Fernie Ghostriders

The defending KIJHL Champion Fernie Ghostriders are gearing up for the upcoming KIJHL season by bringing in a few new players, running a couple of mini camps and completely renovating their dressing room. The Ghostriders Main Camp will be held August 29-31 with a road game in Creston on the 30th.
Head Coach and General Manager William Verner has been hard at work this summer and has already brought in a few new players and a couple of old ones too. One of the first things he did was re-acquire the rights of forward Tim Crawley from the Columbia Valley Rockies in June. After playing on the 2006-07 Championship Rider team and playing most of last year here in Fernie Crawley went to Invermere in January at the deadline. Crawley is a big 19 year old veteran from Cranbrook with a great attitude who knows what it takes to win and should blend right with the Riders again this season.
Another veteran Verner now has the rights to is former Creston Thundercat Adam Taylor. Taylor spent the last three years in Creston where he was known as a gritty stay at home “D” man. So now the stay at home defenseman who was born twenty miles down the road in Sparwood has a chance to play at home too.
At only 15 forward Jordan Hirano was an AP with the Ghostriders last season where he played four games and managed to score his first KIJHL goal in one of them. Head Coach Will Verner liked Hirano so much he has committed one of the two 1992 roster spots to him this year. Verner says “Jordan is a strong member of the community as he coaches a local soccer team, is an honor role with distinction student and is very motivated in the gym”.
A few other local players are hoping to crack the lineup this year. One is seventeen year old Zak Traverse. Traverse is a defenseman who managed to get into three games last year as an AP but should be ready to play a lot more this year. He certainly has the blood lines to be a great player as he is Rider Captain Scott Traverse’s cousin. And another player with the blodlines is forward Michael Anderson. Michael is the younger brother of Rider veteran defenseman Scott Anderson. Geoff Doka is yet another local with a shot at the roster. Doka is a 92 who played in Castlegar last year and will be competing for one of two 92 roster spots.
Kyle Brennan played with the Ghostriders for a few years and was on the 2006-07 Championship team but took last year off to travel Australia. Brennan was named as the the Most Inspirational Player in his last year in Fernie and everyone was disappointed that he didn’t play last year. Kyle is back in Sparwood now and will compete for one of the four 20 year old roster spots.

All teams can have a couple of sixteen year olds on the roster and last year the Ghostriders had forwards Josh McEwan and Brett Lyon and both players developed throughout the year and are moving on. McEwan is headed to Langley of the BCHL and Lyon is going to the Vancouver Giants (WHL) camp. Last year 17 year old defenseman Jeff Zmurchyk played a full season with the Riders and by the end of the year was one of the top two defensemen and was named as the Ghostriders Rookie of the Year. Jeff is going to the Prince George Cougars (WHL) camp this fall. The Ghostriders organization wishes all these young players the best in furthering their hockey careers.
The Fernie Ghostriders are renovating their dressing room this summer and when it’s finished the players will have lots of extra dressing room space, a separate training room and a separate skate and tool room. The room should be done by the home opener and photos of the room will be posted on the Ghostrider web site.

The Ghostriders held their annual windup banquet ending what turned out to be another successful year both on the ice and off it. The team got off to a rough start with out a coach in place until late August and no ice in Fernie until mid September but everyone persevered and by the end of the year Ghostrider Head Coach and General Manager Will Verner had his team in first place in the Murdoch East with the lowest goals against in the league. The Riders went on to fight it out it out with Kimberley, Beaver Valley and Kamloops in the playoffs winning their second KIJHL title in a row and a Bronze Medal in the Cyclone Taylor Cup.

The Ghostrider Team Awards

MVP & Inspirational - At times throughout the year different players took the spotlight on the ice but Scott Traverse was always one of the best players and as the team’s Captain he was a leader both on and off the ice and was usually a game star in the close games. Traverse was also second on the team in scoring in the regular season and first overall in the playoffs. #17 Scott Traverse is your Most Valuable and Most Inspirational Player.

Exciting- Jordan Reid missed the end of the season and playoffs with a concussion but when he was healthy he was playing with an edge and scoring a couple of points a game. A healthy Reid all year would have challenged for the KIJHL top scorer and made a difference in the Cyclone Taylor Cup. #20 Jordan Reid is your Most Exciting Player this year.

Defenseman- Not much doubt about the “D” award this year. Cody Reinbold was the top scoring defenseman who played lots of minutes and made life miserable for anyone skating in the the Riders end of the ice. Reinbold was very hard to play against and the former Rookie of the Year (2005-06) and all around warrior #9 Cody Reinbold is your Best Defenseman.

