The Ghostriders will open the season at home against Creston on Friday September 19th. Creston has a 4-1 exhibition record so far and their top scorers are Keethan Isbister and Liam Monro.
Creston’s Head Coach and General Manager is Geordie Wudrick who is in his second year with the Cats.
Important Ghostrider News
Longtime Team President Barb Anderson has stepped down, and Mike Casault is the new Fernie Ghostriders President. Mike has been part of the Ghostriders Board of Directors a few times over the years so he’s well aware of what is involved in icing a junior team.
The Ghostrider organization thanks Barb Anderson for her eleven years of service as President. It is a big job that takes a lot more time and preparation than most people realize, plus one of her underlings was always causing her headaches at the league level …
The Fernie Ghostriders Head Coach and General Manager is Chad Scharff and his Assistant Coach is Dante Raposo. Ashley Springle is the Head Trainer. They are all in their second year with the Riders.
Chad Scharff “We are excited to get the season going with a new group. We feel that our group has a lot of youth and depth in every position and that leads to more internal competition”.
“New season leads to new opportunities for a lot of players. There is a new energy within the group and that’s exciting for us as coaches. We feel that we learnt a lot from last season and can’t wait to get started in year two”.
The Ghostriders lost the first two exhibition games 3-1 in Golden and 5-4 in Fernie then bounced back in a home and home with Invermere where they won 5-1, and 6-2. There were a few nice goals scored in those games but the games weren’t what you would call physical. The regular season grind should fix that… we can always hope anyway
The Riders have several returning players, Coden Fournier, Liam Breakenridge, Ben Skarsen, Stephen Jones, Kellen Hale, Garrett Buchanan, Ethan Buhler, and Sawyer Samycia.
Ben Skarsen has been named as the Captain this season, Ben was named as the Top Defensive Forward last year. Ben’s younger brother Jaxon will play with the team this season as well. Jaxon is a sixteen year old defenseman who will be eased into the lineup as the season progresses.
A few of the new players are Boston Logan and Danil Timchuk along with two former Sicamous Eagle forwards Hayden Evans and Walker Overwater.
The two Eagles are proven KIJHL players who have looked good in the exhibition season. Dante Raposo also points out #17 Jaden Piper and #10 Owen MacLeod as “Guys that are really fun to watch”.
The Ghostriders will start the season with three goalies, so Kade Lewis, Sam Epp and Hudson Brett will be competing for the #1 starters job. The Coaches wanted to get younger and Nick Kunyk is a twenty year old so they went with the three goalies mentioned above. Kunyk may end up with another team and if he does we will mention it here.
Good luck Nick ! Another goalie who won’t be back is Cooper Anderson, he is going to play Lacrosse this year.
Next up after the Creston game is a road trip to Kamloops and Chase, then on Friday October 3rd the Sicamous Eagles are here in Fernie for their one and only visit to the Memorial this year.
