Riders go into the Xmas break with a W

 The Ghostriders earned three of a possible four points last weekend. They lost 6-5 in overtime to the first place Rockies Thursday then won 2-1 in Kimberley on Saturday... don’t look in the rear view mirror Kimbo

Game report from the Rockies game

Game report from Kimberley

Notes from the off side

Kort Kisinger scored 2 goals and had 3 assists against the Rockies and had an assist in Kimberley, he leads the team in scoring with 23 points.

Dayton Nelson scored two against the Rockies and one in Kimberley... he is on an eight game goal scoring streak with 10 goals and 2 assists... and on a team that doesn’t score much this is important ... and  on the test.

The good... 

Fernie is a very low scoring team but blasted in 5 on Thursday...

The bad... 

They let in 6 went 0-7 on the power play, allowed 3 PP goals against and CVR's top scorer Colby Phillips had 2 goals and an assist.

The Ugly...

Ethan MacDuff was injured Thursday when he was viciously boarded in the first period... even with the new lights the referee didn’t see it. MacDuff was staggering after the hit and did not play the rest of the game or in Kimberley.  Admittedly MacDuff put himself in a bad position but come on 26 used the boards to his advantage and when you stagger it’s a brain injury... they said it wasn’t when I was young, can you tell...

It seems odd but D man Scott Sinclair scored his first goal vs the Rockies... he eats up lots of minutes has 7 assists and is pretty good at getting the puck out

Lots of kids in the old Zoo Thursday chirpin the Rockies players... could the real “Zoo” ever happen again... it was a complete gong show some nights

Jake Oviatt (Mitchell) scored the game winner in Kimberley, it was his second goal this season.

Dylan Lacroix was the first star in Kimberley... he was a beast in the third when the game was on the line and the shots were 9-1 KD

FYI Former Ghostrider Taylor Sincennes (pronounced Sincennes) is the Rockies assistant coach.

Tanner Chapman was moved to the second place Chase Heat last week, he scored a game tying goal against first place Kamloops Saturday and the Heat won 2-1 in a SO

The first place overall Osoyoos Coyotes beat their enemies from Summerland Saturday 6-5 and went 4-4 on the PP... you can’t even revenge cheap shot these guys or they kill you with their PP... I bet they would like to play the top teams on the east side of the league just to find out how they would match up in the KIJHL finals...

Anyone can win... be ready

The last place Rockets went into Invermere Saturday and surprised the first place Rockies 4-2, both Rockies’ goals were PPG,  Liam Furlong got the GW

And finally... Glass And Out means if you’re in trouble in your own end you bing the puck off the glass and get it out... but during the Christmas week and especially New Year’s Eve Glass and Out means something else entirely ... at least it did when I was younger

Ghostriders win another weekend set and are inching their way to the top

They won’t support your kids hockey team either so remember that when you do your Christmas shopping 

The Ghostriders won both games this weekend 4-1 in Creston and 4-3 at home to the Nitehawks

Game sheet from Creston is here

Game sheet from the Nitehawk game is here

A few notes from the weekend

Ethan MacDuff scored the game winning goal in both games.  So far he has 9 goals, four of them game winners  three on the power play. 

Dylan Lacroix won both of the weekend games and now has a 5-3 with 1 shutout and one shootout loss record in nine games

It took about six weeks to really get going but now Dayton Nelson is on fire and on a 6 game goal scoring streak and had a hi light reel goal in Creston Friday and started the Teddy Bear Toss Saturday. Nelson has 11 goals and 17 points and has gradually caught up with Rider top scorer Kort Kisinger 

Fernie scored three power play goals Saturday and big Cole Fisher got one of them. Like the Nelson kid it took Fisher a few weeks to find his way in the league but now he looks like a dependable seasoned KIJHL D man

Matt Schulmeister scored his first of the season Saturday, he almost had two but missed on his penalty shot 

Every week I forget this but not this week. Thanks to Phil Iddon and the City of Fernie... what Phil’s not Mayor.... well anyway the new lights in the arena make it much easier to see the game... it hasn’t worked for the referees or anything but the fans appreciate  the lights... oh shutup ref's it was just a joke

Great moments in humour ....because Beaver Valley was just here we relive the time they stood in front of Trail’s bus to protest a suspension of one of the Hawk players Full Story Here

Next Home Game is Saturday vs BV and why they will be angry

 The Ghostriders next home game is Saturday night against the Beaver Valley Nitehawks... and the Hawks will be ANGRY, they lost their last game 6-1 in Grand Forks. The Forks are dead last in the league and that was their first regulation win in their 19 games.

The Hawks also have another axe to grind with the KIJHL bosses after they fined the team $2500 and suspended Head Coach and GM Terry Jones eight games for using two players who weren’t fully vaccinated. 

The players only had one shot but are fully vaccinated now... and there is no evidence the players had or spread C19. 