The Top Scorer Award went to the electrifying puck handling hi-lite reel scorer Dave McIvor who with 34 goals and had 65 points was the Top Scorer on the team, and Rider fans can look forward to next year because at 19 number #15 can play one more year.

Rookie- This year all the Ghostrider rookies made huge strides in their development and by the end of the year were playing like seasoned veterans, but defenseman Jeff Zmurchyk stood out from the crowd and went from a timid can’t get rid of the puck fast enough blue liner to an impressive smooth skating puck moving defneseman who can play in all situations and shutdown all the best players. Seventeen year old #27 Jeff Zmurchyk is your Rookie of the Year.

Improved- # 18 Josh McEwan started in Fernie as a 5” 10” 165 pound sixteen year old but no one told him how big he was so he acted like he was 6′ 200 and he hit and fought as much as he could and by the end of the year he had scored some important goals and and his defensive play improved so much the coaches selected Josh McEwan as the Most Improved Player.

A couple of new awards were presented for the first time this year. The Most Sportsman Like Player went to a defenseman who got better and better as the year went on and in the end was always on the ice. Brandon Stevens was the Most Sportsman Like Player.

Unsung Hero- is another new award and with blazing speed and lots of grit # 10 Robbie Shaw was selected as the Ghostriders Unsung Hero.

Playoff MVP -Is another new award this year and if you watched the playoff games you will know that the one player who always showed up and made the big save when it was needed and almost never let in a weak goal was Jason Greenwell. This year your Playoff MVP was Jason Greenwell.

Scholastic Award- The Ghostriders are a junior team and recognize the importance of not only keeping the younger players in school but having them get good marks . With that thought in mind Jordan Sullivan was the Scholastic Player of the Year.

Scholarships Each year the Ghostriders organization awards two $1000 scholarships and this year Travis Harrad and Cody Reinbold were the recipients.

Four of the Ghostriders 20 year olds can not return next year and are graduating. All four of the players received a watch from Jay’s Jewellers, their Jersey’s and a Championship Hoodie from the booster club. The players are Jordan Reid, Darryl Gagnon, Cody Reinbold and Ryan Hill.

The Ghostriders organization wishes these players all the best in the future.

Riders vs Kamloops

After winning the first two games in Fernie, both 2-1 and both in overtime, the Riders traveled to Kamloops for games last Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday the Kamloops Storm won game three by that same 2-1 score but it was in regulation time. On Wednesday the Riders gave up three goals in the second period and lost 4-2.

Odds and Ends

So far this low scoring series has been all about goaltending. Storm goalie Anthony Manfredi with a 9.42 save % has been outstanding and has been named as a game star in all four games….. Rider goalie Jason Greenwell 9.17 save % has also been outstanding and was a game star in three of the games. …. Dave McIvor, who has been battling the flu has 2 goals and an assist so far in the four games….Lundy Trenaman has 2 goals and 2 assists to lead the Storm in this series……Fernie local # 17 Scotty Traverse continues to lead the KIJHL in P/O scoring with 11 goals and 10 assists…… Storm Forward # 37 Lundy Trenaman is right behind with 10 goals and 9 assists….These two teams will travel to Kamloops for game six Sunday and if there is a game seven it is here in Fernie Tuesday night @ 7:30. …..The winner of this series will go to Kimberley next Thursday – Sunday for the Cyclone Taylor Cup where the three Junior “B” Leagues in BC will compete for the Provincial Championship….. The other leagues are on the coast, the Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL) and on the Island Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) ….. The winner of the Cyclone Taylor Cup goes to the Western Canadian Championship (Keystone Cup) in Manitoba that will be hosted by the Selkirk Fishermen.

Riders vs Kamloops

The Ghostriders played the Kamloops Storm twice this year winning 4-1 back on September 21^st in the Ghostriders first home game and winning again on November 2 in Kamloops by a 3-1 score. Dave McIvor scored 2 in those games and Jordan Reid had 4 and Joe Deluca 1. Devin Gannon was a star for the Storm in both games. The Ghostriders defeated Kamloops in the semi finals last year.

