Saturday 30 September 2017

Fernie, Kimberley and the Rockies win

Castlegar 3 @ Fernie 4

In Fernie Keelan Saworski's second goal at 6:50 of the third period turned out to be the game winner giving the Riders their third win in a row. 
Defensemen Grayson Neufeld was the Riders player of the game with 3 assists and Zak Larson had the win in net.

Ed Lindsey had a goal and an assist for the Rebels and was their player of the game.

The shots were 41-23 CR
PP's CR 1-3 FG 1-3
Att 420

Golden 0 @ Kimberley 5

In Kimberley Brant Mack and Brock Palmer each had 2 goals and Cody Campbell had the shutout giving the 1st place Nitro's their third win in a row and 12th point.
Shots 38-20 KD 

Spokane 4 @ Columbia Valley 5 OT

In Invermere Chase Hawkins scored in OT to give the Rockies their 6th point of the young season. The Rockies out shot Spokane 50-23 and had 1 PP goal as well. Ben Kelsch had the win in net.

No results for Creston- Nelson yet.


Friday 29 September 2017

Riders get a big win, Kimberley wins Rockies Cats tie

Beaver Valley 4 @ Fernie 6

In Fernie the Riders Ty Abbott  was named as the Player of the Game after  he scored shorthanded and picked up a pair of assists helping the Riders get their second win of the year under their belts... against the Nitehawks no less.

The Hawks had the Riders hemmed in their end for seemingly endless periods of time during the game and for  about ten minutes at the start the third it was really one sided... until Jace Woodley tipped in a beauty that gave the young Riders a 6-3 lead. After that the Riders more or less had equal territory and were able to finish out the game with a W.

 Broc Merkl was really good in net and got his first win as a Ghostrider. You could make the argument that he could have been named as the POG as well.

Grayson Neufeld scored the Riders first goal and had an assist and Keelan Saworski also had a goal and an assist.

Kevin Pierce scored his first of the season with a big shot from the point area.

Ethan Jang caught a goalie out for a stroll in the second and picked up his 2nd on the season.

The shots were 44-31 BV
PP's FG 1-4 BV 1-6
Both teams scored shorthanded. Abbott and BV's Fuller (2G)

A few big hits, Derek Green certainly surprised a couple  of guys.

Overall, the Riders got a couple of lucky goals but BV scored one that Merkl actually caught according to the players and the animated goal judge...

521 at the game, nice crowd considering the boys have another home game Saturday.

Castlegar 2 @ Kimberley 3

In Kimberley Devon Langelaar scored the GW on the PP, the Nitro's second PP G and Chase Gedny had a goal and 2 A giving Kimberley their 10 point and 5th win. Cody Campbell had the win in net.

The Rebels are here in Fernie Saturday.

Columbia Valley 4 @ Creston 4

In Creston the Rockies fresh off a 6-2 win against Kimberley scored with 1:22 left in the third for the 4-4 tie.
Josh Antunes had 2G 1 a and Ben Kelsch was in net.

Four Thunder Cats scored and Jason MacLean was in net.

Shots 40-35 Creston
PP's Rockies 2-5 Creston 0- 3

The Rockies are 1 point behind Fernie but have played 1 more game.

Spokane 3 @ Golden 1

In Golden Paxton Malone scored two third period goals (1 EN ) for the Spokane win. Both goalies were the POG's SB Dilauro, and GR Whitbread




Saturday 23 September 2017

Riders win home opener

The Ghostriders earned their first win of the young season Friday night with a 4-3 win over the improved from last season Golden Rockets. They now have a 1-3-0-1 record but have only played 1 home game. Things get hectic next weekend with BV and Castlegar here in Fernie Fri and Sat.

The Rockets have been playing teams close this year losing mostly 1 goal games against some good teams and they have a few players who can skate, shoot and seem willing to mix it up a bit. They are alright to watch now, but played in a way that the Riders were never really able to use their new found size to make big hits.

IMO the Riders had a fair edge in play and territory but couldn't always score on the chances they had, plus they tried to pass way too much and missed the net lots wasting good opportunities... All correctable problems. 

The Riders also played a decent defensive game with no costly breakaways like they surrendered in their previous games... the coaching is working.

Zak Larson didn't have to be great in net for most of the game but came up huge late in the third when the Rockets generated some great chances that would have tied the game. GR goalie Colton Iwaschuk was their player of the game.

Mitch Titus was the Riders POG with 2 SH goals  and a PP goal.



