Fernie Ghostriders

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Nelson Leafs take game two by a 5-2 score.

The Leafs scored two in the first and three in the third for a 5-2 win in Fernie on Friday night. Leaf goal scorers were. Dane Rupert from Braeden Hikichi, - Adrian Moyls from Tyler Parfeniuk, - Chris Cucullu (unassisted), Dane Rupert from Dallon Stoddart and Gavin Currie into the empty net.

Rider goals came late in the third and came off the sticks of Darrell Boldon from Mike Wiest and Jesse Niemi from Scott Anderson and Brendan Hawryluk.

Photo- Darrell Boldon– Notes
The Nelson Leafs eliminated some of the fancy stuff and even fired the puck out of their end off the glass a few times thus eliminating several of the giveaways they were guilty of in game one. Shawn Mullin who is normally the Trail Smoke Eater’s radio guy but is doing the Fernie Nelson radio broadcast in the West Kootenays since Trail got knocked out of the playoffs, said it best, “ Nelson simplified their game”…

The stars were, 1/ Dane Rupert with two goals, 2/ Chris Cucullu with a goal and Jesse Niemi with a goal….With his goal Niemi now has 5 goals and 10 assists in ten games and leads the Riders in scoring… But he is paying a price as he took a big hit in game one and was hit hard a couple of times in game two… he dished out some nasty but can’t continue to take those type of hits in a long series…Jared Cardinal –photo to the left- got even though, he made the Leafs pay a price for touching the puck and did it several times until early in the third when he and Cody Abby had a spirited bout…Darrell Boldon scored the Riders first goal, a bullet into the top corner getting even for a sure goal he missed in game one…nicest goal was from Adrian Moyls who got the breakaway when he was released from the penalty box and scored on the backhand, it was Leaf “D” man Tyler Parfeniuk who fed him the puck… and for my money Parfeniuk, who did everything, blocking shots & passes and got the puck out of his end effectively was the Leafs best defenseman…Jason Greenwell made some great saves but was caught out of position the third and fourth goals… He may have to quit his third defenseman routine against these guys… Brendon Mangone laid a big hit on Mike Spring in the third and seconds later Spring got him back starting another fight…. A big difference from game one as the Leafs stand up for themselves in the hit department and with a couple of fights.

Riders Keanan Patershuk and Evan Burgess were back in the lineup, Kaydon Trumbley and Mike Anderson were out as was Zach Fridella who missed both games with an injury. Fridella’s size and hostile attitude were needed and missed by the Ghostriders in game two. that’s Zach in the photo

Leafs were without Scott Jago, Sean Muller and Jarrett Burke who were out with injuries from game one.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

Riders win game one 2-1

Photo - first star Matt MacDonald- The Fernie Ghostriders get a 2-1 win in game one against the Nelson Leafs. Jesse Niemi scored in the first and Mitch Board scored in the third for the Riders while Adrian Moyls scored the lone Leaf goal.

A few notes…

The Ghostriders did just what they had to in this game and that was jump on a tired Nelson Leaf team… The Leafs must have been tired coming of a seven game series with Spokane on Tuesday, then with only one day off  traveling to and playing in Fernie on Thursday…The Leafs made constant mental errors all night. They insisted on trying to beat Fernie players instead of just using the glass to get the puck out of their end and they did the same trying to get the puck past the Rider D. Their defense also let the Riders sneak in behind them allowing several breakaway’s for the Ghostriders. It was almost comical how open they got. Again, these guys must have been tired.

-photo Jesse Niemi scored shorthanded-
Billy Faust was great in the Nelson net making several great saves including an unbelievable one in the third with his toe off of a Darrell Bolden shot. The second goal Faust let in went in off a skate… But Mitch Board was deserving as he had a strong game and punished the Leafs with his hits and persistent checking… Jesse Niemi scored the Riders first goal shorthanded after making some nice moves on the Leaf D to get a shot away….

Jason Greenwell continued his great goaltending as the Leafs managed several good scoring chances. Greenwell also caught the Leafs on a terrible line change and passed the puck up to the Leaf blueline where Niemi was waiting creating yet another golden opportunity for the Riders… The Leafs ended up with a good hit on the top scorer a few seconds later.

