Wednesday 20 December 2017

Rider update Dec 20th


The Ghostriders play the Creston Valley Thunder Cats Friday in Sparwood. 

Creston is in second place with 39 points and Friday’s game is their last game until New Year’s Eve when they host the Ghostriders for their annual New Year’s Eve game in Creston. 

Creston lost 2-0 in Kimberley and won 7-1 against Golden last weekend. They also play in Castlegar, who are on a 10 game win streak tonight.

The Ghostriders lost 7-2 in Creston then with 14 skaters they won 5-4 in Golden last Saturday. Grayson Neufeld had 2 goals and an assist while Ethan Jang, Devyn Stuart (1G2A) and Ryan Partaker with the game winner each had a goal. Partaker and Mitch Titus scored the goals in Creston. 

Geoff Drought had the win in net as well... sorry I was late with that Geoff

Ghostrider Notebook.
After a 6 point weekend two weeks ago Brendan Nemes got hurt last week and now 2/3 of the first line in out until after Christmas.

 D-Man Kyle Haugo broke his elbow and it requires surgery so he is finished for the season. Good luck in surgery Kyle.

Matt Rogers, Shaun Pierce, Derek Green, Cory Caldwell, Greg Susinski and the flu bug are all questionable for Friday’s game.

GM Craig Mohr brought in D- Matt Cooper from Castlegar and F-Ben Kemp from Grand Forks last week. With all the injuries there are some holes to fill.

The coaches hate a short lineup... but the players who don’t usually get a lot of ice think differently...

We hear there is some push back from the KIJHL teams regarding the full face mask ruling for next season. But I don’t think Barry Putthefacemasksona'chenko (is that really how you spell it) will waver.

Come on Hockey Canada, either veto it or make everyone across the country, including Jr A   do it... and not the WHL cause we know the CHL would  tell you where to go and which orfice to use to get there.

The next Rider action after Christmas is December 28th in Kimberley, it is a radio broadcast game with Josh Hoffman at the mike and then on December 29th Kimberley is here in Sparwood. 

In other news... 
Quesnel has re-submitted their bid for a team that includes some sort of hotel subsidy to help out visiting teams. That would be a vote enticing incentive for the Okanagan / Shushwap teams who have been crying poverty for years...with probably good reason, I don’t think they ever get 7-8 hundred fans out.

 According to this story the Quesnel bid could be approved by January 14th...or not. They say they already have crowds bigger than the other teams in the league... believe me, they will end up a big rich powerful team and will be able to out-recruit those “other teams” . 

If I was 100 Mile I'd be horrified and if I was Williams Lake I’d be rubbing my  hands together like a ghoul at a graveyard. And if I had my way... two teams would move there instead of expansion... but then the KI teams won’t get the expansion $... go figure what will happen.

And way to go Izzy Palumbo, she is the 15 year old goaltender for the Revelstoke Midget team who just became an affiliate goalie for the Golden Rockets.  That’s how Shannon Szabados got her startplaying Jr, keep on slugging it out Izzy.

Happy solstice Thursday AM at about 9:20 (it’s the shortest day of the year you cretins )

Merry Christmas to all from the Ghostrider players, coaches and board members .














Sunday 17 December 2017

Around the Conference

Around the Conference (As always click the underlined words for the link to the game sheets.)

In Golden the shorthanded Ghostriders built up a 5-1 lead after two periods then hung on for a 5-4 win. Former Rocket RyanPartaker had the eventual game winer.

In Nelson the second place Castlegar  Rebels’ Dallas Goodwin scored in OT for a 2-1 win and Tanner Douglas had the W in net. It was the Rebels 9th W in  a row.
Lots of misconducts and a match with :27 seconds left in the third, the VP’s will be busy today and the Rebs are now just 3 behind the NL with a game in hand.

In Beaver Valley, Grand Forks scored 2 in the second and 2 in the third for a big road win against a short benched Hawks team. Rilee Poffenroth had 2 in the second for the GFBB.