Rookie D Greg Susinski scored his first goal and was the "Hardest worker" Friday... tall long reach and can skate and shoot, a great signing who will be fun to watch develop in the next few months. 

Some other firsts, 16 year old Ethan Jang scored his first Jr goal in Nelson, as did 18 year old Jordon Kromm

Goaltender Brandon Youngson has left the team for personal reasons... don't try and read between the lines here, he was not sent home or cut.

Broc Merkl was in the Riders camp but they already had two experienced goalies so coach Mohr sent him to Kimberley where he played 1 game and made 33 saves giving the Nitro's a 2-1 win in Nelson. Then Cody Campbell came back from a Jr A camp...

It was not on the game sheet but the Riders had 680 fans at their home opener. Sold a few brewskis as well according to the pyramids. No Sahara desert here.

No Rider game today next home games Friday and Saturday vs BV and the Rebels.


Friday 22 September 2017

The Eddie Mountain Div Friday Sept 22

Click the scores for the full game summary

Golden 3 @ Fernie 4

In Fernie the Ghostriders Mitch Titus scored Fernie's first goal, then last goal SH plus a SH goal in between for the Riders first win on the season.
Ryan Partaker had both Rocket goals and Colton Iwaschuk was the Rocket player of the game with 31 saves.

Zak Larson had the win in net and 680 fans were in attendance.
Shots 36-25 Fernie
PP GR 2-5 FG 1-7

Kimberley 2 @ Columbia Valley 6

In Invermere, the Rockies scored first and held the lead all game. Six Rockies scored and Ben Kelsch got the win in net for the Rockies first win of the year.

Shots 39-40 KD
PP KD 0-8 CVR 2-8
Att 352

Beaver Valley 3 @ Creston 4 OT

In Creston Connor Monaghan scored in overtime and Noah Giesbrecht had the win in net for Creston's 3rd win of the year.
Aidan Browell's 2 PP goals got the Hawks to overtime and a point on the night.
Shots 28-29 BV
PP BV 2-6 CVT 0-5
Att 243




Thursday 21 September 2017

Card Games and the Dew-wars



The Hockey Canada electronic carding fiasco  has reared it's ugly head again this year. The electronic system allows GM's to sign a player without the player knowing anything about it and this opens up the door to corruption.

In the old days a player had to actually sign his player card, so he always knew if he was carded. That didn't mean it was perfect, most GM's went at least to kindergarten so they knew what erasers were used for - report cards and player cards.

Anyway, again this year we we are hearing stories about  players who are unknowingly signed then have their rights  sold to another team.

And we're hearing about players who signed the ridiculous commitment letters in April and May only to find out that they have to get released to play at the next level because they were signed months later without being notified. As predicted in an older post here. We will remind all the young players of this scam again in the Spring.

This is all positive stuff designed to foster Hockey Canada's Mission Statement "Lead,Develop, and Promote Positive Hockey Experiences" ... just like the 30 day suspension Jr A teams can levy against players who get traded across the country then refuse to report does. 

HOCKEY CANADA FIX YOUR CARDING SYSTEM -make the players sign the cards again !!!

In other news...

The KIJHL voted not to expand to Quesnel and Williams Lake. The main push for expansion north was Kamloops GM Barry Dewar

He didn't get expansion and he can't move there under KIJHL rules so a pissed off Dewar is considering selling his team to Kamloops Minor Hockey.  That is very interesting and could even  give the KIJHL another couple of years at 20 teams.But expansion will happen or else...

In a wide ranging  interview by Marty Hastings (that you can read here)  on the "Kamloops This Week" website Dewar let it be known that he still wants expansion and wants it so badly that he even tried but failed to form his own league with several defecting KIJHL teams in tow. 

After the expansion was turned down Dewar brought in  Matt Kolle (he was the guy heading up Quesnel's expansion bid)  as an assistant GM, to sort of desensitize the other KIJHL Governors and get them used to having him around... Because it really is just a matter of time, they will either join or start their new league.

Read the interview, there are a whole host of questions to be asked, here are just a few.

1/ What business man wants to water down his product ? Maybe he's an environmentalist, the northern player pipeline will now stop at Williams Lake and Quesnel, we won't have to worry here in the south. 

3/ Or does the new league get created just to keep the franchise fee split between 10 instead of 20 teams.