-photo Scott Anderson-
The stars were 1/ Matt MacDonald who won faceoffs and was skating & hitting (like a 200 pounder) all night. 2/ Taylor O’Neil, had an assist and made lots of great plays for the Leafs and seemed to shake off a hard shot in the skate in the third. And the 3rd star was Scott Anderson who stood up the Leaf forwards all night. And the Leaf forwards are hard to deal with as they try to beat you constantly and are easily the most skilled group this writer has see all season. They showed more skill in the first period then we saw in the last eight games before.

On a sad note, longtime Ghostrider fan Shirley Brown passed away. Shirley and the Brown family have been Ghostrider fans and sponsors since day one. There will be a moment of silence before the game tonight.

 In round three of the KIJHL Playoffs the Ghostriders play the Nelson Leafs.. The winner of this seven game series will play the winner of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference for the KIJHL Championship either Princeton or Revelstoke.

Nelson: The Leafs have played and won two seven game series’ to get this far. Their first series was against their main rivals in
Beaver
Valley and in round two they played
Spokane. The Leafs finished the
Spokane series last Tuesday in Nelson with a 7-1 win. The home team won every game. The Leafs top scorers in the playoffs so far are Brett McKinnion 12pts., 16 yr. old Braydon Sherbinin 11 pts. Gavin Currie 10 pts. 16 yr. old Gus Correale 10 pts.  Scott Jago 10 pts. and Mike Spring 10 pts. Nelson’s Billy Faust is their # 1 goalie with a 6-6 record.

Nelson finished second overall in the KIJHL with 76 points, Fernie ended up with 84. The two teams split their regular season’s games. Nelson won at home 5-1 in December and Fernie won at home 6-5 in overtime.  

Your Ghostriders : The Riders won their first two series’ in eight games straight. The first series was against Golden and series two was against Creston. Rider Coach Will Verner picked Mark Strachan, Jason Greenwell and Bond Hawryluk as the “Three Stars “ of the Creston series.

Here’s Will Verner on his Three Star Picks.
 We were able to get good efforts from all of our players throughout the series.  Greenwell was solid in net and has to be one of the stars of the series.  His stats are excellent and show how difficult it is for teams to score against our club (goals against average of 2.0 for the series and a save percentage of 92.6% and his overall record this playoff season is 8-0 with a 1.23 GAA and 95.24SV%).  Scott Anderson and Cody Boekestyn were excellent during the 2nd round.  The star of the series on the back will go to Mark Strachan.  Mark is so smart with the puck and competes so hard below the dots Creston found it very difficult to get any offensive zone pressure when Strachs was on the ice.  Upfront the usual crew of 10,28,2 were threats.  The pp was 4-4 at one point and the re-emergence of Matt MacDonald and the continued top play of Brendon Mangone was a big factor in the 4 game series.  The star up front for the 2nd round was Bond Hawryluk. 

Ghostriders win game two by a 3-2 score

The Fernie Ghostriders take a two game lead in the best of seven with the Creston Thunder Cats with a 3-2 win in game two. Creston’s Travis Ludwar scored the first goal but after that the Riders scored three straight and the game, unlike in game one was never really in question. Ryan Hewitt scored the second Cat goal.  Boxscores

Bond Hawryluk photo to the left- scored the first and last goal (a beauty unassisted) and made a great goal mouth pass to his brother Brendan on the second goal for the win. The twins and Jesse Niemi scored all the goals and were also named as the three stars.

NotesHardly any penalties in this game and that was for two reasons. For the most part the players who got hit did not retaliate and the referee put away his whistle. Maybe he sensed the players were just taking the hits without responding so he rewarded them and let a little holding and interference etc. go. Made for a short game…Lots of players finishing their checks in this game, # 14 Mitch Board made a million hits and generated a few good scoring chances and missed on a breakaway…Matt MacDonald is playing better since missing a pile of games but still has a way to go to get back to the level he was at a few months ago….Jared Cardinal tried all night to do what he does best but had no takers so he threw his body around and made a few good hits and even took a good one and just skated away…Jason Greenwell thought about whacking a player in his crease but stopped himself and earned his sixth playoff win in a row…The shots were almost even in game one but ended up 37-21 for the Riders on Tuesday… Evan Burgess, Keanan Patershuk and Kaydon Trumbley did not play Tuesday.

The Ghostriders ended the season with an 8-2 win over Invermere last night. Several players sat out and several AP were in the lineup. Tyson Weir (1 assist) Dylan Robertson (1 assist) Scott Stadnichuk (1G 1A) Dane Carlson (1 asist) and in net Fraser Abdallah put in some time. Below is a team photo taken after the game and one of new Rider Jared Cardinal. Be sure to “Click on the pics” for a full size view.

