they are moving to Blackfaulds Alberta read that here
Sooo the Ghostriders had a fairly convincing 7-0 win over Summerland on Friday then Beaver Valley had a fairly convincing 8-3 win over Fernie on Saturday. Hawk Brad Ross, the KIJHL’s second leading scorer, had 2G 2A
But it doesn’t make sense, the night before the aforementioned BV Hawks only managed to tie the visiting Golden Rockets 3-3 and last week the Riders won 4-2 in Golden so what gives... answer- there is no such thing as A² plus B² equaling anything of value in hockey, or, if you ask me, in life either. I just learned how to put the little² above a letter so I wanted to use it.
Jordon Kromm was the Riders top scorer last year, he scored two in BV, his 5th and 6th keeping himself at an even point a game.
New forward Alaister Standen who was in Melford (SJHL) and I think was a AAA midget player last year in Okotoks also scored in BV and had one against Summerland. He’s for real an upgrade and worthy of keeping an eye on. He seems to have some chemistry with Seamus Kieth who has had points in his last 4 games but missed a couple with an injury.
Gavin Lawrie who the Riders had to do circus acts to reacquire from Creston in September scored 3 vs Summerland, had an assist in BV and has 6 points in his last 3 games.
Ethan Fitzgerald wears #1 and seems to be the Riders #1 got first KIJHL shutout Friday but was in net in BV the next night. Shutouts are hard to get... you can’t daydream, some of us would never get one.
In the things I’d like to see department... Summerland’s Ethan Grover who wore #14 teamed up with the Rider’s Greg Susinski that pairing would strike fear in a few KD jets with big hands.
Round the League
Creston will be here in Fernie next week for a big, well as big as it gets in October anyway, divisional game . They lost 5-4 to Kimberley Friday when big hands Brock Palmer scored in OT... his 4th point his line mate Jett Saharchuk had 3A
In Revelstoke the Chase Chiefs' Vince Benedetto faced 61 shots and got the 3-2 OT win. Breckin Erichuk scored the overtime GW on the power play after the Griz took an OT spearing penalty. Hockey gods speak sometimes.
Loclyn Kabatoff who I think led the KI in PIM with 211 last year is back at it leading the way with a 12 game suspension for the physical abuse of an official. I didn’t see the video but they need to protect the refs. A far cry from Zach Baba
The Nelson Leafs are here in November and have won 7 in a row. They just got Shawn Campbell (99) back, he has 9 goals in 5 games. We get to see the NL twice in November.
The Rockies are on a 3 game win streak and back in the race for the final playoff spot, they won in 100 and Kamloops this weekend. They make their first appearance in Fernie in November.
The North Okanagan Knights are the first team to lose points for using an ineligible player. But it may not be final. I most certainly have an opinion on that but lets find out if it’s for sure first.
I have had a few people ask me if I knew where Tyler Palmer was playing this season. He is with the Northern Alberta Extreme Elite 15’s. They attract some great players, last year the Extreme had Matt Savoie he was drafted 1st overall in the WHL bantam draft by the former Cranbrook Ice who are in Winnipeg now. Have a great season Tyler... wouldn’t it be nice to have a Fernie kid in the lineup for a change
Photo -Tyler Palmer- is stolen from the Extreme web page
The Ghostriders won 4-2 in Golden Saturday. Soon to be 19 year old speedy forward Johnny Elias scored his 4th and 5th goals and is on a 6 game scoring streak that saw him rack up 10 points... he has 13 so far in just 10 games, it took him 39 games last year to get to that lucky number. A year older at that age can make a big difference... it gave his stick a chance to catch up to his feet.
Gavin Lawrie scored the GW in Golden, Elias had the primary apple.
Former Rider Kory Zinck was traded to Kimberley from Creston last week. When Creston was here in September Zinck was stirring it up in front of the Rider net inciting a scrum that saw Aiden Gleisner come from behind and start patting him on the head like he was saying good dog Kory good dog... I just love that s**t Gleisner scored the first goal in Golden last Saturday as well, his 3rd and 8th point.
Goalie Chance Griffith has taken off, he won his last 4 starts in a row 3 were on the road 2 were against divisional opponents and 1 was at home vs Princeton, who had just won in Kimberley.
Kimberley had to cancel their game vs Golden last weekend and we speculated it was an ammonia leak and that was confirmed HERE Princeton was late getting into their rink because they changed away from ammonia and Cranbrook’s small rink had an ammonia problem in September. Lest we forget
Kimberley beat Kelowna 3-2 Saturday, we don’t do algebra here so just because Fernie lost to Kelowna it doesn’t mean they are better...they might be, we’ll find out more in December.
The Nelson Leafs who lost all but 1 game in September have won 4 in a row in October but were in the news for another reason last week when D man Andrew Gates had to retire because of concussions Last year Nelson’s Logan Wullam retired for the same reasons...but back then players and coaches could tell everyone what they really felt and on Twitter it was a gong show. Read a small taste of the hysterics here
The struggling 0-10 Osoyoos Coyotes just picked up goalie Curt Doyle from the previously struggling Nelson Leafs, it is Doyle’s 4th team, click his underlined name. Curt made 57 saves against Revelstoke Saturday night... he certainly gave his team a chance to win but the Yotes lost 1-0.
I heard some coaches think Revelstoke has the best team, we won’t see them here in Fernie this year but the players go to Revy in January.
Jeff Dubois has been coaching in the BCHL in Alberni Valley for the last couple of years but just moved to the Island where he will take over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings in the VIJHL. Dubois, you may remember, was the boss in Creston for a few years and won two championships with the BCIHL Selkirk Saints in the college league . Congrats Jeff.
And finally... and not a moment too soon. Have a clean house, HC is watching the face-mask leagues The KIJHL has done a fantastic job of posting the transactions this year but it’s a case of giving with one hand (Thanksgiving) and taking away with the other (Carbon Tax ). The discipline page does not keep the suspensions up for the season even though they are cumulative . Last year you could see all suspensions listed on the transaction page for the whole season and you could see for yourself who was accumulating games. Go to the transaction page then go back a year and check it out if you don’t believe.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers Twitter and Facebook followers and anyone else illiterate enough to understand this
