Ghostrider Update Mid August- and a few other things

 Fernie Ghostrider update August 14th/23

1/ Rider Head Coach and GM Ty Valin has signed up to coach again this year, this will be his third season with the FGR. Valin’s team has improved each year so this season could be interesting. Coach Valin is still looking for an assistant coach, interested coaches can apply    here

2/  After a long contentious back and forth the league has finally sorted out their schedule. 

3/ Fernie Exhibition Games

4/ The Regular Season Starts September 23rd and ends with a home and home against Kimberley on February 16/17. Full Schedule Here

5/ The Ghostriders still have a few spots open for their Main Camp, more about that here 

6/ The Ghostriders Hockey School also has a few spots open and you can read all about that here 

7/ The Ghostriders are still short a few billets, If you are interested you can read all about that opportunity HERE

8/ A new rule, all KIJHL teams will be allowed 6 twenty year old players, that is up from 5 and is long overdue IMO. All the other leagues have 6 and some even have 8. Remember, there won’t be the usual amount of player cuts in January because of the larger roster rule so the extra 20 year old player will be a blessing. 

9/ Larger rosters...Hockey Canada says teams can carry 25 players this year, up from 23. I don’t like it, too many players will sit out every night. But the coaches like it to cover for for injuries.

10/ Conspiracy Theories ... there have been  “Outlaw Leagues” popping up like gophers in a wheat field last few years and Hockey Canada wants to poison them... I mean do something about them. So they decided to let all the teams use 25 players instead of 23. Now literally hundreds of players across the country won’t be available to those gophers.

11/ Will we have enough referees if the refs can’t do both unsanctioned and sanctioned games. Not everyone agrees on this but certainly there will not be enough referees for the KIJHL to go to a four man system. Trail Minor Hockey is very worried about it and thinks tournaments the KIJHL and minor hockey will suffer. Read that here

12/ KIJHL President Jeff Dubois is walking a tightrope with BC Hockey screeching we're gonna use the referees to get even with the BCHL  in one ear and his Executive Board howling hey we got the new Jr A label so don’t rock the BC Hockey boat in the other ear.

13/ Dubois in an interview that will you want to read if you are at all concerned about refereeing at all levels “I realize a bunch of those guys have made the decision to go to the BCHL and that’s 100 per cent fair.”

14/ BC Hockey (probably)  WHAT do you mean fair Jeff ?

15/ Um... “We’re expecting not to have any issues filling our games, and we support BC Hockey’s stance in terms of not being able to officiate both sanctioned and unsanctioned hockey,” Dubois added.

16/ Dubois says he is confident that while missing several quality officials, BC Hockey will provide what’s required for the various leagues in the province including the KIJHL.

17/ Oh shut up the works of you, the best way to develop good referees is let them ref as many games as they can. Clinics are one thing but the on ice work is where real development and learning what and when to call stuff actually happens... and you guys know it, well maybe not BC Hockey.  

12/ If you ever wondered what happened to minor hockey at the Bantam and Midget level here is a list of the U17 CSSHL (Academy) teams...A great development league but you better be ready to pay, and lots.

Yahoo were Jr A or something like it

Yahoo we’re Jr A or something like it

 Well the worst kept secret in all junior hockey happened this week when BC Hockey decided to reclassify all 45 BC Jr B teams as Junior A. 

But not real junior A, they are so mad at the BCHL for leaving Hockey Canada they made up a completely new American style tiering system just to get even. 

Modern Hockey I bet that makes em mad

So now Jr B will be called Jr A Tier 2 surprised they didn’t call it Division 2.

And next year, if your team qualifies, that’s a secret code for has enough money, they can  move to Junior A tier 1. 

No one knows what the qualifications will be, but for sure twenty or so teams won’t make it so there is a potential for Fernie fans to see something better than what we have, but if all 45 make it you will never see what is even close to a Jr A quality product. A long story on this is here 

When we find out what the qualifications are to be called  A1 we will tell you about them.

BC Hockey would also like to go to a 4 man referee system... but shoot themselves in the foot by banning the referees that they say they love so much from doing both sanctioned (us) and unsanctioned (BCHL) games. In Alberta they do both, but here they have a chance to pit one against the other so that’s what they are going to do.  BC Hockey stubbornly says they have enough referees, but Vegas probably has different odds.

And finally... the KIJHL was able to stop former Jr A teams from Quesnell and Williams Lake from joining their league a couple of years ago. But now with  BC Hockey in tantrum mode and making up new rules as they go, the KI may not be able to keep their footprint in tact, BC Hockey has way bigger feet.

Ghostrider News July 6/ 23

 Ghostrider Head Coach and GM Ty Valin has been busy lately signing players, arranging camps and a hockey school.