Last night in Kimberley it was the Nitros vs the Rockets in a battle for third place and a date with the Creston Thundercats. The Nitros out shot Golden 32-18 and won the game 5-2. The Rockets however won’t be in trouble when they get home, their mothers always said not to play on the road… The Rockets and their coach love this blog… Anyway it looks like the first game is in Fernie on Wednesday night then again on Saturday because of the Fernie Figure Skating Club’s Yearly (well attended- I might add) Carnival.
Creston will now host the Nitros, –Neslon, Beaver Valley,– Castlegar, Spokane–Sicamous,Pentiction and Chase, Kamloops. Revelstoke and Princeton get a buy in the first round.

Fernie vs Golden

So far this season Fernie has won all of the home games vs Golden but have lost twice in Golden. The losses were in October 2-1 and in December 3-2, the eight game series ended up 6-2 for the Riders . The Rockets top scorers are Travis Herlin with 42 points and Stefan Jensen with 41 points. Spenser Wong is their # 1 Goalie and ended the year with a 20-15 record. Golden finished up with 56 points, Kimberley 57. The Hawryluk twins were in Quesnel last weekend but are expected back for the playoff games this week.

The Ghostriders ended the season in first place overall with 84 points and the best goals for and against with a 243- 103 ratio + 140. Nelson was next with a 247- 128 + 119 record and a second place overall finish. Fernie will now have a home ice advantage for the rest of the playoffs. Perennial All-Star Jason Greenwell finished the season with the best record of all the goalies. Jason had a 33-5-1 record and a 927 save % . Jesse Niemi ended up with 70 points and was fifth in KIJHL scoring. James Werner scored the most Rider goals with 33 and Scott Anderson with 14 goals and 45 points was the top scoring defenseman.

For the record, Scott Morisseau of Beaver Valley with 84 pts. was top scorer followed by Ryan Aynsley Castlegar with 76, Layne Stopanski of Beaver Valley with 74 pts. Dan Hillman of Princeton with 70 pts. and Jesse Niemi with 70 pts.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

 With four goals in a row James Werner -photo- Chased the visiting Chiefs right out of the arena and on to the buss Friday night and he did it in front of 1077 cheering fans. Werner scored a couple of real nice goals, was the recipient of a mistake behind Chase’s net and put one in off a D-man’s leg to score the Riders first four goals. Brendon Mangone scored the Riders fifth goal in the last few seconds of the second period while racing down the left side and firing in a shot that chased goalie Riley Wall out of the net for the night.

The Chiefs got to Jason Greenwell late in the second when Scott Renner and top scorer Devin Hobbs on the PP scored a pair to give the Chiefs some light.
Brandon Briere scored the Chiefs third goal but that was all they would get as Greenwell shut the door the rest of the way for the win.

Note Book—- Mitch Board- photo- was the second star and fed James Werner all night-

The Riders won Friday but it was kind of in spite of themselves. They had the game well in hand but then took several uncalled for penalties especially on any player who went near Jason Greenwell. The worst was when Chase’s Colton DeFrias fired a puck at the Fernie net well after the whistle. That, in the regular season probably requires a gloved face wash or something but Zach Fridella went off and slammed the offending player into the boards taking five and a game for a head shot. DeFrias got the unsportsmanlike call and the Riders were short for three minutes…. The power plays went, Chase 2-9 Fernie 1-3…The Riders took four on a row in the third but were pretty good on the kill and just when it seemed like Chase had a chance on the PP Darren Pittendreigh took a four minute spearing penalty to Chase away any chance of the Chiefs getting back in the game… Jason Greenwell tried at least three times to fire the puck over the heads of all the Chase players trying to hit one of his streaking forwards for the breakaway pass…It was very close a couple of times…. And fun to watch…. I don’t think any other goalie in the league can clear the puck like Greenwell….Darrell Boldon- photo below almost caught one of Greenwells Hail Mary Passes…With his four goals on Friday Werner now takes over the team goal scoring lead from Fridella.28- 26

Around the league Creston defeated Golden 5-1 on Friday night in a game that featured referee Chris (Bad News) Babikaiff handing out three Gross Misconducts…Creston’s Scott Swiston and Jordon Johnson got them as did Golden’s Jeremy Long…A gross is three games.. he must have been in a bad mood… Nelson beat Castlegar 4-3 but it took overtime…hope these guys beat each other up before the playoffs…Meanwhile in Princeton the Possy thrashed the Keystone Cup hosting Kamloops Storm 7-2. 

