Eric Chenxi Jiang, Josh Kallies, Jack Lambert, Malachai North Pegian
The Ghostriders won both games this week, 2-1 in overtime against Creston and 5-4 at home against Kimberley.
Those divisional wins were important for the Riders as they gradually climb up the standings ladder.
Here’s what Coach Chad Scharff had to say on the wins, new players and confidence.
“We knew going into this stretch of games where four of the five games were against divisional opponents that we had to find ways to gain points in the standings.”
“ This weekend was a huge step in the right direction for our group. Playing in two close games and being able to come out on top in both of them gives us confidence moving forward”.
“What our staff is really happy with is the way we have been able to play with more sandpaper in our game. Bringing in De La Salle and Thiessen adds to the strength of our team as a whole. Teams aren’t going to push us around and with our skill we will be able to play in all situations. We are Looking forward to the week ahead going into our home and home against Golden”.
Notes from the Weekend
Taylor Haggerty scored five Rider goals in a row, in Kelowna, both goals in Creston then scored the first two against Kimberley…with 16 goals and 16 assists in 17 games he is the new Ethan McDuff.
The Coaching staff brought in three new players this week. Goaltender Braxton Becker (06) from Osoyoos, (competition for the backup spot to Nick Kunyk who was in net for both games), Lucas De La Salle (04) from the MJHL Blizzard (De La Salle played in Invermere last season and had 39 pts in 43 games ) and from Kelowna Trent Thiessen (05), a 6’ 8”220 lb D-man (can you guess what they want him to do).
Secondary Scoring has been a bit of a problem for the Riders so seeing Liam Breakenridge score a couple of goals including the game winner, and Dylan Puk get his first point against the Nitro’s had to make the coaches happy.
Forward Lucas Desjarlais played his 100th regular season game Saturday where as usual he chased and tired the opponents D men with his relentless pursuit of the puck… Who’s next to 100 …There’s a song Hey (number)..he will be the next FGR to play 100 games.
The power play that went 0-5 in Merritt, 0-7 in Kelowna and 0-2 in Creston responded going 3-3 vs Kimberley…it was a special teams game, KD went 2-3.
1020 fans at the Saturday game… the players, coaches and board members thank the fans for coming out to the games. Kimberley will be back in town on December 27th.
Only one referee vs the KD, our friends (well not my friends) at BC Hockey, Hockey Canada and the KIJHL office still think it’s best for developing the game if they don’t let the referees do both the outlaw BCHL, and the KIJHL, PIJHL and minor hockey… go figure… They may not say it, but off the record (sorry I can’t help it) the refs are getting sick of doing games by themselves…especially hard to manage games like the Nitro game.
Haven’t heard this in a while, every time there was a scrum in the north end a group of kids were chanting fight, fight, fight… heartwarming stuff…to an old asterdbay like me.
The Riders play Golden in Golden then again here in Fernie next Saturday Nov 30th. Usually by now Golden is out of the playoff race, but not this year…better be ready… like Nelson wasn’t in Spokane where Tyler Picha shut them out 5-0 in front of 550 fans, it was the Braves 2nd win…The more you know…