The Hockey School and Camp announcements were late coming out because they had to wait for the City to confirm the dates.

The Hockey School is from August 21st- 30th details are here and Main Camp is from September 1-3 details are here

The Ghostriders are in desperate need of Billet  families for next season, more information here

Could the Riders be classed as Junior A next season?

Well BC Hockey is so pissed off at the BCHL because they went outlaw and are not part of Hockey Canada anymore that they could allow the three Jr B leagues to call themselves Jr A. And we may have some sort of announcement next week...according to that gong show of only the truest of information- Twitter

If all those 40+ teams get JrA status they won’t really be junior A, everyone knows there simply aren’t  enough A players,  but they may be able to keep a few guys that ordinarily would move up to the SIJHL etc.

Also the various A leagues have decided to keep 25 players instead of 23. So literally dozens of junior A caliber players from the BCHL, AJHL, SJHL  etc won’t be available to us this year.

In other news, in Saskatchewan the SJHL will NOT be joining with the BCHL in their march to Pretoria or what ever it is. 

In that press release seen Here- the SJHL players voted 91% to pay more money for insurance so they would not have to wear full face shields. The KIJHL was never given that option.

The AJHL went to a full travel intense interlock schedule (you play all teams) and some franchises may not be able to keep going. Canmore says it will cost them another $65,000 this year- read that here 

Could it be that the AJHL just wants to cull the herd... several teams in the south are worried about money. 

The BCHL is going to shoot the same Buffalo with their free to play rule... all teams will have to be free to play in a few years, and they know full well that some of the Buff I mean teams won’t make it.

Keep that in mind if you are hoping Fernie will go Jr A. BC Hockey could have some expensive  surprises in-store for the unsuspecting governors... like maybe just allow 10 teams scattered throughout the Province. Get a good bus.

And finally, and not a moment too soon, have you noticed that several new leagues are popping up and they are all outlaw. One is the Junior Prospects league that is to be a feeder for the BCHL teams. Cranbrook is the latest to get a team . Hockey Canada is slowly losing their  grip on reality (and hockey) here in Canada... they may have to out some players read it here if you don’t remember 

The Latest in the BCHL hockey saga

The ongoing saga of the BCHL leaving Hockey Canada continues...

Like the new logo with Modern Hockey 

The Outlaw BCHL lost a team last week when the Wenatchee Wild owners bought the Winnipeg Ice (former Kootenay Ice) and will move them to the US to play in the WHL’s US division this season. 

The BCHL franchise is now for sale for around a million dollars and their players are  free agents and can go anywhere they want. 

Unlike the KIJHL who dispersed players when two teams did not play during the Covid debacle and were not granted free agency. Where are the lawyers when you need them.  

FYI The WHL team sold for somewhere around five million. 

The Ice left Winnipeg because they couldn’t get a WHL standard sized arena built... you know, just like the citizens of Cranbrook built for the Ice as part of the agreement to bring the WHL to Cranbrook.

Cranbrook has an ongoing lawsuit against the Ice for breaking their contract.

There is a good chance that we won’t have enough referees for the upcoming season because the idiots at BC Hockey say if you referee in the BCHL you can’t referee anywhere else. 

So BC Hockey who claim they want to Lead, Develop and Promote Positive Lifelong Hockey Experiences  will actually hurt hockey with their stupid attempt at getting even with the BCHL by banning the refs and also not allowing the BCHL players and coaches to go on the ice and help minor hockey players. How positive is that...They have way too much power and money.

This is from a media guy in Alberta who covers the AJHL.Refs can do both leagues in AB

Some  Ghostrider news. Rider star forward Ethan MacDuff has been offered a spot with the Southern Maine Huskies  in NCAA Division III next season. Many of the KIJHL players go to the American Collegiate Hockey Association or the  ACHA so this is a little different. 

MacDuff led the Ghostriders with 65 points in 43 games. In 86 career KIJHL games, the Lloydminster, Alberta product had 47 goals and 103 points. He added 13 points in 19 KIJHL playoffs. MacDuff also was the recipient of a $1000 KIJHL Bursary 

Remember star goalie McCoy Bidewell from a couple of years ago, he just committed to play College hockey at NAIT. If you are wondering how that may have happened  Ghostrider Coach Ty Valin routinely wears NAIT Ooks alumni swag. 

The BCHL goes Outlaw

Well the long rumoured “Escape From Hockey Canada” movie was finally released on May 1st when the BCHL junior A league voted to leave Hockey Canada’s penal colony and become, as their press release says an “Independent League”

I think they spelled Outlaw wrong. 

It would be cool to play in an Outlaw League wouldn’t it ... remember the song the Wild Wild West

Anyway, you can read their full press release right here

The BCHL wants to bring in players from anywhere in the world without restrictions. Currently under 18 players from other provinces can’t play in the BCHL. 