3/He want's a Commissioner to run roughshod over the league like in the BCHL... there will be derisive howls of laughter from this corner when everyone realizes that somewhere around 70 thousand plus is the starting price for a Commissioner then add on  a salary for the secretary as well, not the paltry sum they get away with paying the President and secretary now ... the majority of owners don't even want crossovers because they cost to much. Just wait. 

4/ His new league didn't include the teams from the East and West Kootenays... they have different business models -translation, private vs community owned teams.Good bye small town hockey ?

Dewar is a good hockey man who has run a competitive team that has graduated a ton of players to the next level. He's just frustrated the people of Kamloops don't come out to the games and knows the two expansion teams will be powerful money makers.

He also makes a good point about the Minor Hockey deal going sideways when someday a new president gets elected because he wants a team for his kid. It happens all the time.

Not much more to say on this, we've known all this for a while now, but it was never really out there, but now that it is we're telling you about it.












Tuesday 19 September 2017

Coach Mohr Makes some moves


The Ghostriders will play their home opener this Friday night against the Golden Rockets.

After a  brutal weekend (12-3 L in Nelson and a 6-2 L in Spokane) and a OT loss and 6-0 loss  the week before you just knew something had to happen...and it did. Head Coach and GM Craig Mohr moved three skaters out and got two back in but is sticking with his goalies Zak Larson and Brandon Youngson saying the bad weekend wasn't really their fault, we need to work on the defensive part of the game is more or less what he said on the phone Monday afternoon.

So here it is  D  Jon Wick went to Spokane,(Wick is an American so Spokane will probably be a good location for him) then F Chase Gregory went to Fort St. John of the NWAL (A JR B league in northern Alberta) and D Jordan Popoff is off to Golden.

 Also local forward Chase Rayman was released but he will be affiliated for the remainder of the season, and with the injuries these guys get Rayman is sure to get his share of games.

So moving two defensemen out means someone has to come back in so Mohr bought the rights to Grayson Neufeld who was in Grand Forks last year and was in Yorkton's camp (SJHL) for the last week or so. 

Neufeld is a 97 ... making Jr A at 20 is a tough go and by the time he was let go the Bruins already had their 5 twenties so GM Emery Olauson got together with Mohr and made the cash deal. That gives the Ghostriders 4 20's, they still have room for one more. 

I can tell you that Coach Mohr was very excited to get the 
5'11" 215 pound  Neufeld in a Ghostrider uniform saying that when they played the Bruins last year even his players said  was  very good and hard to play against. 

Mohr was just as happy to get Keelan Saworski back from the SJHL  as well.Saworski played the last part of the season with the Riders and was a great all around winger who can also fit in seamlessly on the blue line if injuries call for it . 

Kimberley is on top of the division right now... but the team I'm most curious about is Creston, they had 51-47- and 51 shots in their first three games. The Riders don't play them or Kimberley here inFernie until December.


The Golden Rockets are in town Friday for the Riders home opener. The Rockets have a 1-2-1 record. It's actually better than Fernie right now...but their 1 win was against Castlegar and it was awarded to them when it was discovered that the Rebels had used an ineligible player. They actually lost 5-4. The Rocket’s tie was against Spokane in Spokane.





Sunday 17 September 2017

Saturday Sept 16 the Eddie Mountain breakdown

Click on the scores for the full game summaries


Fernie 2 @ Spokane 6

In Spokane the Braves scored 3 in the first then cruised  to a 6-3 win over the Riders. Kyle Donaldson scored 2 goals and Trevor Dilauro had the win in net. 
Shots 42-42 and both teams went 0-5 on the PP

Columbia Valley 3 @ Nelson 3

In Nelson the Leafs scored 2 late goals to tie the game at 3.
The Rockies goalie Ken Kelsch was their POG. The shots were 52-21 Nelson. Jackson Zimmerman had 2G for NL.

Golden 2 @ Grand Forks 4

In Grand Forks the Bruins went 2-6 on the PP and scored 3 in the third for the home ice win vs the Rockets. Reese Tambellini scored the GW short handed.
A fairly hard fought game and the shots were 34-26 GFBB

Kimberley 6 @ Beaver Valley 4

In Beaver Valley the Nitro's surprised BV with a 6-4 win. Kimberley scored 3 in the first then held the lead all game.
Chase Gedny scored 2 goals 1 SH and the other was  the game winner.
The shots were 46-31 BV and G Cody Campbell was KD's POG





Friday 15 September 2017

Friday Sept 15th in the Eddie Mountain Division

Click the scores for the game sheets


Fernie 3 @ Nelson 12

In Nelson the Leafs scored early and often blasting the Riders 12 -3 at home in front of 264 fans.
Ryan Cooper led the charge with 2G 3A and Josh Williams stopped 28 for the win in net.


