The Ghostriders earned their first win of the season on Saturday night in Fruitvale against the always tough (4-1-1) Hawks. The Riders now have 1 win 1 loss and 1 SO loss, .500 hockey.
In Beaver Valley on Saturday there was no scoring until the third. Keegan Fellows (Rothfos) scored halfway through the period to tie the game at 1 only to see Hawk Ollie Clement score his second of the game with just 1:32 left in the third giving the Hawks a seemingly insurmountable 2-1 lead.
But Wait There’s More
With just 25 seconds left in the game and Nick Kunyk on the bench, Eric Martin (Haggerty) tied the game at 2-2 setting up Taylor Haggerty to be the overtime hero with his unassisted goal. Having coincidental penalties just before the tying goal made for a little more room out there (5 on4) as well.
Overall
The Hawks looked like they could win for most of the game but in the third Fernie was clearly the dominant team, outshooting BV 20-7 and outscoring them 2-1.
Coach Chad Scharff was happy with the win but a little dismayed at the slow start.
Scharff “ We can’t start the way we have and expect to play comeback in every game. We are thrilled with the win and commitment of the players sticking with it. Our third period is exactly how we expect to play as a group. There is work to do and we will take the two points and go back to work this week. It was nice to get in the win column.”
Taylor Haggerty echoed Scharff’s thoughts
Haggerty “We didn’t love our first two periods and talked about playing the right way in the second intermission. We went out in the third and did that and came out with the win”.
Rider News The Hawks had the best of the scoring opportunities for a lot of the game .
Haggerty “ Nick Kunyk was excellent and kept us in the game. It was a good road win but we can still be better which is an exciting thing”
The game also saw the return of F- Ben Skarsen, who was in Bonnyville (AJHL) and debut of D-Kellen Hale.
Round the League
The freak show schedule is over, Fernie has played the least amount of games in the KI, but now the games will come fast and furious for the Riders who will play in Creston this Friday and host Spokane in Fernie on Saturday . The T Cats surprised Revelstoke with a 2-1 win Friday but lost 6-2 in Sicamous Saturday.
You don’t have to be perfect if you have the heart
At the home opener they had some tech problems and couldn’t play the anthem so announcer Skip Feller grabbed the mike and sang Oh Canada for the fans, who, along with video wiz Scotty McKee, sang along with him. I didn’t know he could carry a tune…he doesn’t even carry a lunch bucket anymore.
New owner problems
In Quesnel the owner Tracey Mero parted ways with longtime KIJHL HC/GM Dale Hladun (Duner) last week but refused to say why. The new HC hasn’t been announced yet. We will keep an eye on this development.
There are no perfect teams, standings here.
Fight Cards
Creston and Nelson had players suspended 3&4 games for a staged fight
Im’a One Man Show
Grand Forks and Kimberley had players suspended for participating in a One-Man Fight.
I fought the law
Two possibly very important lawsuits on the docket, one is challenging the legality of the CHL draft and the other is to allow CHL players US scholarships.
The eligibility suit could make a big difference to the BCHL…will the College recruiters want the players to play in the best league before they give out tens of thousands in scholarship money? Will the CHL cut down on the number of games to get the top BCHL players interested?
Next Home Game is Saturday October 13th at 7:00 when Spokane is in town.
See you at the rink RN