In Columbia Valley the Dynamiters scored 3 PPG for a 4-1 win, it was their 6th in a row and Cody Campbell who now has a 15-5- 1 tie and 3 SO’s record gets the win .

Monday 11 December 2017

In your face mask

So last week Barry Petrachenko and his buddies at BC Hockey announced that full cages will be mandatory for all Jr B players next season. Read the press release here

This was no surprise to the guys here at Rider News, and here's why. Last August the Peninsula Panthers of the VIJHL decided that they were going make their players wear full cages this season. 

Hey any team can make that call if they want to. But when the Panthers made that announcement they did it while holding hands with guys from the BC Hockey money trough who were not about to miss a chance to grandstand a little hockey safety with some Panthers who you would think wanted out of their cages.. or something like that.  

So the writing was on the wall as far as we were concerned.

Another conspiracy theory also comes to mind after seeing BC Hockey issue last summer’s Alberta prospects camp ban.

I never understood why BC Hockey would suck-hole  to Hockey Alberta and agree to ban all  BC Jr B teams from having camps in Alberta like they did last summer. Why would you purposely try and hobble your province's teams ? 

 Well now with the face shields ruling many of the coaches at the Jr B level fear they will be at a disadvantage when recruiting next year, and some good players may want to play where the visor still rules. So is that all part of the Petrachenko "keep the Albertans in Alberta" and keep our BC Hockey jobs too, master plan.

Also on Twitter, a valuable verifiable news source, I see some guys speculating that the private owners on the coast will still charge the same pay to play rate while at the same time they save like “Scrooge” (well it’s Christmas time you guys) on the insurance. A win win for probably most owners.

And finally... Hockey Canada where are you !
Isn’t it a Hockey Canada deal to make the face shield rule, then make it across the country, not just some experimental fish farm venture like we have now.  

It’s time to eliminate the Provincial borders for hockey players and booze and all the other fun stuff and let HC take over... they already started the process a few years ago when they got rid of the import rule for out of province players... Canadians are Canadians unless you get paid to govern provincially ? ... finish it off HC.

Monday 4 December 2017

Just the drivel tonight


The KIJHL is ruled by the Governors and not the President, the Governors usually work with the coaches and even have a hand in hiring them, so it's no wonder only the players show up on the KIJHL's discipline and transaction pages and not the coaches ... but they should be listed.

If you go to the two other BC Jr B leagues websites, (the VIJHL and PIJHL ) and look at their team stats you will see some players with an x beside their names. They are the guys who were at one time carded but were either traded or cut from the roster. It's great, you can easily see who has used a lot of cards and you can see if a GM has made a mistake when they moved a guy who is having a great season on another team. The KIJHL doesn't have  that feature ... see above.

The Golden Rockets lost 16-1 to Creston last Saturday. They have also traded a few players or are having a fire sale, whatever, it's not good for the league or the players, we need that fifth franchise in the Eddie Mountain Division.

The Riders got Ryan Partaker from Golden for what they call a PDF, player development fee.  Partaker has been good in my eyes, he finishes checks, has chipped in with a couple of goals, (4 points in 4 games) and is big enough to battle in the corners. 


Last Saturday Nelson and Castlegar went at it pretty good according to this story  and Nelson had one with Golden a few weeks ago as well, meanwhile  Creston and Kimberley chipped in with a few suspensions of their own a few games ago. This always seems to happen around Christmas time. Below is a KIJHL  Vice President (in charge of suspensions)  playing Scrabble with those players.



The KIJHL played two games in Quesnel in mid November, 100 Mile and North Okanagan each played Kamloops.The attendance was 930 and 1110.  Kamloops owner Barry Dewar has been pushing for expansion to Quesnell and Williams Lake for the past few years. They will be powerful teams when he eventually gets his way.

A nice commemorative now on the Ghostrider jerseys.



