By Sara Moulton
Contributor
The Fernie Ghostriders experienced their most difficult weekend of the season last Friday and Saturday, losing two games in a row to the Creston Valley Thunder Cats.
The away game on Friday, October 18 was this season’s worst result so far for the Ghostriders, as Creston used their home ground advantage to win the match, eight goals to two. The following night’s game at Fernie Memorial Arena was hard fought by the home team, but at the final siren it was again Creston who emerged victorious. While the 6-4 result was much more favourable than the outcome on the road, Ghostriders captain Ben Primeau believed that the home game could’ve ended differently.
“Last night (in Creston) was unacceptable,” said Primeau, speaking after Saturday’s bout. “I think there’s just a few things we need to change a little bit. We bounced back pretty well tonight; we put in a good effort, but we could’ve been better.”
Although Saturday’s match began with a sluggish first period that saw Creston score two goals in quick succession, the second period looked much more promising for the home team. A goal by Kurtis Bond (assisted by Primeau) jump-started the Ghostriders, and though Creston managed to slip another one into the net, Aidan Geiger (assisted by Spencer Bender and Cole Keebler) promptly answered the call to deliver a second goal seconds later. Keebler (assisted by Primeau and Josh Teves) scored an equalizer towards the end of the second period, with a roar from the crowd to encourage the Ghostriders for the final segment of the game.
Both teams worked especially hard throughout the third period, but Creston came out swinging and had scored two more goals by the time Dylan Robertson (assisted by Joel Burgess) managed a short-handed goal for the Ghostriders. The final goal of the night went to Creston with only minutes left in the game, sealing the result in favour of the Thunder Cats.
Fernie’s Head Coach and General Manager, Dale Hladun, and Assistant Coach, James Ouimet, were eager to leave the weekend’s results behind them and focus on future games. Primeau was also remaining positive about the team’s prospects in their upcoming matches against Columbia Valley and Golden next weekend.
“It’s been an off week. You learn from losses,” said Primeau. “But we have a good group of guys and we’re gelling well together. We’ve just got some work to do.”
The next Ghostriders home game will be against the Golden Rockets at 7:30 pm on Saturday, October 26. This will be their last match wearing pink jerseys in support of breast cancer, and fans are invited to participate in the silent auction to raise funds for Friends for Friends. See www.fernieghostriders.com for more details and current bid amounts.