Odds and Ends

The Ghostriders haven’t seen the Storm since November and both teams have made several changes since. The biggest change Kamloops made was in net and they now have all-star goalie Anthony Manfredi back in net again….. The Ghostriders have also made changes in net. When the Riders played the Storm in September Nigel Nolan was in goal and in November Devan Hartigan was between the pipes for the Riders….. You may remember Hartigan in the last series with Beaver Valley when new Rider goalie Jason Greenwell out dueled him and sent em to the golf course…..Greenwell is at 8-5 with a 906 save %…. Lundy Trenaman 15, David Gore 15 and Jassi Sanga 14 pts. are the Storm’s top scorers in the playoffs so far. Sanga was fourth overall in the KIJHL in the regular season…..With 19 points Scott Traverse is the Top P/O scorer in the league so far….. Dave McIvor has 15 and Richard Small 13 …..Brett Lyon is right behind them with 11 pts. and had 5 goals in the last series and 2 of them were game winners, one in overtime in game 4 and 2 including the game winner in the final game.

Riders- Nitehawks

The Ghostriders lost the first two games in this series on the road in Beaver Valley by scores of 4-1 and 4-2. The shots were almost even in both of the games and the score was close until late in the games. Back home in the Fernie Memorial in game three the Ghostriders exploded for a 9-1 win. That game was a team effort with everyone hitting and everyone scoring. Of the 9 goals only Eil King had more than one and all the lines contributed. In game four the Ghostriders were once again the better team and had almost all the good scoring chances, had a huge territorial advantage and took advantage of the Hawk mistakes as they made them.

Odds and Ends

The shots were almost even in the first two games but in the games three and four they were almost 2-1 for the Ghostriders…. Jason Greenwell got both the wins in net and was great when he had to be but the Hawks didn’t get enough good shots for Greenwell to get named as a game star…..Even in the 3-2 OT game…..The average attendance was over a thousand in Fernie….Brett Lyon’s second goal of the game made him the overtime hero in game four, Lyon is from Grand Forks and just turned 17 in January…. Faceoff magician Ray Pressacco, who does lots of little things you don’t always notice scored his first goal in this series when he intercepted a pass through the middle in the Hawk end in game four….Robbie Shaw had 2 assists in the 3-2 OT win…. Hawk forward James Neitsch who was BV’s top scorer this year has 3 goals so far….Rider rookie defenseman Jeff Zmurchyk has been a game star in two games …. Scott Cisco is getting a point a game…..Joe DeLuca joined the sick list in game four after playing a gritty game and getting 2 assists as a forward in game three…..BV wouldn’t start game four until one of the signs the fans had put up was taken down….No one can take a joke anymore.

The Ghostriders won their series with the Kimberley Dynamiters but it wasn’t easy. Part of the problem was that they had first place all sewed up by the last week of the regular season and then they had another easy week with the bye in the first round of the playoffs. Those two weeks with no pressure changed quickly when they walked into the second round and met up with their biggest rivals of all, the Kimberley Dynamiters, and promptly lost game one by a 5-1 score.

With all the time off the loss was not that big of a surprise and at times in that first game the Riders looked like the better team and they proved it the next night with an 8-4 win. In Kimberley in games three and four both teams took turns dominating and both teams won a game so it was back to Fernie for game five where the Dynamiters outplayed the Riders for all but the last half of the third period and walked away with a 4-2 win. The Nitros then headed back home to the Kimberley Civic Center feeling pretty good about themselves with a 3-2 series lead and a fairly convincing game five win. But it was not to be, and in game six, a do or die for the Riders, Dave McIvor decided it wasn’t a good time to die and he went out and blasted in 3 goals and had 2 assists to give the Ghost a 6-4 win. That game six road win set up a dramatic game seven back in the Fernie Memorial. When the teams came back on the ice for that last game the Ghostriders had their not so secret weapon (1140 screaming fans) and their talented Captain Scott Traverse (2 goals) on their side and they went on to a 4-2 series ending win.

This series was a very close unpredictable series that saw both teams win two games in each other’s barn with home ice not being that big of a factor until game seven and even then the game went right down to the wire with Scott Traverse’s game winner going in in the last six minutes. The fourth goal went into an empty net with just seconds left on the clock.

Odds and Ends

As the saying goes, to win your best players have to be your best players, and in this series whenever the Ghostriders won a game team Captain Scott Traverse was the best player. Traverse also lead the Riders in scoring with 9 goals and 6 assists in the seven game series and three of his goals were game winners. Dave McIvor was right behind Traverse with 5 goals and 6 assists and Richard Small also had 11 points in 7 games. Jason Greenwell played all the games for the Ghostriders in net and was unbelievable in game seven and was a big factor in all the wins. Point a game defenseman Cody Reinbold and Derek Bishop both missed time in this series but the somewhat unheralded Joe DeLuca, Brandon Stevens, Scott Anderson and Jeff Zmurchyk proved they could play the minutes and played well. Scott Cisco 7 pts. and the Riders two sixteen year olds Brett Lyon 5 pts. and Josh McEwan 1 goal all played a hard nosed style that help make the Ghostriders a harder team to play against. Kyle Chartrand, John Shaw, Ryan Hill, Jordan Reid, Robbie Shaw, and Derek Bishop and Cody Reinbold all missed games because of injuries or penalties. The Ghostriders now move on to play the tough Beaver Valley Nitehawks.