Saturday 2 December 2017

Saturday night in the division

Grand Forks 3 @ Fernie 2

In Sparwood newcomer Zane Avery's second goal of the game  in the second period was the eventual game winner. 
The Riders Brendan Nemes made it a 3-2 game mid third but Fernie couldn't beat Ross King to tie it up..
Broc Merkl was in net for the Riders and the shots were 39-30 Fernie. 

Columbia Valley 2 @ Kimberley 5

In Kimberley Bryce Mcdonald scored a pair of goals including the GW plus an assist and Brandt Bertoia had 3 A and the Nitro's get their 19th win on the year. Cody Campbell had the W in net. 

Creston 16 @ Golden 1

Yes this happened in Golden,Justin James had 8, Ron Wilkie 6 and Jack McArdle 5 points as the Cats claw the Rockets to death... hopefully not a real death... the league needs the Rockets.

Friday 1 December 2017

Friday night in the division

Fernie 2 @ Kimberley 3

In Kimberley Cam Russell's goal in the second period turned out to be the game winner.
The shots were 43-45 for Kimberley and both goalies, Cody Campbell (KD) and Broc Merkl (FGR) were the players of the game. 
Both teams were shorthanded, Kimberley via suspensions and  Fernie because of injuries.  676 fans were at the game. 

Grand Forks 2 @ Columbia Valley 3 

In Invermere the Rockies scored 3 third period goals and Hunter Beckett had the game winner late in the period. 
The Bruins Trey Mason scored both GFBB goals. 

Monday 27 November 2017

The Boston Pizza Player of the Month for November is #23 Grayson Neufeld

November 27th update

Saturday’s Game- In Sparwood

The Ghostriders play the Grand Forks Border Bruins Saturday  This will be the third and final regular season game with the Bruins this year. The last game was in October and the Bruins won 4-2 and on September 8th  in Grand Forks the Bruins won 4-3 in overtime.

The Bruins got off to a good start and were battling for first or second place for a while but are now in fourth and have  1-8-1 record in their last 10 games. So a shake up was due and last week Head Coach and GM Emery Olauson traded his top scorer, 20 year old Jordan Robertson, to Revelstoke for two younger players Jack McNamara and Zane Avery. Robertson was leading the whole league in scoring for several weeks so something bad musta happened.

Ghostrider Notebook


Fernie could get an outdoor rink read more here


The Ghostriders
lost 3-2 in Creston last Friday then trounced the Golden Rockets 7-2 on Saturday.

On Friday smooth skating Tristan Downe was named as the Player of the Game and Matt Rogers scored the lone Rider goal.

On Saturday Keelan Saworski had 2 goals and 2 assists was the Player of the Game. The other goal scorers were Kevin Pierce, Brendan Nemes, Ryan Partaker (his first as a Ghostrider ) Matt Rogers (scored in both games) and Jace Woodley (4th goal in last 5 games). Mitch Titus chipped in with 3 assists and now has 7G 15A.

Broc Merkl played both games in net last weekend, he had a fairly easy night against the Rockets but had 42 shots in Creston where he played well enough to give his team a chance to win. Broc was named as the Tim Horton’s Player of the Week.

All the best to Barry Wolff who was let go by the Coquitlam Express today. Wolff spent 3 years in Fernie in the junior A days and another year in 2012-13. After leaving Fernie for Coquitlam his Express won the BCHL Championship.


Injuries

Goaltender Zak Larson is still a few weeks away from playing. Forward’s Greg Susinski and Owen Titus are also still a few weeks away while Kyle Haugo is day to day.
Shaun Pierce only played 1 game again last week and was day to day when this was written.

