Ghostriders advance to division finals!
The Fernie Ghostriders won 4-2 in Kamloops Sunday night to win their best of five series against the Storm 3-0. The Ghostriders will now play Nelson in the KIJHL final. The home game dates are March 26 & 27 @ 7:30pm. Nelson will have the home ice advantage.
The Ghostriders have been outstanding so far in the playoffs and have won 11 games in a row to get to the KIJHL final series against the Nelson leafs. The Riders won their series vs Invermere 4-0, Creston 4-0 and Kamloops 3-0. The Nelson Leafs won two series’ to get to the final, the first one 4-0 over Spokane then they battled Beaver Valley to a 4-2 series win. Nelson got a bye because they finished in first place with 82 points, but because Fernie with 80 points swept all three series’ they have only played one more P/O game than the Leafs . Nelson has played 10 games and Fernie has played 11.
The Eddie Mountain Rookie of the year 17 year old Trever Hertz has been the beneficiary of 20 year old Martin Croteau and Jon Roth’s outstanding playoff performance and so far Trever has 11 goals and 11 assists and is the top KIJHL scorer. Both Roth 17 pts. and Croteau 21 pts. have been the best players on the ice in all of the Rider games and have been playing Jr “Bâ€? at a Junior “Aâ€? level. But take nothing away from Hertz, not just anyone can finish like he can. The Ghostriders have several other fast exciting players and have been a fun team to watch this year.
The Nelson Leafs top scorers Dan Fraser, Kyle Fraser and Jeremy Van Troyen have been lighting it up for the Leafs and have 19-16 and 10 points. Grant Rollheiser is Nelson’s number one in net with a 7-2 record and is leading the league with a 93.2 save %. Rider goalie Evan Smith is in second place with a 92.5 save %.
The Riders and Leafs have only played twice this year, in October the Riders won in Fernie 5-1 but in December Nelson won at home 6-4.
The winner of this series will go to Victoria to play in the Cyclone Taylor Cup starting Thursday April 5th. There are three Jr “Bâ€? leagues competing for this cup. The Pacific International Junior Hockey League, the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League and the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. The winner of the Cyclone Taylor Cup will then go on to the the Keystone Cup, a Western Canada Championship that will be held in Fort Q’ Appelle Saskatchewan April 12 – 15.
