After losing an overtime 4-3 O/T heartbreaker on Friday night the Fernie Ghostriders got themselves back in the series (now at 1-1) with a 6-4 win over the Kimberley Dynamiters on Saturday.

Half way through a fairly even first period Ghostrider fans were caught off guard when the Nitro’s Cory Allen and Matt Foster each scored even strength goals about a minute apart to give Kimberley a 2-0 lead. But the fans and the Rider bench didn’t have to worry for very long. The Nitros took a couple of penalties and a hot Rider PP got them back in the game with two goals. Joe DeLuca (Brusven-S,Traverse) and Scott Traverse (Woiken – Deluca) each scored PP goals to tie the game at two. But the Nitros came to play and fought back with a goal of their own when Richard Hubscher scored a PP goal to make it 3-2 with just 28 seconds left on the clock. -photo Tim Crawley-

The second period featured even more goals with the first one coming three minutes in when Nitro Matt Foster scored his second of the game to make it 4-2. After that Tim Crawley (Bentley-Anderson) scored to make it 4-3 then on the PP Scott Traverse (DeLuca-Brusven) tied it up at 4 each. Dave McIvor (Hirano-Woiken) scored the most spectacular goal of the game when he skated around most of the Nitro’s in their end and fired in a backhand for what turned out to be the game winner.

The only goal in the third was Tim Crawley’s (Bilodeau-Z-Traverse) second of the game to make it 6-4. -photo Joe DeLuca-

Odds and ends.
880 fans Saturday and 1000 on Friday… The Ghostriders thank you….Lots of lead changes in the first half of the game and you never really knew who was going to win this one until McIvor’s goal with five minutes left in the second….The Riders took over after that and only allowed the Nitro’s 2 shots in the third… They didn’t get the proverbial sniff…. My dog had a better one this morning….Both goalies Jason Greenwell and Tory Caldwell let in goals they would want back but they both made great saves too…Nitro star Leo Keefer had 3 points in the first game but was held to one assist in game two, Matt Foster scored some big goals against the Riders in the regular season and had 2 goals in game two…Rider Defenseman Joe DeLuca had a goal and an assist in game one and followed it up with a goal and 2 assists in game two… Jesse Niemi is leading the team in scoring (did anyone see this coming) And he’s learned some in your face hockey…Tim Crawley has 3 goals in 7 games and has had several big hits ….The Rider PP was 3-5 and team Captain Scotty Traverse was in on all three…As was Joe DeLuca…Say what you will but this writer is an Adam Taylor fan…Adam plays within his abilities, finishes his checks, clears pucks, gets pucks in deep, makes the other teams players hate him and he sticks up for teammates….Also… unlike in the regular season, thus far in the P/O’s Taylor hasn’t made his team shorthanded even once. –photo Adam Taylor–