Columbia Valley 3 @ Castlegar 9 

In Castlegar the Rockies scored the first goal then tied the game in the second at 3 before the Rebels took over the game sheet.
Brady Daniels, Shawn Campbell and John Moller each had 4 points in a fairly hard fought (PIM) game featuring the CR going 1-11 and CVR going 2-10 on the PP

Att 200 Shots 44-34 CR

Creston 3 @ Grand Forks 2 

In Grand Forks the Thundercat's Carson Small scored with just 2:32 left in the third for the road win. Darby Berg scored the other Cat goals. The shots were 51-23 CVT and 353 fans watched the game. 

Golden 2 @ Spokane 2 

In Spokane Cody Loucks tied the game mid third giving the Rockets a point on the road. Golden also outshot the Braves 43-35
Lots of minor PIM with the GR going 0-12 and SB 0-11 on the PP.


In other games of note...100 Mile beat Sicamous 6-0, the Eagles only had 12 skaters listed... Isn't 12 illegal this year?
Kelowna got a 4-3 W in Princeton with a few PIM who knew





Wednesday 13 September 2017

Ghost stories Sept 13th and a few other things

The Ghostriders will play in Nelson this Friday then go to Spokane on Saturday.

In Nelson (a radio broadcast game on 99.1 the Drive) they will face the Leafs who won 1-0 vs Beaver Valley last Friday, although Josh Williams had to stop over 50 shots for the W. Nelson then lost 2-1 to Kimberley last Saturday but did manage to outshoot the Nitro's.

It could prove to be a test for the younger Riders who Coach Craig Mohr says- need to work on some positional play this week in practice.

In Spokane they will face a team that just like the Riders lost in OT in Grand Forks last weekend. This one is not a scheduled radio game.



Kimberley just got back goalie Cody Campbell from  Jr A, last year he pushed the Nitro's past Fernie and Creston then put a scare into the KIJHL Champions from Beaver Valley but lost in 5 games...in a best of 5.

The Riders just got smooth skating D man Tristan Downe  back from Nipawn in the SJHL. Downe was injured and missed most of the first part of last season and took a while to get his game back, but was effective when he did.  Mohr says  the 19 year old is a little thicker this year as well. Welcome back Tristan.













Both local skaters Cory Caldwell and Jake Beranek are out with injuries, Beranek is voted the most likely to return but it may take a couple of weeks. 

Goalies
 Zak Larson was the Player of the Game in Grand Forks .  Brandon Youngson played well according to the radio and Coach Mohr in BV despite the lopsided loss. Coach says the boys missed 4 breakaways... could have maybe changed things a bit.

The Castlegar Rebels are the first team this year to lose points for using an ineligible player and the Golden Rockets were the recipients despite a 5-4 loss last Friday. We'll give Reb's HC Bill Rotheisier a mulligan for the first one, but the standup comedian will be back on line if it happens again...

The Riders were treading water in BV last Saturday when McCarthy Manyfingers took 29 PIM in the same stoppage of play. The Riders went on to lose 6-0...Say what you will but I think it's it great to have that kind of wildcard in the lineup again. Remembering Josh Kluck

If you really follow this stuff you will know that this is the understatement of the year...Quesnel's KIJHL expansion bid is still in play.... and Kamloops GM Barry Dewar is the helmsman. Read that story HERE while Remembering that in the Spring Dewar was interviewed and said the attendance was so bad he may not even be able to rehire Coach ED Patterson again... but he did anyway. I'm betting attendance will be much better in Quesnel...and Williams Lake.....and...

Home opener Friday Sept 22 vs Golden

A cool interview with Rider "C" Mitch Titus


Saturday 9 September 2017

Saturday Sept 9th in the Eddie Mountain Division

As always the links to the games are in the scores

Fernie 0 @ Beaver Valley 6 
The powerful Hawks roll over the Riders with a big 6-0 win. The story of the game was Dylan Heppler with 2 goals and 4 assists. Owen Sikkes had the shutout and Jaxon Gemmell scored 3 G 1A.
Shots 40-21 BV who also had 4 PP goals.