Kimberley and Creston
These two had a beauty last Saturday featuring KD Lucas Purdy getting a Match (7games) Harrison Risen (5 games) and Mason Palaga (2 games) There are more from both Kimberley and Creston along with Kelowna Nelson Revelstoke, below is a screen shot but it's easier to read right here

Saturday 25 November 2017

Fernie and Creston win Saturday

Golden 2 @ Fernie 7

In Sparwood  Keelan Saworski had 2 goals  2 assists and Mitch Titus had 3 assists as the Riders outshoot Golden 50-24and win 7-2. Rocket's F Jake Gudjonson had both GR goals.

Creston 8 @ Kimberley 1

In Kimberley  Ron Wilkie scored 3 goals and added 2 assists and Liam Plunkett had a goal and 3 assists as  Creston hammers the Nitros and gets within 6 points of first place . Several amusing PIM, especially in the 3rd ... click on the score to view.


Spokane 6 @ Columbia Valley 1

In Invermere Kyle Donaldson scored 2 and Paxton Malone and Dawson Tritt each had a goal and an assist as Spokane gets a big 6-1 road win.


Friday 24 November 2017

The Eddie Mountain report for Friday Nov 26th

Fernie 1 @ Creston 3

In Creston Ron Wilkie had a goal and an assist and Justen James and Austin Canete (SH) each scored a goal as Creston earned their 14th win on the season. Levi Mitchell had the win in net in front of 593 fans.

Columbia Valley 1 @ Kimberley 5

In Kimberley 593 fans saw five different Nitro's score and Adam Anderson get the win in net for Kimberley's 36th point on the season. 

Spokane 8 @ Golden 4 

In Golden Trail Thompson had 2 goals and  3 assists and Paxton Malone picked up a goal and 2 assists as Spokane inches their way closer to a playoff spot. 





Sunday 19 November 2017

Sunday night Nov 19

Ghostrider Notes from November 19th


Jace Woodley has played centre for the last three games and has scored a goal in each of those games... prompting HC Craig Mohr to say something along the lines of rhymes with truck, "I should have had him there sooner!"

Woodley was a winger in Sicamous last season and had 20G but wasn't scoring here in Fernie, so who knew ... sometimes science experiments work. Woodley was also the  Tim Horton's Player of the Week.

Shaun Pierce  played his first game in a few weeks vs Nelson and Matt Rogers  played both games last week. The training staff only let Pierce play one game... hopefully that 16 year old big mobile body is available for both games next weekend.

Speaking of Craig Mohr, and we just were, a debate between referee Cydnie Rice and Mohr in the Rockies game resulted in the coach getting a 2 game suspension, that I believe is being appealed... a real he said she said... just like in divorce court...you don't get to say that in hockey very often.

Jordan Kromm had the game winner and an assist in the 3-2 win in Invermere, he was also the FGR Player of the Game. There was some concern in the Nelson game the next night when he was hit hard into the boards by a much larger Leaf player, but he finished the game. If he was 20 pounds heavier he would easily power through all the checking instead of having to stick handle through it... but then he wouldn't be here...

Cory Caldwell (00) was named as the McDonald's Practice Player of the Week, this is his first year as a full time player and really first year playing a full schedule because of the not always having enough players in midget problem in the valley... keep on battling Cory.

Ethan Jang, a 16 yr old, took a stick from Rockies Mike Dyck Friday then fought him, both players got a 1 game suspension because it was in the last 10 min. Wonder if Rockies HC Wade Dubielewicz was happy his top scorer was out in the last 3 minutes of a 3-2 game they were losing.
If you have to fight, takin out a top scorer is always good.

Jake Hryhoriw, pronounced Hryhoriw scored his first of the year in Invermere and Greg Susinski had a goal vs Nelson, both players were D-men earlier in the season.

Mitch Titus and Keelan Saworski were both shutout last weekend, that has never happened, but Brendan Nemes chipped in with a goal vs Nelson.

Grayson Neufeld (20yrs old) leads the D in scoring and probably every other defensive category, sure wish he was just 18... never mind him...I wish I was 18, or 38 or even 58 ahhh Im f##*d.

