Fernie Ghostriders lose seven to three in game three to the Golden Rockets who lead the series two game to one. This loss came from taking ten penalties in two periods.Some of these penalties had been dumb plays by the Ghostriders and some where terrible refereeing including a break away for Derek Georgopoulos where he was taken down and no call and a 10 minute misconduct to Captain Josh McKissock for arguing a penalty which falls under the Captains duties on his team. The ten penalties in two periods resulted in four Golden Rockets power play goals, three of which came in the third period.
The Fernie Ghostriders did start the game strong with a two nothing lead first goal unassisted to R.T. Rice at 3:23 and the second Fernie Ghostriders goal at 1:50 by Derek Georgopoulos from R.T. Rice and Ben Primeau. The first period saw no penalties and very disciplined play.
A minute into the second period Carson George makes it two to one from Blake Roney and Jacob Bergeron. A minute later The Ghostriders Connor Lowe-Wylde nets a goal creating a two goal lead from Josh Kluck and Anthony Gardner. Less then two minutes later Matt Carr gets a penalty for Hooking which leads to the second Golden Rockets goal by Bobby Kashuba from Keith Wake and Coltin Berard. Fifteen seconds later Dylan Robertson goes into the box for Interference which led to the Rockets third goal and second power play goal in as many minutes by Blake Roney from Brad Orr and Shane Rutherford. This trend continued later in the period with Josh Kluck getting 2 minutes for Goaltender interference and Josh McKissock 2 minutes for High-sticking and a 10 minute misconduct for arguing the penalty. This lead to the Rockets go ahead goal Shane Rutherford from Blake Roney and Jacob Bergeron. They would add one more even strength goal at 3:28 in the second period to make it five to three. The second period was arguably the Ghostriders worst period of the year with getting out-shot nineteen to two and sitting in the box 5 times.
The third period was even for shots at twelve a piece but the Ghostriders could not stay out of the penalty box as Golden Rockets net another power play goal fifth of the night by Connor Beauchemin from Carter Cochrane and Keith Wake as R.T. Rice was in the box for Holding. The Golden Rockets would get another empty netter short handed at 1:13 left in the third period to create the final score seven to three.
Game three in Golden is a game the Ghostriders wish they had back. This game saw multiple breakdowns by the Ghostriders but the officiating in this game was absolutely terrible. The Referees called 60 minutes of penalties in only two periods of play with no fighting majors. Game four goes tonight at 7:30 in Golden which can be heard live at www.thedrivefm.ca or follow @ferniefreepress on twitter for the updates.