Ghostriders’ head coach and general manager, Craig Mohr, said that the team has earned their turkey dinners after winning a series of weekend games. The team hosted the Grand Forks Border Bruins on Friday before travelling to Golden to face the Rockets on Saturday. The team returned to Fernie Memorial Arena on Sunday to play against the Golden Rockets for the second time this weekend.
“You get 21 goals in the three games, 7, 7, and 7. The offense is there, the power play scored a lot of goals for us so offensively it was good. It’s a long weekend for them,” said Mohr after Sunday night’s game. “Some of them have never done the three games in three nights with some of our younger players, so it was nice for them to get a taste of what it’s like, to get a taste as much mentally as it is physically to say, ‘Okay, I’ve got to get focused again,’ and I was happy.”
While some players were able to return to the lineup after healing from injuries, the Ghostriders’ bench was still missing a few key players – specifically their goalies. Brandon Youngson, the 17-year-old goalie from Trail, and Fernie local Sawyer Ward stepped up to goaltend for the weekend’s games.
“Youngson gets two more wins. I couldn’t have been more happy for Sawyer Ward last night,” said Mohr, “Sawyer has done great for us. He came in when our goalies got hurt, he knew it was going to be short term, he was going to be the back up and out there for practices and we decided as a staff, ‘you know what, he’s put some time in, let’s give him a start,’ and we put him in yesterday and he did real well. I think if anything, you know, you kind of look at stories other than the scores, and it was a good weekend for us that way. I’m really happy for those two goalies.”
A star performer this weekend was Captain Cole Keebler, who earned himself a hat trick during Sunday’s game.
“What can you say about Cole Keebler? He’s so dynamic and creative with the puck that it’s scary when he is on the ice. There is normally a scoring chance for us when he’s on the ice,” said Mohr, adding that winger Justin Peers has been added to Keebler’s line, and has produced effective results.
The Ghostriders face a challenging upcoming weekend, with two games against the Creston Valley Thundercats, who are currently just ahead of the in the standings. The Ghostriders will host the Thundercats on Friday, with the puck dropping at 7:30 p.m., before travelling to their turf to face them again on Saturday.