The Riders and Nelson each had 37 shots and several big hits but Fernie lost 6-3. Former Nitro Sawyer Hunt had 3 assists for the NL, even when they get traded the SOB's still haunt you.

Devyn Stewart got an obvious stick in the face right in front of the referee but no call so he gave the player a chop in the leg, who knew the ref was a leg man...  Nelson scored on the PP. It happens all the time so we should get used to it, but we never do.


KIJHL teams played 2 games in Quesnel last weekend, no attendance was announced, but the KI is going to have a team there sooner than later.

The Riders are in Creston on Friday and that is a Drive 99.1 radio broadcast game with Josh Hoffman at the mike. On Saturday they play Golden in Sparwood.







Friday 17 November 2017

Fernie and Creston won Friday night.

Fernie 3 @ Invermere 2

In Invermere 400 fans saw Jordan Kromm score what would turn out to be the game winner in the second period. Jace Woodley (PP) and Jake Hryhoriw scored the other Rider goals and Broc Merkl had the win in net. 
Ryan Skitt scored both Rockies goals on the PP and Josh King played his first ever game in net with the CVR.

Creston 8 @ Grand Forks 1

In Grand Forks Liam Plunkett had 5 Justen James 4 points and Ron Wilkie scored 3 G as the Thundercats routed GFBB 8-1. The shots were 59-28 CVT and the Bruins are now on a 4 game losing streak.

Nelson 6 @ Golden 1

In Golden the Nelson Leafs battled (literally) the Rockets and won 6-1.Ryan Cooper had 2 G 1A and Logan Wullum had 3 A in a hard fought game featuring several fights and shots were 51-28 Nelson.






Thursday 16 November 2017

Ghostrider update Nov 16

Saturday’s Game

The Nelson Leafs are in town Saturday night. 

These guys have 34 points and are first place overall in the KIJHL so you don't want to miss this game. 

Last weekend Nelson had two road wins in Grand Forks and Castlegar and are on a 4 game win streak.

Mario DiBella is Nelson’s head coach and director of player personal and Sean Dooley is the GM and assistant coach.

The Ghostriders

The Ghostriders only played one game last weekend and lost 5-4 in double overtime to the Rockies. The Riders were down 4-0 after the first period but scored 4 goals in the third to force the OT. Mitch Titus (2) Keelan Saworski and  Jace Woodley scored the goals, Broc Merkl was in net. 

The teams will warm up Friday night, Fernie plays in Invermere (A Drive 99.1 Radio Broadcast Game)  and Nelson is in Golden.

Rider Notebook

With 2 goals and an assist last week and 10 points in his last four games Mitch Titus has now caught Keelan Saworski for the Riders top scorer with 19 points. Saworski is not easy to catch, he has had at least a point in every game he has played in this year.

Kyle Haugo was the Tim Horton’s Player of the Week and Ethan Jang was the McDonald’s Practice Player of the Week.

Millions of comments anyway.

The Kimberley Dynamiters were in the news a few weeks ago when someone named Mike Gould said he was giving Kimberley more than 7 million dollars. So far no millions of dollars just millions of comments on the always newsworthy Fecesbook saying he may not have any money. Or is it like buying a house and it takes months to close... I have no idea, but stoning him in the city centre seems a bit harsh... even to me.







Injuries
Shaun Pierce has been skating and is likely to play at least one game this weekend. Matt Rogers is ready to go but Owen Titus is still a few weeks away as is goaltender Zak Larson.

Teams I may have to be nicer to... oh oh too late

The Ghostrider broadcast crew and the whole Rider organization thanks Kimberley for bringing their internet broadcasting equipment to Sparwood while the Riders await entrance to the arena to get their equipment back. And and even bigger thanks from Dan and Ted go out to the Columbia Valley Rockies for bringing their equipment and then lending their old equipment to the Riders until they get their own stuff back.