And Finally

Former Ghostrider Adam Taylor has signed in Kimberley for the remainder of the season. Taylor was in Cold Lake Alberta playing with the “Ice” but got hurt just before the January 10th deadline. Because of the looming deadline the team needed to know if Adam liked it there and wanted to stay and play when he recovered from his injury or did he want his release. Taylor 89 chose the release and ended up in Kimberley.

Keydon Trembley played his first game as a Rider on Friday

BC Hockey announced today that the Fernie Ghostriders have been selected as the host team for the 2011 Cyclone Taylor Cup. The 2011 Championship will be held April, 2011.

The Cyclone Taylor Cup serves as the BC Hockey Championship for Junior B Hockey. The Champions from the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL), the Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL), and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) along with the host team compete in the Championship tournament.

The 2010 Cyclone Taylor Cup is being hosted by the Oceanside Generals. The Championship is scheduled for April 1-4, 2010. For more information on the 2010 Cyclone Taylor Championship please continue to monitor the BC Hockey website.

For more information about BC Hockey, please visit the BC Hockey website at www.bchockey.net

The Ghostriders defeated the Kimberley Dynamiters 5-2 in front of 1140 fans on a rare Monday night game in Fernie.

Tim Crawley ( Fridella- Werner) scored the Ghostriders first goal on the PP midway through the first but Nitro Matt Foster evened the score later on and the first ended tied at one.

The teams traded goals in the second with Foster scoring his second goal in the first minute with Mason Spear getting  the assist on that goal and on the first goal. We wanted to tell you that mostly because we think Spear is a great hockey name and he leads hit team in PIM’s. Anyway, Brendan Hawryluk -photo to the left- scored on a nice feed from Mike Wiest and Jesse Niemi to end the period tied at two.

In the third Brendan Hawryluk scored his second goal on a perfect top corner shot –from Fridella and his brother Bond. Then it was Jesse Niemi from Strachan and Boldon scoring and finally on the PP it was Bond Hawryluk scoring on an excellent feed from brother Brendan and Niemi for a 5-2 win.

Notebook

The shots ended up 44-24 for the Riders but could have been a lot more lopsided if the boys could hit the net. They must have wasted 20 shots by hitting posts, boards and glass by the end of the second period alone… It took almost half of the game to find their range but Niemi and the Hawryluk’s eventually started finishing all their chances and the Nitros at the same time…. Brendan was the first star with 2 goals and an assist, Niemi the second with a goal and an assist and Bond the third with a goal and an assist….Nitro goalie Tory Caldwell got away with shoving his stick in James Werner’s face in the second period during a multi player scrum but by the third he was probably wishing he had been kicked out…Tremendous fight between Rider Zach Traverse and Nitro goal scorer Matt Foster. These guys fired enough hay-makers to feed the Budweiser Horses for the winter…For the record that was Fosters 22nd goal…. At the end of the game on a play in the corner Nitro Cory Allen hit Rider Mike Anderson with his elbow square in the back . The play was over and the hit was needless and felled Anderson. While everyone was just standing around like they were watching a card trick or something Evan Burgess (in the photo above) who has been around for a couple of years and knows better skated all the way in from the point and took a pretty good shot at the Nitro player. Thank you Evan! There was no Rider PP after the hit but it was easily worth it at this time of year and in that game situation.

The Ghostriders are set to play an Alumni Game on December 29th at the Fernie Memorial. The game will be a benefit to support former Ghostrider Mike Rouselle in his recovery from an industrial accident. The game should be an entertaining, fun match between the Riders and a team made up of Ghostrider players from the past. So far we only know of a couple of players who are confirmed in former Captains Connor Hughes and Charlie Mattersdorfer but several other former players are still in the area and will be on the ice. We will post the names as soon as we get them.

Also after the game there will be a skate with former and current players. Hot Chocolate and Hot Dogs will be made available for the skate after the game. There will be a raffle at the game and a 50-50 draw. Proceeds from the event will go to support Mike Rouselle and his family. Tickets for the event will be $5 for all.

The Ghostriders out shot the Golden Rockets 11-3, 12-3 and 12-8 and won their game by a 3-1 score on Friday night here in Fernie.

