The Fernie Ghostriders are Eddie Mountain Division Champions and will head to round three of the playoffs to take on the Beaver Valley Nitehawks after a 5-1 win on Saturday, Mar. 16 in Invermere to clinch the series 4-2.
It was a hard fought series against a tough opponent. In a mirror-image of Saturday’s game, the Rockies handed down a 5-1 victory over the Ghostriders in game five, in Fernie’s rink on Thursday, Mar. 14.
They then took the initial lead on Saturday, with a first-period goal from Teo Fath. Another goal wasn’t scored until 14 minutes into the second by Fernie’s Riley Enns, his first of the post season.
It would be Landon Hedges who would make the difference in game six, however. He scored just 34 seconds into the third period and by 14 minutes in he’d made it a hat trick, following two power-play goals.
“It was a gutsy team effort to battle through some adversity,” Hedges said in an interview on fernieghostriders.com. “Tonight just happened to be my night, and I’m glad I was able to perform for the team.”
An empty-netter for Drayden Collier made it 5-1 and the 25 saves from Nick Kunyk, who has a 5-0 playoff record, kept the Rockies at bay and secured the Riders the divisional title.
“That was a great series win, our team showed a lot of character throughout the series,” team captain Taylor Haggerty said. “We battled through adversity and responded to the challenges very well. It was great to see.”
The Ghostriders will now take on Beaver Valley, who also clinched their series 4-2, over the Grand Forks Border Bruins.
The first game of round three is set for Friday, Mar. 22 with the Nitehawks having home-ice advantage for games one and two.
Games three and four will be in Fernie on Tuesday Mar. 26 and Wednesday, Mar. 27.