But teams, even at the KIJHL level, circumvent that rule all the time by having a parent move here or by placing players in gramma’s house. 

They also say the new BCHL will be a free to play league within four years. That’s code for we have too many teams and this will weed out the poorer teams so we’ll get all the best players for ourselves.

I bet the league vote wasn’t unanimous.

Leaving HC will also exempt them from wearing full cages, they don’t say that in their press release but it is believed to be a big factor. Even though Colleges (and the BCHL want’s to be called a “College Track League” ) use full face protection.

Notice how HC wouldn’t dare tell the WHL they have to wear cages or can’t bring in players from wherever they want.

We don’t know what that will mean for referees. Currently, if you play or ref in an unsanctioned  or “Outlaw” league you can’t play or ref in a sanctioned league. Players and refs can’t go up and down or back and forth. 

Sometimes BCHL referees do games in the KIJHL. Hopefully HC allows the refs flexibility as we clearly do not have enough refs in the province.

This could be a negotiating ploy, Hockey Canada and the BCHL have until June 1st to figure something out.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, read what an American hockey writer says here

Ghostrider Award Banquet

 The Fernie Ghostriders held their Annual End of the Year Awards Banquet Saturday March 18th at the Fernie Golf and Country Club.

The dinner was catered by The Cast Iron Grill and it was great.

Team President Barb Anderson thanked all the volunteers billets, sponsors and board members for the time and work they put in this year." Without them we would have a tough time existing". "Also thank you to the parents for trusting us with your kids".

 GM Ty Valin and Captain Scott Sinclair gave their opening remarks to start the ceremonies. Both stressed how the players became a team after the deadline once the new new players got acclimated.

It was the tightest team I've ever played with.

On to the Awards presented by GM Ty Valin and Assistant Coach Mike Anderson

It was no surprise to anyone who followed the Riders this year who the big award winner would be. 

Ethan MacDuff was the MVP, Top Scorer and Top Forward 

The Top Defenseman was another easy pick, Team Captain Scott Sinclair. No one got the puck out of trouble in Fernie’s end better, and he finished 4th overall in KIJHL scoring for D men

The Rookie of the Year was Taylor Haggerty with 41 points in 43 games, a nice first year.

Honourable mention to the other rookies who didn’t play like rookies once they figured out the pace of the league. Andrew Kennedy, Aiden Kruhlak, Liam Fitzgerald, Jack Lambert, Eli Neilsen, Gaege Johnson, Malachai Peigan, and Lucas Desjarlais.

The Top Defensive Forward was Gaege Johnson. He always worked hard and was a big part of the penalty kill. Could work on looking mean though...

The Most Inspirational Player was Malachai Peigan.

When Malachai scored his first goal in January the whole bench erupted, his team mates obviously loved him. Honourable mention to Ethan MacDuff who played on a bad leg in the post season, Cole Fournier who came back from a broken arm just before the playoffs and Cole Fisher and Liam Samycia who suffered broken hands. Samycia’s  took months to completely heal.

The Most Exciting Player was Liam Fitzgerald who scored some important goals and was always buzzing. He was a fan favourite.

The Playoff MVP was goalie Aiden Kruhlak who really got his game together in January in time for the playoffs. He always gave his team a chance to win.

The Community Award went to Lucas Desjarlais 

Ty Valin “Lucas was always the first to step up for anything the team was asked to do”

The Most Improved Player

Kaden Slobodian. 

Kaden worked hard on strength and conditioning during the season and the change was noticeable. Unfortunately he broke his finger in the Rockies series and was really missed in the Kimberley series.

We Wish the twenty year old players all the best in the future no matter where you end up

 Kort Kisinger Jack Karpyshyn Jarod Sigouin Ethan MacDuff Scott Sinclair

  

Kimberley ties the series at 3 and Round the League

 The Ghostriders lost game six 3-2 and now game seven is in Kimberley on Monday.

Game six was close and should have been tied but the referee waved off a Fernie goal in the third period. 

The video clearly showed that the puck was across the line... but  no explanation was given... even though 1118 fans paid to watch the game and keep the league viable, it was decided they didn’t need to know why there was no goal.

The goal judge was not asked if the puck crossed the line... but we know from the red light and his comments that he saw it cross.

From now on our goal judges who also count saves should just sit in the stands and count  saves.

As you read from above one of the two referees is from Kimberley... 

One of our local linesmen was told he couldn’t line Fernie games because his brother is a Rider player... go figure

Obviously Fernie needs someone on the KIJHL Executive Board

Power plays were KD 1-5   FG 0-4

Shots were 38-30 KD

Round' the League

Beaver Valley 5 @ Creston 1 

Five different Hawks scored to tie the series at 3

Game seven is in BV on Monday