Rider News January 19/25

 

The Scratches, for various reasons were, Andrew Morris, Lucas De La Salle, Kellen Hale, Team Captain Zayden Zmurchyk, Jack Lambert and Sawyer Samycia 

The Ghostriders went 2-1 this week, they lost 7-4 to the Columbia Valley Rockies but won games against  Nelson 5-1 and Chase 4-2, all home games… in front of 575, 738 and 763 fans. The Rider Board, Coaches and Players thank the fans for coming out to the games.

Not much to say about the Rockies game, the boys had a 3-0 lead in the first only to surrender six and eventually lose 7-4. It was a game where defence was something you climb over behind the bar when the coach shows up late at night. In the Nelson and Chase games they were the better team and played as HC Chad Scharff says a “More Complete Game”

Some players we don’t usually talk about

Lucas Desjarlais

Despite the loss we saw a terrific hi-lite worthy fight between Lucas Desjarlais and the Rockies Wyatt Wurtz early in the third… they threw enough haymakers to feed the Budweiser Horses for a week… Desjarlais also scored a goal.

Easton Zenko

Defenceman Easton Zenko started his junior career in Fernie last year but was traded to Chase in December then traded back to Fernie at the 2025 deadline. IMO Zenko has stepped up several rungs on the player development ladder since he left Fernie and climbed right to the top of the respect ladder after his former teammates from Chase constantly cheap shotted, face washed and charged at him. He was even crosschecked in the face by the Chase “C” (means cowboy ?) when the two players were knocked down in the corner. Face-offs have two meanings in hockey. Anyway, Zenko took whatever they threw at him and was still willing to take hits to make  plays late in the game. 

Cooper Anderson

Cooper Anderson started the Rockies disaster but was pulled and Nick Kunyk  finished the game and he easily won the Nelson game 5-1. Anderson got back in net for the Chase game and only let in two unstoppable power play goals for a 4-2 win. Anderson made several big time saves in the third when Chase had three power plays and 11 shots…one was right in the head, it woulda killed a deer, but didn’t faze him. 

Gaege Johnson

Gaege Johnson, known for his penalty killing and defensive play scored a “goal scorers” goal, it was the game tying goal in the Chase game, he turned that goalie inside out…All players score in practice but not so much in games. My theory,  they go into auto pilot during the endless mind-numbing practices, we’ve all done it, drove somewhere or did a morning run or other mundane task perfectly and later in the day barely remember if we did it…if only some shrink could figure that out. 

D-man Garrett Buchanan and forward Ben Henshall got their first points as Riders, unfortunately Andrew Morris caught an edge and was injured Friday. Buchanan, who was in Kamloops, really seems to fit in on the blueline though. 

Josh Kallies

Josh Kallies doesn’t get to play much but his number came up in the Chase game. Kallies’ made some nice plays in the third, especially on the penalty kill that had the aforementioned scratches cheering for him.

Coach Chad Scharff’s thoughts on the games “I think we can use this weekend to really kickstart our push down the stretch. We have seen the success we have when we play into our system & play as a 20 man unit. When each guy does their job & they hold each other accountable we can be a very good group. Getting 4 points after losing 4 out of 5 is a good boost for the team regardless of who you play. We’ve continued to focus on us & what we need to do rather than worrying about who our opponent is & when we control what we can control from our side the sky is the limit.”

The usual suspects (like Taylor Haggerty 5pts ) scored most of the goals in the three games. 

Rockies 7 Fernie 4 

 

Nelson 1 @ Fernie 5

Taylor Haggerty with the game winner

Chase 2 @ Fernie 4

Taylor Haggerty’s 2nd G was the GWG

The Fernie Legion has been showing the Ghostrider road games in the bar !

Come out and support the Fernie Legion and the Ghostriders

Next Home Game is Friday January 24th @ 7:00 against Kimberley 

In case you were wondering Kimberley beat Chase 5-4 in a shootout Friday then beat Nelson 6-5 on Saturday