The Riders are in Invermere this Friday and in Creston next Friday and they are both Drive 99.1 radio broadcast games with Josh Hoffman at the mike. Then next Saturday the Golden Rockets are in town to play the Riders. 





Friday 10 November 2017

Friday night in the EM Division

Columbia Valley 5 @ Fernie 4 OT

In Sparwood Jaret Bort scored in double OT to give the Rockies a 5-4 road win. 
The Rockies were up 4-0 after the first but the Ghostriders scored 4 in the third (2PPG) to tie the game. 

Josh Antunes had 2G for CVR and Mitch Titus had 2G 1A for the Riders. The shots were 56-44 FG. Broc Merkl FG and Ben Kelsch were in net.

Kimberley 2 @ Creston 3

In Creston Tyler Witzke scored the GW, Liam Plunkett had 1G 1A and Levi Mitchell stopped 27 for the win.
Creston outshot Kimberley 47-29

Beaver Valley 6 @ Golden 2

In Golden Brad Ross scored 2G and Owen Sikkes had the win in net for the Hawks who outshot Golden 56-26.




Wednesday 8 November 2017

Riders lose 5-4 Tuesday night

The Ghostriders lost 5-4 to Kimberley Tuesday night in Sparwood on a fluke goal from a point shot that bounced around before going in.

Mason Palaga got the goal but in another era he wouldn't even be on the ice. Palaga went to the Rider bench and challenged the Riders smallest player Mitch Titus to fight then said he would fight anyone else... but when Jake Hryhoriw challenged him in the second period he went down faster than a porn star and Jake got the only PIM.

No issue at all with that in the playoffs, I get it, but at this time of year with a 17 point lead in the standings and right after their  Lucas Purdy jumped a  top pairing D- Man, it was nothing short of gutless. I sure hope you coaches in the division don't give Stuart any votes when you vote for the "Coach of the Year".

The power play was the difference in Tuesday's game. Kimberley, who are 4th overall in the league on the PP went 3-7 and the Riders who are 7th went 1-5.

Sixteen year old Ethan Jang scored one of the nicest goals of the game on a shorthanded breakaway. It was his 4th of the season.

Greg Susinski scored his first goal as a forward Tuesday. He really looks at home on the wing.

Keelan Saworski continued his point streak but despite getting a few grade A scoring chances he had his goal streak broken at 8 games.  

Mitch Titus had a goal and an assist and is just 1 point behind Saworski for the Rider's top scorer. 

Broc Merkl was the Riders POG, to bad after that effort a fluke goal steals at least a point from the Riders. And maybe two as the boys were equal or better in the third.

Kevin Pierce scored the other Rider goal on the PP, his 3rd PP goal so far this year. 

Kyle Haugo made a few great stops in his end of the ice Tuesday and used his body well. Coach Mohr agrees and says he played pretty good in Creston too. You can always say that about Grayson Neufeld, a nice skater as well. Wondering why that guy didn't challenge him, oh yeah I forgot he might be able to fight...

Jake Beranek has decided to play Midget this season where he will get a ton of ice time that he wasn't getting with the Ghost. We hear they have enough players to form a team so lots of ice time and a few AP games may really help him get ready as an 18 year old next year.

Injuries, Owen Titus, Shaun Pierce, Zak Larson and now Matt Rogers are all out for the weekend game vs the Rockies.

The Rockies have 15 points but the Riders have 4 games in hand... but to catch up they will have to win a few of them.




Saturday 4 November 2017

Saturday Nov 4th in the EM Division

Fernie 4 @ Beaver Valley 2

In Fruitvale Brendan Nemes scored three goals (2PP) Keelan Saworski and Mitch Titus each had 3 points and Broc Merkl stopped 36 of 38 Hawk shots for the Ghostriders second win in a row. 
The Riders went 3-7 on the PP as well.