Kimberley 2 @ Nelson 1 
Brock Palmer had the game winner and an assist, and Brock Merki had the win in net in a fairly hostile game with lotsa PIM.
 Shots 34-23 NL

Creston 3 @ Golden 1
Ron Wilkie had a goal and two assists and Jaysen MacLean had the win in net. Creston outshot the Rockets 47-25

Castlegar 8 @ Columbia Valley 2

John Molleller scored 3 and had a pair of assists while Andrew Petten chipped in with 2 goals and an assist as the Rebels roll over the Rockies 8-2
The Rockies got out to a 2-0 lead in the first but by the end of the second it was 5-2 in what turned into a fairly chippy affair . CR 2-9 CVR 0-5 on the PP  Att 250

The Eddie Mountain Breakdown Friday Sept 8


Fernie 2@ Grand Forks 3  2nd OT 

Logan Hascarl scored in double overtime giving the GFBB their first win of the season but the Riders get a point as well.

The Rider's Brendan Nemes and Bruin Evan Laura scored PP goals in the first.

Jace Woodley scored to give the Riders a 2-1 lead in the second then Reese Tambellini tied the game in the third.

The shots were 46-32 for the Bruins and Rider goalie Zak Larson was named as the player of the game.

The 468 fans saw lots of hits but few PIM - FG went 1-4 and GF 1-3 on the PP.  Att 468

Cory Caldwell injured in the 1st, no updates on that.

The Riders play in Beaver Valley tonight and the game is on local radio the Drive 99.1 and 93.5 in Sparwood with Josh Hoffman doing the PxP

Columbia Valley 1 @ Kimberley 6

Kimberley scored in the first, second then racked up 4 in the third for a convincing 6-1 win in their home opener.

Mason Palaga (POG) scored 3 and had 1 assist, Austin Hope scored 2 and Matt Davies had 3A as well. 

Lots of hard PIM's -Kimberley went 4-9 on the PP while the Rockies were 0-7 Att 773

Creston 0 @ Spokane 3 

Three different Braves scored and Trevor Dilauro who came over from Revelstoke in the summer stoped 51 for the shutout. Dawson Tritt had 1 G 1A.

Creston went  0-6 SB 1-6 on the PP

Castlegar 5@ Golden 4

The Rebels were up 5-2 in the third then the Rockets scored 2 to make it close but couldn't close it out.

Five different Rebels scored and Everett Hicks had 1G 2A
Jason Mailhiot had the W in net.

The shots were close 36-28 Castlegar who also went 1-4 on the PP the GR was 1-3

In other games of note... Revelstoke won 3-1 at home vs Kamloops who had the new league minimum 14 skaters, it was just 12 last year.  The Grizzles went at the Storm hard with several hard PIM and they  outshot KS 53-14

Beaver Valley lost 1-0 in Nelson Josh Williams with the shutout. Shots 38-26 BV The Riders are in BV tonight.

And the always strong  Osoyoos Coyotes won 6-4 vs Chase







Tuesday 5 September 2017

Ghostrider Update Sept 5th


The Ghostriders played four exhibition games, they won their two home games, but lost the road games against both the Rockies and Creston. On Tuesday morning the team had their last home ice practice and  now they'll help put down the boards that will cover the ice for the big National Mine Rescue competition. 

Coach Craig Mohr tells me because the team lost the ice this week they will have to travel to Grand Forks a day early so they can get in a practice before settling in for their first regular season game Friday. 


Mohr also says local players Jake Beranek (injured) and Cory Caldwell will be here at the start and likely for the full season.  Meanwhile Chase Rayman and Kris Wert are still  battling it out for the final roster spots. 


A noticeably thinner Brandon Youngson is the likely Rider starter in net but Zak Larson who the Riders acquired from the Chase Heat a few weeks ago may have something to say about that.


The C's and the A's 

Mitch Titus will Captain the Riders this year and Brendan Nemes and third year D man Kevin Pierce will be wearing the A's. Another A may be announced in a couple of weeks.

The Riders have several new players and we will be talking about them when the season starts up.  Rider GM Craig Mohr, as usual, has to play the waiting game with BC Hockey and Hockey Alberta to get all his player releases. This happens every year but should be complete by Friday. Fans though can see this year's lineup right away  it's here .

Rider fans can listen to the games in Grand Forks and Beaver Valley on our local radio the Drive 99.1 or 93.5 in Sparwood or watch them on the KIJHL webcasts. 


Demo Derby Riders Nemes and Titus