Monday, January 26, 2009

The Ghostriders play the Sicamouse Eagles Friday night for the second and last time this year. The Riders played Sicamous on the road November 22 and won 4-3. Brady Berrisoff got the win in net while Scott Traverse and former Rider Jimmy Carter each scored short handed goals. Sicamous is currently in second place in their Division and are well ahead of Chase, Revelstoke, Princeton and Summerland but are too far back to catch Kamloops (who will be in Fernie Feb. 14) for first place. With 23 goals and 41 points 19 year old Aaron Buat is the Eagles’ leading scorer.

We are only a few weeks away from the playoffs and after last weekend the Ghostriders were tied with Golden for second but still have a shot at first. Coach Will Verner had this to say about how the team has played lately and where they are now.
Will Verner “ In our last 7 games we have a record of 5-0-2 and we have only given up 12 goals in that span. We currently sit in 3rd place league wide when you look at goals against and are 8th in goals for with an average of 3.4 goals per game or a total of 121 goals scored this season. We currently have the 4th best winning percentage in the league as we have won 65.5% of our matches. We trail Nelson 84.9%, Kamloops 72.4% and Creston 71.4%.
Next Coach Verner talks about making the playoffs and even taking a run at first place.

Verner “We have to continue winning to stay in the mix and focus on what we can control. With 10 games left we need 7 points to clinch a playoff spot. (A win by our team and or a loss by CV will help us get to this magic number of 7) It definitely looks like it is going to be a tight battle for playoff positioning and at this point it looks like Creston has a bit of a strong hold on 1st place with their 3 wins this past weekend. Head to head match-ups will definitely help us get back into the race and if we can find a way to continue our streak we will give ourselves a chance to battle for 1st place on the final weekend of the year. Spots 2 through 4 are wide open. It is definitely better to start at home and have home ice advantage especially if a series goes 7 games. There is no better feeling than to win game 7 at home in front of 1140 fans.


As far as injuries go Verner had this to say “ We have a few bumps and bruises at this point in the season but nothing too serious. We have already started to sit players out for rest and preventative rehabilitation and we will continue to do this down the stretch. This not only allows our players time to recover but it allows our other players to gain valuable experience before the playoff start. All 22 players should be ready to play this weekend.”

The Ghostriders also signed forward Jessi Niemi last week. Coach Verner “ Jesse Niemi is from Salmon Arm and did not play last season. He has spent the last year and a half working and playing recreational hockey. Jesse played Midget AAA in Salmon Arm and attended the BC Best Ever Program. Each day Jesse gets closer and closer and we feel we are ahead of schedule as we did not think he would suit up for a game until early February.”

Saturday’s Game vs Kimberley

The Ghostriders start a series of divisional games featuring Kimberley Saturday Golden next Friday, Creston next Saturday then again in Creston on Tuesday February 10. The games in the last month will determine the playoff match ups. The last time the Riders played Kimberley was January 30 in Kimberley where the Ghostriders lost 5-3 in a fight filled game that was called in the last minute because of the Kimberley fans. So far the Nitros have won 3 of the eight game series this year. Their top scorers are Leo Keefer and Andrew Green, both players played there last season. photo Keelan Edwards

Odds and Ends

In other news, with 3 goals and an assist last weekend Dave McIvor had a 6 game point streak going into this weekend…. Karl Weberg scored a shorthanded goal and had 3 assists last week…Keelan Edwards scored his first goal in a Rider uniform vs Princeton and was the third star vs Spokane…857 fans at the game last Saturday, the Ghostriders thank you…Good to see Tim Crawley, Travis Harrad and Adam Taylor help out McIvor who had 2 goals in the 5-2 win over Spokane… And lastly but certainly not leastly –Brady Berisoff had both wins in net to go along with an assist last weekend and now has a great 10-2 record… photo Brady Berisoff-

Evan Burgess played four games in four nights with the Merritt Centenials of the BCHL this past weekend. In the four matches against Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Victoria and Cowichan, Evan recorded 4 assists and was named the second star against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs