Most of the Photos courtesy of trainer Leigh-Amber Baxter the Ghostriders fixer
Cole Fournier, Taylor Haggerty, Jeff Dubois (KIJHL Commissioner) Cole Fisher, Barb Anderson and Jack Lambert with the Cup and Banner
Congratulations to all the players coaches and trainers on winning the Kootenay Conference banner and Cup. We know how hard you guys work.
Captain Taylor Haggerty on the playoffs so far… “This is what we have been working towards since we started doing zoom calls in the summer. It’s amazing to see how it’s all come together. I’m so proud of this group.The job is not done we still have a long way to go but it’s a great opportunity for us.
Ghostrider President Barb Anderson “The boys have been working hard, keeping their composure through adversity! Super proud of each and every player! The staff have been supportive and working very hard behind the scenes!
Notes From Under the Bleachers… where they keep the suds
In the clinching game, the hardest game to win, Nick Kunyk came to the rescue and shutout the Hawks 4-0, he is now 8-1 with a 9.49 save % a nice playoff record so far…and easily in the running for playoff MVP…
With Levi Hall day to day with an injury the Riders were allowed to pick up Ethan Lawczynski from the Castlegar Rebels to be the backup until Hall is ready…Riley Enns was the Riders Most Improved player and he had a goal and two assists… Coden Fournier got his 6th from his brother Cole who was probably sent out by his dad Jason…
Kyler Watson had a pair of goals (5th and 6th) “We played a full 60 minutes that was our goal going into the game. I thought we achieved that, we played well and everyone was going. We put ourselves in a great spot and are super excited to move on. I think the fans behind us helped a lot we really thrive off them being there and it makes it super fun for us to play in front of good crowds every night.”
Ben Skarsen was one of the KIJHL’s Players of the Week and was the FG Rookie of the Year…
I guess I just see things differently… when BV’s Connor Stojan took an overtime dive in game four, I never thought for a second to be mad at Stojan, the refs pissed me off for missing the Hollywood style embellishment… but good on Stojan… if it was the other way around their fans would be howlin at the moon and we would be ok with it…lesson well learned I think … Fernie has the lowest PIM and are proud of it so… play smarter with the game on the line…
At the start of the season half the fans thought they knew more about coaching than the EM Coach Of the Year winner Ty Valin…probably down to about 50 or so now…the rest are busy making pyramids…When a player makes a mistake, do you really think the coach told him to do it…
Game four was delayed because of ice problems, the reason was a natural gas interruption so there was no hot water to put in the Zamboni, that has been corrected…all is well in the free world again…
Numbers, Coden Fournier, Landon Hedges and Taylor Haggerty are tied and lead the Riders with 14 points and 17 players have scored at least one goal…
It’s been so long since the Riders won the Kootenay Conference Cup I was beginning to think it was just some sort of jock strap for the top scorer…
Seems like the Riders got D-man Luke Schaeffer back just in time from his exaggerated suspension to give the overworked D a few shifts off…How good would injured D men Eric Martin and Andrew Kennedy look right now…
Cole Fisher has come a long way in the last three years, he had this to say after the clinching game
“I had a lot of confidence in our group that we were gonna get the job done in game six. Beaver Valley started the game with a strong forecheck but towards the end of the game we could tell they were worn out. After we scored our first goal the energy was one sided in our favour, and we knew we couldn’t let up and let them back into another game”
And Finally…The BCHL says they want to be a “Free to Play League“ So Merritt saw the writing on the wall and they are joining the KIJHL next year. It doesn’t take a Brain Surgeon, (so they got me ) to look at the BCHL attendance numbers and figure out that there are probably more to come…
Taylor Haggerty getting ready to fight Commissioner Jeff Dubois
