The KIJHL and Ghostriders will play this season

Friday the 13th, sit out, money, frat houses, scientists oh henry and strike a balance

____________________________________

After a few uncertain months it was decided that the KIJHL and the Ghostriders will play again this season, you won’t get to watch them or anything.... but they will play.

The season will start in November on Friday the13th... 2020, what could possibly go wrong...

Anyway, teams can only allow 50 people in the building so with 40 something players along with coaches trainers a few volunteers and referees we hit 50 pretty fast. The players who sit out might really sit out...

The obvious question is Show Me the Money.... with no ticket sales advertising etc the players will have to foot the bill otherwise teams will go bankrupt.  Kamloops for one says their player fees will be nearly $10,000

The hope is that by Christmas fans will be allowed back in the rinks.

The other hope is that teams can get billets for the players in this new environment . There was even some social media talk that players could rent houses, but that would be a disaster, like a frat house without all the annoying school work. 

This could be the year of the local player... they don’t need a billet, GM’s should be nice to them, actually they should have always been nice to them, this is, after all, Jr B and should feature some locals.

Referee Dr Bonnie Henry has been making the calls on how BC will respond to Covid 19.

 

As it stands now Fernie, Kimberley, Invermere and Creston will play in one division, or as the scientists call it a cohort. Yeah I know I had to look it up too. Anyway they won’t allow five teams in the cohort so to start the season Golden will play in the Revelstoke division. 

So Dr Henry what’s safer, Golden playing in our div I mean cohort or Golden going over the Rogers Pass for half of their games.

On the other end Creston may end up in Nelson’s division for the last half of the season and Golden comes back here or something.

Anyway, Spokane because of borders and 100 Mile and Beaver Valley because of the obvious health issues have opted out for the season. I get it and I am kinda surprised more teams didn’t opt out because of money after hearing all the howling about the crossovers for all those years.

The players on the teams that went dark will get put in a dispersal draft. I personally have some questions about that and think they should be free agents, we are player advocates here. On the other hand  KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois is looking out for the league plus the players and was concerned that the best players would all go to the top teams.

It could get complicated with teams charging different fees and players not wanting to move.  But the league says they will try and accommodate  both sides.

Commissioner Jeff Dubois “We tried to strike a balance that recognizes the player’s rights and still gives every team a chance to compete” Dubois' full KIJHL statement on the upcoming season is HERE

The KIJHL says October 2nd... and the usual drivel

The KIJHL Governors held their annual AGM a couple of weeks ago via some sorta video conference. The big news is that the KIJHL plans to start their season on October 2nd... we just don’t know which year, oh shut up it was a joke.

But as you probably already guessed the BC Government may have a say in that. The biggest question is do the fans have to be six feet apart or can they come to the games like they do at the rallies in the USA, otherwise known as hospital I mean normal seating.

If fans have to be unsocially distanced at 6 feet apart that would  drastically limit how many fans are allowed in the arenas.  It would make it so teams like Fernie would have to consider taking a year off until this is over.  Limited fans would be like the year in Sparwood when the team lost  around $70000.

Food for thought 

The College BCIHL  and the Alberta ACAC College sports teams have delayed their seasons until January. 

In other News 

The KI also went to 5 minutes of  3 on 3 in overtime then a shootout. Great idea that shoulda happened a few seasons ago, the coaches have learned to coach the life out of the once exciting 4 on 4. 

They also went to an electronic game sheet that will make it easier for the league to read the scribbles I mean stats and to check for ineligible players etc. I would have recommended the BC Hockey game sheet that made it impossible to put an ineligible player on the sheet. It makes the league look bad when points are taken away because a coach didn’t bother to check the HCR before putting a name up. If esports website can’t accommodate that get someone else.

And the offensive team gets to pick which dot they want the face-off at after an icing and at the start of a penalty. Great idea.

The Ghostriders have hired Joey McEwan as an assistant coach...now how we gonna tell the two coaches apart 


I had a pair of these


Just sayin....

Hope for Spokane

KIJHL season ? short schedule unpopular opinions gang up,comishe'sknife

Will there be a KIJHL season in the fall

With all the bad stuff going on right now no one can for sure answer that question. But  most leagues remain positive and say they will operate. 

Steve Hogg the GM of Summerland was quoted last week “We have full plans of having a league, but it might not get going until mid October”.

Great if you ask me, hockey and a shortened schedule, beauty. But that isn’t what the Governors wanted. I was told (before Corona) that they wanted an even longer schedule than the 49 games they played last year. 

 It is my unpopular opinion that even 49 games is too many... the volunteers get burned out. They are happy for the playoffs because the games are a little better AND because they know the end is in sight. Few will admit to that publicly, but I know it’s a fact for many. 