Saturday’s game will be Jones’ first game back after his exile on main street. 

 Read the full story here 

For those who don’t know this is a precedent setting suspension. 

Previously teams who were caught using ineligible players lost all the points from any of the games they had played in.

These were terrible rulings as the players who did the work for the points had no idea their coaches were to lazy to check their phones and the Hockey Canada web site to see if their players were eligible... just ask the Nelson Leafs who once lost eight points in the standings and had their coach suspended for the season a few years ago. And they weren’t the only team to lose points.
Read that Story Here

The Ghostriders are in Creston Friday night and BV is at home to Castlegar.

Ghostriders earn three of four points this week

 The Ghostriders won 4-3 on the road in Castlegar and lost 3-2 at home in a shootout on the weekend.

On Friday in Castlegar they were up 4-3 after two then in the third Dylan Lacroix stopped 14 shots and the Riders held on for the 4-3 win.

Game Report Here

On Saturday against the first place Columbia Valley Rockies they were up 2-0 but in the third they got stung for a power play goal and a penalty shot when a player was accused of putting his hand on the puck in the crease. The power play goal was in the last five minutes and the penalty shot was in the last seven seconds. The Rockies' Dylan Malarchuk was the only player to score in the shoot out.

Full Game Report Here

Note Book

With five goals in his last four games Dayton Nelson has taken the goal scoring lead with 9. Ethan MacDuff got one in Castlegar and has 7.

Kyle Klein was back after getting hurt Nov 13th in Creston and had an assist in Castlegar.

Tanner Chapman a former Sicamous Eagle had the game winner in Castlegar

Goalies, Rockies Grady Nicholas and Rider Dylan Lacroix were the first and second stars Saturday

Jock Michael scored his first goal with the Riders in Castlegar and was named as the first star. Meanwhile his former team in Golden got hammered  7-0 at home by Kimberley Saturday... they only had 15 skaters and another former Rider Nick Woodrow wasn’t one of them. 

Two things we don’t know... KIJHL teams rarely list their injured players and nobody makes them so we don’t know if  Woodrow was hurt and we also don't know why they gave up on the speed skating Michael... but I’m glad they did.

Kaden Slobodian got his first point Saturday, an assist on the power play. Slobodian was in Campbell River before getting moved to Fernie. The Storm are a first place team in the VIJHL and they must be loaded if they can let this guy go. 

With three assists in Castlegar Kort Kisinger leads the team in scoring

Taylor Schmideder scored Saturday, he’s from Kimberley... we don’t see that very often here in Fernie

Nick Mitchell is a Fernie local who for various reasons played a few games in Grand Forks and then played 31games in the VIJHL in Comox where his coach was none other than KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois... it’s a small world

Ghostriders Back in the Saddle Again and some Twitter fun

After losing four in a row the Fernie Ghostriders got back on track with a pair of W’s this weekend (Nov 27-28)

On Friday Fernie surprised the first place Rockies with a very determined effort that resulted in a 3-0 (one empty net goal) road win. Both goalies Dylan Lacroix and Rockies' tender Grady Nicholas were picked as game stars and Ethan MacDuff and Dayton Nelson (2) scored the goals. 

Full stats here

On Saturday 500 fans filled the Fernie Memorial and the Riders put out another gutsy effort and earned a 4-3 win against Creston.

Presley Gordon, Dayton Nelson and Ethan MacDuff (2) scored the goals and Dylan Lacroix had the win in net.

Full stats here

Notes

The Riders had two new faces in the lineup Saturday and in my opinion they make the Riders a better team.

Forward Jock Michael skates well and competes hard at both ends of the ice and D man Kaden Slobodian fresh off the highway from Campbell River was immediately thrown to the lions and played Saturday... and by the end of the game he was playing a regular shift and saw power play time. He also stopped a certain Creston wraparound goal in the first period with a diving goal line play. 

Fernie’s penalty kill is one of the best in the league but got scored on when Adam Redding slid one under Lacroix’s pads... the ref lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle but a second later the puck trickled across the line... he allowed it anyway but probably knew he blew the whistle a little early,  everyone heard the whistle though.

The game started out with no calls and lots of hitting then all of a sudden (probably sensing things could go sideways) the whistle came out and by the end of the game Creston was furious after being called for five in a row to end the game, three in the third. 

Fernie  was 1-7 on the PP and Ethan MacDuff scored the goal... and much to the chagrin of Creston it was the game winner, his third goal on the weekend. 

Dayton Nelson (7) and Ethan MacDuff (6) lead the team in goals but Kort Kisinger with 2 assists Saturday has the most points at 12 . With 2 assists Sean Jacobs who I like more every game has taken over the lead in D scoring with 6 pts.

Captain Kyle Klein is still injured with no return date  listed.

