With a 5-2 win on Saturday night in Fernie the Castlegar Rebels ended the Fernie Ghostriders ten game win streak, but the Riders still have an eight point lead on the Rockets for first place.
No scoring in the first period in this game and the shots were 8-7 for the Riders but the Rebels seemed to have an edge in territory.
The second period was much more fun to watch with four goals scored and more shots, posts and cross bars.. Spencer Brodt PP scored first for the Rebels then Brendan Hawryluk (Garneau-Board) evened it up fifteen seconds later for the Riders. James Werner -photo-scored the goal of the game on the PP at 7:52 after skating through some Rebel defenders and around the net before firing in a beauty.
A few minutes later on a Rebel PP Rider goalie Jason Greenwell took a hard slap-shot right in the head that had him staggering. But the referee who was just a few feet away and saw the shot to the head for some reason decided not to stop the play, and a few seconds later the Rebels scored. Greenwell then went down for five minutes or so. It was unbelievable that the referee would watch a goalie take a puck in the head then watch him stagger around and not stop the play. Guess a player’s health isn’t as important as a regular season Jr. “B” game anymore. Maybe he wanted him to lay down and thrash around like a soccer player. Anyway, Joel Robinson scored the game tying goal and Fernie had a 13-11 edge in shots.
The third period saw Castlegar take over the score sheet with three even strength goals by Ross Gyurkovits, Tyler Robinson and Ryan Aynsley. The Ghostriders had some pretty good chances to score themselves and had a 15-8 advantage in shots but couldn’t beat Andrew Walton.
With a 5-2 win and a handful of pretty good players the Rebels showed why they are one of the better teams in the league. And with a goal and two assists Ryan Aynsley showed why he is the top scorer in the KIJHL. Not as flashy as I thought he might be, but he can score em. Mitch Board and the Hawryluk brothers had the most chances for the Riders but could only score once. The Ghostriders were able to compete with the Rebels but could not finish the chances they created and really missed their injured top scorers Jesse Niemi (hurt the night before in Creston when he was checked into an open door at the rider bench) and Matt MacDonald who won’t play for yet another few weeks. Evan Burgess -photo-and Mike Wiest on the blueline would’ve made a difference too. You can play some teams without your top guys and still win but with a team like Castlegar that has some touch around the net and are able to move up the ice quickly the Riders need a full roster, especially if they would meet these guys in the playoffs.
Next up the Nelson Leafs in Nelson on Friday and Kamloops at home here in Fernie next Saturday. For the record Nelson beat Kamloops 4-0 in Kamloops on Saturday but lost 7-1 to Chase on Friday. Kamloops also lost to Revelstoke 4-3 in O/T on Friday. The schedule says the Golden Rockets will host Creston at 6:00 today. Are you kidding me, don’t those knot-heads know about the Grey Cup ? How many go to that game? Good luck you Saskatchewan water-melon heads.
