Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Nelson Leafs take game two by a 5-2 score.
The Leafs scored two in the first and three in the third for a 5-2 win in Fernie on Friday night. Leaf goal scorers were. Dane Rupert from Braeden Hikichi, – Adrian Moyls from Tyler Parfeniuk, – Chris Cucullu (unassisted), Dane Rupert from Dallon Stoddart and Gavin Currie into the empty net.
Rider goals came late in the third and came off the sticks of Darrell Boldon from Mike Wiest and Jesse Niemi from Scott Anderson and Brendan Hawryluk.
Photo- Darrell Boldon— Notes
The Nelson Leafs eliminated some of the fancy stuff and even fired the puck out of their end off the glass a few times thus eliminating several of the giveaways they were guilty of in game one. Shawn Mullin who is normally the Trail Smoke Eater’s radio guy but is doing the Fernie Nelson radio broadcast in the West Kootenays since Trail got knocked out of the playoffs, said it best, “ Nelson simplified their game”…
The stars were, 1/ Dane Rupert with two goals, 2/ Chris Cucullu with a goal and Jesse Niemi with a goal….With his goal Niemi now has 5 goals and 10 assists in ten games and leads the Riders in scoring… But he is paying a price as he took a big hit in game one and was hit hard a couple of times in game two… he dished out some nasty but can’t continue to take those type of hits in a long series…Jared Cardinal –photo to the left- got even though, he made the Leafs pay a price for touching the puck and did it several times until early in the third when he and Cody Abby had a spirited bout…Darrell Boldon scored the Riders first goal, a bullet into the top corner getting even for a sure goal he missed in game one…nicest goal was from Adrian Moyls who got the breakaway when he was released from the penalty box and scored on the backhand, it was Leaf “D” man Tyler Parfeniuk who fed him the puck… and for my money Parfeniuk, who did everything, blocking shots & passes and got the puck out of his end effectively was the Leafs best defenseman…Jason Greenwell made some great saves but was caught out of position the third and fourth goals… He may have to quit his third defenseman routine against these guys… Brendon Mangone laid a big hit on Mike Spring in the third and seconds later Spring got him back starting another fight…. A big difference from game one as the Leafs stand up for themselves in the hit department and with a couple of fights.
Riders Keanan Patershuk and Evan Burgess were back in the lineup, Kaydon Trumbley and Mike Anderson were out as was Zach Fridella who missed both games with an injury. Fridella’s size and hostile attitude were needed and missed by the Ghostriders in game two. that’s Zach in the photo
Leafs were without Scott Jago, Sean Muller and Jarrett Burke who were out with injuries from game one.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Riders win game one 2-1
Photo – first star Matt MacDonald- The Fernie Ghostriders get a 2-1 win in game one against the Nelson Leafs. Jesse Niemi scored in the first and Mitch Board scored in the third for the Riders while Adrian Moyls scored the lone Leaf goal.
A few notes…
The Ghostriders did just what they had to in this game and that was jump on a tired Nelson Leaf team… The Leafs must have been tired coming of a seven game series with Spokane on Tuesday, then with only one day off traveling to and playing in Fernie on Thursday…The Leafs made constant mental errors all night. They insisted on trying to beat Fernie players instead of just using the glass to get the puck out of their end and they did the same trying to get the puck past the Rider D. Their defense also let the Riders sneak in behind them allowing several breakaway’s for the Ghostriders. It was almost comical how open they got. Again, these guys must have been tired.
-photo Jesse Niemi scored shorthanded-
Billy Faust was great in the Nelson net making several great saves including an unbelievable one in the third with his toe off of a Darrell Bolden shot. The second goal Faust let in went in off a skate… But Mitch Board was deserving as he had a strong game and punished the Leafs with his hits and persistent checking… Jesse Niemi scored the Riders first goal shorthanded after making some nice moves on the Leaf D to get a shot away….
Jason Greenwell continued his great goaltending as the Leafs managed several good scoring chances. Greenwell also caught the Leafs on a terrible line change and passed the puck up to the Leaf blueline where Niemi was waiting creating yet another golden opportunity for the Riders… The Leafs ended up with a good hit on the top scorer a few seconds later.
-photo Scott Anderson-
The stars were 1/ Matt MacDonald who won faceoffs and was skating & hitting (like a 200 pounder) all night. 2/ Taylor O’Neil, had an assist and made lots of great plays for the Leafs and seemed to shake off a hard shot in the skate in the third. And the 3rd star was Scott Anderson who stood up the Leaf forwards all night. And the Leaf forwards are hard to deal with as they try to beat you constantly and are easily the most skilled group this writer has see all season. They showed more skill in the first period then we saw in the last eight games before.
On a sad note, longtime Ghostrider fan Shirley Brown passed away. Shirley and the Brown family have been Ghostrider fans and sponsors since day one. There will be a moment of silence before the game tonight.
