Ghostriders Ride On

The Fernie Ghostriders entered Friday night’s game against the Nelson Leafs with a cushion. After loosing the first two games of the series in Nelson, the Ghostriders returned home to win back-to-back home games tying the series at two all. Back in Nelson on Thursday night, they decisively shut out Nelson 7-0 to take a one game lead in the best of seven series. Friday night’s game moved back in Fernie. The Leafs sought revenge for their home ice embarrassment. The Ghostriders sought to clinch the series with a win and move on to the BC Championships in Victoria.

Tickets sold out by 1 PM. According to the rink announcer, as the players set up for the first face off, between three hundred and five hundred people stood outside trying to get in. “Don’t leave. You may not get back in. Our security is extremely tight tonight.�

Don’t worry. Those seated and those crowded in the SRO sections had zero intention of missing one minute of this game.

Right out of that first face off, the Ghostriders and Leafs skated hard. No three or four minutes of feeling out the other team. With 5 games in a week, the two teams fully understood how they skated in relation to each other. It was fast and furious from the first stick touching the dropped puck.

Just over halfway through the first period, with 9:53 remaining, the Ghostriders scored the first goal of the game. The puck bounced in and out of the net in a jumble of players struggling in front of the goal.

The Leafs did not counter and the period ended one-zip Riders.

In the second period the Leafs came out shooting. Less than a minute into the period, at 19:17, the Leafs put in their first goal of the game. Less than five minutes later at 14:42, they scored again and took the lead for the first time in the last three games. The second period ended with the Leafs leading two-one over the Riders.

Play the first two periods resembled half-court basketball more than open rink hockey. Most of the action centered in the Fernie end of the rink with an occasional breakout for a shot on the Leafs goal by a couple of Ghostrider skaters. Then it was back to passing around the Fernie goal again. Hard fought hockey, but they were not using the whole rink.

In the third period the Ghostriders moved the puck back to the Leaf’s end of the ice scoring a tying goal early with 16:40 left in the period. Then with 11:42, the Riders scored the go ahead goal. With 8:22 McIver took it from the blue line, flicking the puck into the goal providing the extra security of being 2 up on the Leafs.

After McIver’s goal, the Ghostriders really put the game in gear. Playing hard, hitting hard and clean, the Riders and the Leafs took the puck from one end to the other. Time after time, the goalies stopped shot after shot. The defense stole and passed to the front line letting them move it down the ice for the shot. Loosing the puck and then passing to the other end. These last minutes contained some of the best-played hockey of the series. Evenly matched, fast skating, quick passing, hard hitting skating.  Whole rink hockey.

Toward the end, the Leafs were clearly becoming frustrated and the game blew up with 15.8 seconds left in the period. A fight broke out which quickly spread to all the players on the ice. Then a few players form the bench joined and the rink looked more like a kid’s game of fifty-two pick up with hockey gloves, helmets and sticks instead of paying cards. Slowly the ref’s separated players, clearing the ice of combatants.

When it settled down and the teams were separated, the refs zeroed the clock and Fernie took the game four-two over the Leafs.

In six games of clean, well-skated hockey, it is a shame the series ended on such a discordant note. Up until the last 16 seconds of this last game, the series skated clean. Most of the penalties were inadvertent fouls the heat of play. Minor fighting between the teams allowed the players to concentrate on the passing the puck and taking shots on the net. Watching for an incoming punch was not a part of play. And it showed. All in all, the series was great hockey.

Now the Ghostriders travel to Victoria for the 2007 Cyclone Taylor Cup BC Provincial Championships running from April 5th through April 8th.