Castlegar 5 @ Kimberley 4 OT

In Kimberley the Rebel's Ed Lindsey scored the overtime winner and Tanner Douglas had the W in net.
Kimberley's Nicholas Ketola scored 3 goals- 2 were SH and the third one tied the game giving the Nitro's a point.

Grand Forks 2 @ Columbia Valley 9

In Invermere Cooper Krauss had 2 G Tyler Bordt and Davin Burton had 3 points each and Mike Dyck had 4 points as the Rockies rolled over GFBB 9-2. Ben Kelsch had the W in net.

Creston 6 @ Golden 2

In Golden Justin James had 2 goals and 3 assists and Creston outshot Golden 46- 20 as well.   Jaysen MacLean had the W in net. 

With the win in BV the Riders were able to keep pace with the group and still have 5 games in hand on the Rockies and 4 on Creston. No one is likely to catch Kimberley, but it is Jr hockey. 

Next up Kimberley in Sparwood @ 7:30 Tuesday night.







Tuesday 31 October 2017

Halloween update, games AP, Jr drama and auto correct fun

Guess who was the October POM 


The Ghostriders dipped their toes into the league schedule pool for the first time in a couple of weeks last Friday night in Creston and the players and coaches picked up a big emotional 5-2 win. 

It was a great way to get back into the action and they will do it again this Saturday night (Nov 4th) in Beaver Valley against the Hawks...who are on a 9 game win streak and haven't lost since September 29th, 6-4 right here in Fernie... go figure.

The Riders were scheduled to play Kimberley this Friday the 3rd but the ice in Sparwood was not available so the game will be played Tuesday the 7th @7:30 in  Sparwood. So they will be well rested Saturday, The Hawks on the other hand will hopefully get softened up by Creston Friday night.  How about a nice bench clearer with several suspensions... the good old days?

 Keelan Saworski was named as the Ghostriders-Boston Pizza  October Player of the Month. Keelan had 6 goals (2 in Creston) and 2 assists in five games and has had at least a point in every game he has played in so far this season.

Devyn Stewart scored his first of the season in Creston... he has too good of a shot and I believe he will keep chipping away now that he has opened the door. He was named as the McDonald's Practice Player of the Week.

Zak Larson was picked as the Player of the Game in Creston putting aside 43 of 45 shots...though some dispute that number, but no one disputes that he was great... radio says...if you follow Twitter "radio says" may make some sort of sense to you... if you don't you probably have a life or something, why are you here...

Mitch Titus scored what would turn out to be the game winner late in the 2nd. He is somewhat off this season averaging .9 points a game vs 1.1 last year, but he certainly passes the eye test, don't you just hate the stats guys.

Injuries, the list just got a little longer with Zak Larson now on the outs...we have no timeline on his return yet. The same can be said with Shaun Pierce and Owen Titus. But coach Mohr says Owen is progressing better than was originally thought. 

AP goalies Dylan Baker  (Sparwood) and  Elijah Paulson (Cranbrook)  will fill in, if and when, Broc Merkl ever needs a rest. The schedule favours Merkl for a couple of weeks with just 3 games until November 17th. 

Sixteen year old Ethan Jang will be back in the lineup this weekend after playing a game with the Jr "A" Alberni Valley Bulldogs last weekend. Bulldog associate HC and GM  Jeff Dubois tells me Jang kept up with the play, finished his checks and had a couple of decent scoring chances. He also likes his skating and compete "He's not far off from being a BCHL guy". Dubois also thanks Craig Mohr for making Jang available for 6 days and missing a divisional game as well.

Well more drama in the junior hockey world with a group in Surrey BC claiming that they will build a 7 to 10 thousand seat arena...and they have a hockey team who want's to move there too... but they won't reveal the who the team is ...we've heard that one before, chill out Jr A and B at that size it's gotta be a WHL team... . Read the full story here

And finally... and predictably... all the politicians are jumping on the get rid of ammonia bandwagon   So where where you forkers for the last 100 years ? Ammonia history