P/O Schedule

Kimberley @ Fernie Fri. Feb. 29

Kimberley @ Fernie Sat. March 1

Fernie @ Kimberley Mon. March 3

Fernie @ Kimberley Tues. March 4

Kimberley @ Fernie Thurs. March 6- if needed

Fernie @ Kimberley Fri. March 7- if needed

Kimberley @ Fernie Sat. March 8-if needed

All games @ 7:30

Riders vs Nitros

The Ghostriders played Kimberley eight times this year and had a winning 5-3 record. Kimberley is a different team since the January deadline. They picked up Grand Forks top two players, Andrew Green and Jerris Gregory, Russell McLean from Nelson and Solomon Maccan. The Nitros beat Creston in four games, Solomon Maccan had 7 points, Andrew Green 6 and Mike Whitequills 5. Tanner Sheridan had 2 wins in net and Paul Basek went 1-1 in net. The Ghostriders last played Kimberley January 18 and won 3-2 in overtime.

The Ghostriders finished the regular season with an excellent 32-17-3 record and a first place finish in the Neil Murdoch East Division. This is a pretty good record considering the Riders lost 15 players from last year’s Championship team, including eight of their top ten scorers, both goalies, five defensemen and every player who won an award on the team.

Lots of credit to head Coach and General Manager Will Verner, who not only lost most of the best players from the year before but had the added disadvantage of not getting hired until the last week in August and then when he got to Fernie he found out that the rink was under construction and camp was 20 miles down the road in Sparwood. But Verner and his assistants Shawn Potyok and Craig Bell persevered and brought in several new players, and coached the boys to a winning record and a league best 145 goals against and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

The Riders were lead in scoring by dynamic second year forward Dave McIvor who almost doubled his point totals from last year and ended up with 65 points. Rider Caption Scott Traverse now in his fourth year was next with 55 points and the most PIM with 228. Cody Reinbold had 38 points and was the highest scoring blueliner.

In net the Riders went through a couple of starting goalies before settling on former KIJHL Rookie of the Year (2004-05) Jason Greenwell. Jason went 15-10 with a 91.67 save % and a 2.54 goals against average and has been a first star in several games. Rookie goalie Jordan Sullivan didn’t play a lot but had a winning 6-2 record and shows signs that he could play a lot more next year.

The Ghostriders Jordan Reid who had 53 points had to retire in the last week of the season because of concussions. Reid missed 10 games and played at less than 100% in many others and if he was healthy all season he likely would have challenged for the top scorer in the league.

Odds and Ends

The Beaver Valley Nitehawks were the only team to sweep in the first round, they knocked out the Castlegar Rebels 3-0. The other winners were Kamloops 3 -1 over Summerland, and Sicamous 3-1 over Invermere. Beaver Valley will now play Nelson, Kamloops will play Princeton and Sicamous will play Revelstoke.

Last Week

The Fernie Ghostriders won 5-3 last Friday night in Fernie against the Columbia Valley Rockies.

This game only took about five minutes for the first of eight goals on the night to be scored when Dave McIvor from Brandon Stevens and Scott Traverse deflected in his 30th goal on the year. For the record an 18 yr old McIvor only had 16 goals last year and finished 7^th in Rider scoring, this year he is leading the team in scoring. David King used his great hand skills on the next goal with Richard Small and Darryl Gagnon getting the assists. Rockie All-Star Brett Bjorkman and Reid Mitchell each scored for the Rockies and the period ended 2-2.

In the second there was only one goal scored and that was by Kyle Chartrand, McIvor and Cody Reinbold had the assists.

In the third period the Riders scored a pair pretty goals, the first was off the stick of new Rider Darryl Gagnon who only had to tap in a perfect back door pass from Richard Small. Derek Bishop had the second assist. Then defenseman Joe DeLuca made the pass of the night from his own end to the tape of a streaking Dave McIvor’s stick and the Riders had their 5^th. Scott Anderson had the second assist. Brett Bjorkman from Reid Mitchell and Tyler Miller scored on the power play for the Rockies with about seven minutes left in the game but it was too little too late.