The Nelson Leafs are drowning in the coved sea like a few others. Read that here


Former Leaf and CNP Timberwolf Trevor Alto is the new PIJHL Commissioner... he even looks the same as he did when I met him when he was 17 in the AJHL...Will the three leagues KIJHL, PIJHL and VIJHL finally join together and gang up on BC Hockey ... united we stand divided we beg...


New KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois has a somewhat less optimistic view  saying the league may not even operate let alone start on time. Read more here He was likely posturing a bit knowing the league will be applying for federal financial assistance... join the club, the BCHL is also posturing I mean asking for the same thing

But so far no league has asked the BC government for anything 

Anyway both league bosses say if a team wants to sit out a season they can do just that with no concussions I mean repercussions, there’s that word again. So things are not great.

The various leagues must be thinking, I think... 

Will people still be willing to billet  
Will the older fans want to crowd into the buildings
Will unemployed parents have the extra cash to send kids away
Will the hard hit businesses still advertise 
Will the older coaches trainers and bus drivers still help out

Speaking of bus drivers, and we just were if you were listening, one of the first cases in our area was the Rockies bus driver, I am happy to tell you that CVR Coach Wade Dubielewicz says the driver has fully recovered. A good news story if I ever heard one.


It seems that most teams are carrying on, Fernie has recruited a couple of players, Summerland hired Nick Deschaines (Trail Grand Forks) as their new HC Kimberley has scheduled their AGM etc.


Former Academy Fury player and Fernie local Dawson Hutchinson signed with the Great Falls Americans a few weeks ago. I know for sure a few different KIJHL GM’s are interested in you... so if you don’t want to go Dawson

When Fernie hosted the Cyclone Taylor Cup several years ago I had a small part in it and fully realize just how much work goes into hosting.... at the last second 100 Mile who had already put in hours and hours of off ice work lost the tournament through no fault of their own... if any team deserves some kind of stimulus package they do.


Revelstoke Grizz owner Ryan Parent is trying to open a Hockey Academy in Sicamous.  When they are at their AGM they refer to each other as “Partners" one of the partners has low attendance and I think it’s a bit of a knife in the back. Not everyone thinks that way but....

And Finally... what ever happened to the “Fast Face-off” rule, it was my favourite change but only lasted about a month. I suspect the coaches hated it and fought against it.

The Elk Valley Raiders Pee Wee Team

This was canceled by Hockey Canada read more here 

As of  3:00 PM March 12th BC Hockey’s Tier 4 Provincial Tournament is still  a go. There will be no hand shaking sharing water bottles etc and these protocols will be in use.
 
We will be getting daily results and posting them here then repost  on some community pages.

This is The Raiders Peewee hockey team














Back Row
Trevor Dumba assistant coach Blaine Trischuk, Brayden Holberton, Eric Haugo, Soren Nicol, Mark Palmer head coach, Adam Latka, Jayden Logodi, Felix Craig-Dumba, Rhys Williams, Kacie Corkle, Travis Corkle assistant coach, 

Middle Row
Austin Marasco, Owen Rybachuk, Andrew Wittington, Sawyer Samycia, Cole Tennant, 

Front Row
Aaron Halliday-Dmytriw, Seth Coward


A submitted story about the Raiders season.

The Elk Valley Raiders are off to the Peewee Tier 4 provincial championships March 14-19, 2020 in Golden

The team is comprised of 12 and 13 year old kids (07-08 birth years) from Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford. 

This is the inaugural year of the new “Elk Valley Raiders” Peewee Rep Hockey team. Years ago there was a junior B team in the Elk Valley that were named the Elk Valley Raiders. Many of the players from the original Elk Valley Raiders Junior team still reside in the Valley. 

The Raiders head coach is Mark Palmer. Mark played with the Fernie Ghostriders and his son Tyler is a goalie playing with the NAX team in Northern Alberta this year. Tyler was selected by the Spokane Chiefs in the Bantam draft and attended their camp last fall. Assistant coach Travis Corkle also played with the Jr A Fernie Ghostriders of the 1990’s. Trevor Dumba round’s out the coaching staff.

The Raiders have had a successful season so far this year going 34-15-1 and capturing the East Kootenay Championships (Banner tourney) a couple weeks ago and winning the Provincial play downs. Both of these were against a very strong Kimberley Dynamiters team. 

Other highlights this season were winning an Alberta Tier I tournament in Okotoks in Dec and a BC Tier 3 tournament in Castlegar in January.  Once again Raiders met the Dynamiters in the finals at the Castlegar tournament and defeated them in a high scoring 9-8 game. They also beat them in the round robin play on the Saturday. This tournament was a huge morale boost for the Raiders as before this they only mustered one win against the Dynamiters in six tries. 