The Riders Brendan Hawryluk (Bond Hawryluk-Jesse Niemi) scored in the first and then again in the third (Zach Traverse-Bond Hawryluk) before Scott Anderson fired in a Darrell Bolden rebound and made the game 3-0. After that the Riders Evan Burgess took a four minute spearing penalty with about seven minutes to go but his team mates bailed him out and actually had more scoring chances than Rockets did. Brendan Mangone just missed the best chance shorthanded. This was a near perfect game for the Riders who were leading 3-0 in the last seconds of the game and had the totally frustrated Rockets down two players. But the guys were a little too concerned with scoring another goal in the last seconds and let Rocket forward Brian Busenius steal a puck and beat everyone the length of the ice to the net to ruin Jason Greenwell’s shutout, the time on the clock was 0:01.

Notebook

The stars were 1st. Brendan Hawryluk with 2 goals 2nd Scott Anderson with a goal and 3rd Keanan Pattershuk with several hits and lots of aggressive play…Darrell Boldon -photo- had an assist in his first game since getting traded from Invermere and after the game when we asked him how it felt to win for a change he seemed more relieved than elated. And with a 4 and 28 record where he came from in Invermere you can see why… Mark Strachan got in a couple in his first Jr. fight against seasoned fighter Zach Baba…and Evan Burgess got in a haymaker in his battle… We hear there was lots of soul searching after blowing the shutout, but a quick look at some stats … the Riders have a ten point lead over second place Golden …the team has already clinched a playoff spot…territorially and shot wise the game was one sided… and the date is December 11th not March 11th… Lots of time to learn from mistakes.

The Ghostriders -click on the photos for a better view-

ended a two game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the struggling Kamloops Storm last Saturday night here in Fernie.

This game started out poorly for the Ghostriders who were badly outplayed for the first ten minutes or so and were down 2-0 for awhile. Storm forward Duncan Schultz scored the first goal on a lucky deflection just 47 seconds into the game and Kamloops top scorer Bevin Ollek ( Rai-Edwards) scored their second goal a few minutes later. With the goal the Storm seemed to be in control but with about eight minutes left in the period Jesse Niemi scored a PP goal after Brendan Hawryluk outworked everyone around him and fed him the puck.

With that goal the momentum started changing and the Ghostriders gradually took over the game. The next goal was from the aforementioned Brendan Hawryluk only this time his brother Bond did all the work and Brendan scored the goal and Niemi picked up another point with an assist. The score was 2-2 after one and the shots were 14-7 for the Riders.

The second was all Fernie as James Werner -left photo-who had several chances on the night scored a nice one from Mitch Board and Jordan Hirano, then Zach Fridella sent Tim Crawley in on a breakaway for the fourth goal. Brendan Mangone had the other assist on the goal. The shots were even in this period but Fernie controled the play and had the best chances.

In the third Kamloops had a few good chances but Jason Greenwell shut the door as did Anthony Manfredi for the Storm until the last minute when the Hawryluk brothers worked the puck to Jesse Niemi for his second goal and 40th point on the season. The game ended 5-2 for the Riders then we saw-

                                                                                                            Notebook

Have the Hawryluk brothers found a trigger-man ? Jesse Niemi -left photo-played with the brothers on Saturday and scored two goals and the line teamed up for eight points and three goals…No matter who the Hawryluk’s play with they always seem to spend their time around the other team’s net, but sometimes they don’t score as much as they should with all the chances they create. Maybe Niemi who was named as the first star is the guy…Brendan Hawryluk was the third star and James Werner who could have had four or five points was the second star…Zach Fridella got away with a questionable hit in the third and was a pest to the Storm players all night with little jabs etc., he makes the Riders a harder team to play against.

And Finally

The Kamloops Storm came into this game after a 6-5 O/T loss in… Invermere… yes that’s correct, Invermere, but the Storm are shorthanded this weekend mostly because they cut-down to (I’m told 19 players) so they can bring in six new players before the end of the season. (All teams had to be down to a total of 25 players and cards on Dec. 1st) The Storm will be hosting the Keystone Cup in April so getting six new top end players to go with what they have now will make these guys a much better team that won’t lose easily. Too bad Fernie didn’t play these guys after the January 10th deadline.

Mike Weist -photo on the left- was at the game on Saturday and tells us he’s gonna play December 28 against the hated Nitros.  Next home game is Friday Dec. 1 vs Golden on Teddy Bear Toss Night.