With an 8-3 record here in Fernie McCoy Bidewell earned himself a Jr A spot in Cowichan and will not be back. 

Big time Twitter fun

First place Osoyoos played and won in Summerland last week in a game of cheap shots. Here is a couple of the Twitter comments

Tim Hogg was right... here are the results of the gong I mean game

Riders lost two this weekend

 The Ghostriders lost both games this weekend 6-1 in Golden and 4-3 at home to Castlegar. 

In Golden the Riders only goal was a power play goal from  Ethan MacDuff  The PP has been weak so that was a good thing...but they also allowed two shorthanded goals. Anyway Dylan Lacroix was in net and named as the Riders 1st star. Full report here

The team had a better showing at home against Castlegar but lost 4-3.

The Ghostriders were leading  2-1 after the first on goals by 17 year old Taylor Schmideder (2) and Cole Fournier (3)  Owen Johnson got the assist on Fornier’s goal, it was the 16 year old's first point.

 In the second Fernie local Liam Samycia scored his first goal and the period ended 3-2 Fernie. 

But in the third the Rebels scored two  for the win. Full game report here

Injuries 

Kyle Klein (C) , Scott Sinclair, and Dayton Nelson were all selling 50/50’s

After the weekend Fernie found themselves in last place... but not out of the playoffs.  This is because Spokane took another year off and the Murdoch division only has four teams. So that means whoever has the most points between the last place team in our division and the fourth place team in the Murdoch division will make the playoffs but will have to playoff in the Murdoch division. 

Essentially what that means is our division and Nelson, BV and Castlegar are getting an early Christmas Present because of Grand Forks who are almost guaranteed to miss the post season... even by my math See the next story

Full Standings Here

Around the League

The 0-14-0-1 Grand Forks Border Bruins got their first point Saturday night in Golden after tying the Rockets with one second left in the game...they lost in the shootout but still got a point. 

As of Sunday AM the Columbia Valley Rockies were in first place overall with 25 points. Osoyoos is next with 23 but have 3 games in hand. The Rockies are here in Fernie December 4th Creston next Saturday November 27.

Two of the premier KI teams are Kamloops and Revelstoke, they are tied at 20 but have 4 and 3 games in hand on the Rockies.

The  Osoyoos Coyotes won 8-3 Friday night and outshot Chase 68-19... I wish we could see them but Covid and travel costs mean they will only play here in the KIJHL final.

Some games in the middle of the province were cancelled because of the flooding, the games are listed here

McCoy Bidewell got his first two starts with Cowichan of the Jr A BCHL. Cowichan is a last place team, they lost 4-1 in Langley who are in first place. Bidewell was the game’s third star, they lost in 5-3 in Coquitlam Saturday. Bidewell is still listed as an AP

Credit hockey columnist Greg Drinnan for this amusing stat.

Cranbrook Bucks are averaging 2,236 fans through five home games. That’s second in the BCHL,behind the Penticton Vees (2,342). . . . Because you’re wondering, the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice, which has played nine home games in the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena, is averaging 1,603... the goal was always to move the Ice to Manitoba 

The Riders lost two games this weekend

 After getting at least a point in eight straight games the Ghostriders lost two in a row. In the ultra tight Eddie Mountain Division this is what that means

Friday AM standings

Sunday AM standings

The Riders lost 2-1 at home against Kimberley and the shots were 47-26 Kimberley. Goalies McCoy Bidewell and KD Matt Fleet were named as the stars of the game. Although they lost Fernie still had a few good chances to win it late. Full stats report here

On Saturday they lost 4-0 in Creston, no chance to win it late there Full game stats here

Notebook

Star goalie McCoy Bidewell is getting another shot at Jr A this time with Cowichan in the BCHL. We hear he’s going as an AP but if he wins some games maybe he sticks . No one is more deserving of that chance.

He’s coming on

Team Captain Kyle Klein went his first 11 games without a point then had a goal and 2 assists two weeks ago and scored the lone goal against Kimberley.

D man Scott Sinclair left the Kimberley game with an injury and didn’t play Saturday in Creston. He is a top two D and leaves a big hole when he’s out. Sinclair is considered possible for next weekend .

Because of stupid Covid teams are allowed to carry 25 players this year . Unfortunately that means there has been very little trickle down from Jr A so far. 

The Ghostriders have brought on Aaron Conlon as an assistant coach . Conlon is a former player who spent seasons in the AJHL with Fort Saskatchewan and Olds and in the BCHL with Merritt. 

The Ghostriders brought in goalie Dylan Lacroix from the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL after trading Brendan Lloyd  to Creston . Lloyd did not play Saturday but Lacroix did. 

Fernie heads to Golden on Friday and on Saturday Castlegar is here in Fernie . This is the only time Castlegar will play here this year . The Riders shut them out 2-0 in Castlegar Nov 5th.