After this tournament the Raiders dominated the Dynamiters and have confidence going into the provincials. 

The Raiders will begin play at the Provincials on Sunday, March 15 VS Revelstoke. 

The opening banquet is slated for Saturday night, March 14 and opening ceremonies will be Sunday afternoon after the Raiders first game.

Other teams the Raiders will be playing against will be Golden, Grand Forks, Prince Rupert, Langley and Whitehorse.
The finals are slated for Thursday, March 19 at 7pm. The top two teams after the round robin will advance to the finals. 
Good Luck Elk Valley Raiders 

Ghostriders are out

Fernie 0 @ Rockies 4

The Ghostriders lost their game 4-0 and their series 4-0 Tuesday night against the Columbia Valley Rockies.

Once again Bretton Park the Rockies 19 year old goalie was the Player of the Game stopping all 31 Rider shots.

Connor Davidson (3pts)  Colby Philips 2G and Zach Dovichak EN scored the goals.

The Rockies will move on to play Kimberley or Creston... but Kimberley is up 3-1 in their series after a 5-2 win Tuesday and are headed back to Kimberley Thursday.

In other news

100 Mile won 3-0 vs Chase and now lead 3-1
Beaver Valley won 4-1 in Castlegar and win 4-0
Kelowna wins 6-1 in North Oak and lead 3-1
Princeton wins 5-4 in Summerland and win 4-0
Revelstoke wins 2-1 in Kamloops and wins 4-0
Nelson wins 3-0 in Spokane and wins 4-0

Riders down 3-0 and the other scores

Fernie 3 @ Columbia Valley 4

In Invermere 
The Columbia Valley Rockies won 4-3 Monday night and now have a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Fernie Ghostriders.

The Rockies led 2-1 after the first period on goals by Colby Phillips and Eric Lloyd.

In the second Hunter Rambo (PP) and Owen Hughes scored and the Rockies had a 4-2 lead.

Fernie's Greg Susinski scored the only goal in the third and the Rockies held on for a 4-3 win and 3-0 series lead. 

Jordan Kromm (PP) and Nolan Steer scored the other Rider goals and Brett Balas was in net.

Rockies goalie Bretton Park was the CVR player of the game stopping 31 of 34 shots. Nolan Steer with a G and an A was the Rider POG

Fernie went 1-8 and the Rockies went 1-6 on the power play.
Shots 34-33 Fernie
________________________________________
In Creston the Dynamiters won 3-1  and now have a 2-1 series lead over the T-Cats.

Jett Saharchuk scored two goals and Lucas Chilton scored the other goal. Adam Andersen got the win in net.

Vin Jackson scored for the CTC and Jaden Little was in net.

Chase won 4-2 in 100 Mile - 100 leads 2-1
Revelstoke won 3-1 in Kamloops- Revy leads 3-0
Princeton won 3-1 in Summerland and lead 3-0
Nelson wins 6-5 in Spokane and lead 3-0
Beaver Valley wins 3-2 in OT in Castlegar and lead 3-0

Riders down 2-0 and all the other scores

Columbia Valley 3 @ Fernie 1

The Columbia Valley Rockies’ Bretton Park stopped 41 of 42 shots and Erik Lloyd, Tristan Lambert PP and Kyle Lawrence scored the CVR goals and the Rockies now lead the series 2-0 heading back to Invermere on Monday night.

The Riders were out of it for a while but seemed to wake up part way into the second period firing 19 shots at Park but he stoned them. In the third the only Rider goal was off a huge blunder by one of the Rockies who passed the puck out from behind his net right on the tape of Alaister Standen’s stick that was stationed in the slot.

The star of the game was 19 year old Bretton Park who made several enormous saves, he was even better than he was on Friday night.

The shots 42-27 Fernie, and the power plays were  CVR 1-4 FG 0-4

Fernie’s Ethan Fitzgerald was in net Saturday and Brett Balas was in net Friday.

In other news

Kimberley outshot Creston 41-15 and won 4-0 tying their series up at 1-1 Adam Anderson had the shutout.

Kelowna defeated North Oak 3-1- series is at 1-1

Princeton won 4-2 vs Summerland- they lead 2-0

Revelstoke won 5-2 vs Kamloops- they lead 2-0

100 Mile wins 1-0 in Chase - they lead 2-0

Nelson wins 6-1 vs Spokane -they lead 2-0

Beaver Valley wins 6-3 vs Castlegar- they lead 2-0