Rider goalie Jason Greenwell got the win in net stopping 21 shots and Tyrel Jennings took the loss but still stopped 38 of 43. The first star with 2 G and 1A was Dave McIvor, second with 2A was Richard Small and third with 1G 2A was Rockie Reid Mitchell

Riders vs Braves

Friday’s game is game two of a home and home with Spokane. The Ghostriders won 4-3 in overtime last Saturday in Spokane. Dave McIvor, Ray Pressacco, Josh McEwan and Cody Reinbold (OT winner) scored the goals and Jason Greenwell got the win in net even though Matt Randall elbowed him and took a 5 minute major. Brandon Stevens was suspended after that elbow for being in the second fight at the same stoppage. Froward Eli King was hoping to get back in the lineup tonight, Jordan Reid and Scott Cisco are day to day.

Odds and Ends

#15 Dave McIvor is the Ghostriders nominee for the KIJHL player of the Month for January, Dave had 9 goals 5 assists in only 8 games and the team was 5-2-1….. The winner will be announced this week….. The Riders travel to Nelson tomorrow then finish their regular season road schedule in Creston this Tuesday but will play a make up game in Beaver Valley Feb. 10 …. The last home game is February 17 vs the Rockies. …. Dave McIvor scored 3 goals and had 3 assists last weekend and now has a team leading 56 points…. Ray Pressacco scored his first goal in Spokane and has 9 points in 11 games…..Defenseman Cody Reinbold scored his 5^th in Spokane and has the most points 22 for a defenseman…. Derek Bishop is right behind him with 19 in a few less games…..Jeff Zmurchyk played with the Trail Smoke Eaters two weeks ago and by all accounts everything went well and Jeff may go there next year….. Creston’s goalie Wade Waters did not play last Saturday against Kimberley…. the score…. Nitros 7 Thundercats 1….. Waters played Friday vs Kimberley ….. the score…. Creston 6 Kimberley 5…..And then he stoned Spokane last Sunday 1-0 stopping 44 shots…..The Nitros now have a couple of points on Spokane for the last PO spot and have 2 games in hand.

Last Week

The Riders only played one game last weekend a 4-3 shootout loss to Creston. Dave McIvor Richard Small and John Shaw scored the goals.

Riders vs Kimberley

The last time these two teams played was January 8^th in Kimberley where the Ghostriders lost 6-2. Scott Cisco and Jordan Reid scored the Rider goals and Nitro Tommy Latouche Gauvin had 4 assists. Since “K” top scorer Dustin Johnson went up to Junior “A” January 10 the top scorer in the KIJHL now is Gauvin. Kimberley and Spokane are tied for the last P/O spot with 38 points but Kimberley has a game in hand.

Fernie vs Princeton

These teams have only played once this year in Princeton back in October and Princeton won 3-2 in overtime. Cody Hutton and Dave McIvor scored the Rider goals and Devin Hartigan took the loss in net. Princeton has the most penalties of all KIJHL teams with 1696 minutes and Cody Southerland has 331 of them. Princeton lost their last game against Chase 8-4 Mr. Southerland had 27 PIM’s. Brad Gloss with 38 points is their top scorer. The Possey signed Nolan Bowker and Riley Ferster at the deadline. Princeton is one of the top teams with 48 points.

Round the League

Lots of trades last Thursday January 10 when all teams had to get down to 23 players. Here are a few of them. We will start in Fernie where GM Will Verner brought in three experienced players for the playoffs. The first player Eli King ( was already here practicing for a week before he was signed and he played last Friday against Creston. King is the older brother of #22 Dave King (90) Eli came here from the Junior “A” Bonneyville Pontiacs. Verner also signed forward Darryl Gagnon (87) from the Quesnel Millionaires of the BCHL and defenseman Ryan Hill (87) from the junior “A” Port Hope Predators. To make room Verner had to move Tim Crawley to Invermer and trade AJ Gourlay back to Ontario….. Kimberley is gearing up for the Cyclone Taylor Cup this spring (in Kimberley) and they added a few players. Meanwhile Grand Forks has thrown in the towel and have traded their best players Andrew Green and Jerris Gregory to Kimberley. The Nitros gave up Konrad Sander and some undisclosed considerations, Kimberley also signed defenseman Russell McLean from Nelson……Dustin Johnson was the top scorer in the KIJHL before the deadline but now he is playing Junior “A” in Nanimo of the BCHL with former Rider goalie Evan Smith…..The Chase Chiefs got a few players including former Rider goalie Nigel Nolan from Golden ….. And finally, former Rider goalie Devan Hartigan who left a couple of months ago to play Junior “A” in Ontario found out he didn’t like it and ended up in Beaver Valley with former Rider coach Craig Mohr last week.

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