The Ghostriders hosted two strong teams at the Fernie Memorial Arena over the weekend, starting with the Columbia Valley Thundercats on Friday and ending with the Kamloops Storm on Saturday. They lost both games, earning no points over the weekend.
Head Coach Craig Mohr said the team is trying to keep their spirits high, focusing on prevailing and winning future games rather than the two tough losses.
“Friday was a pretty hard fought game. I thought we had opportunities to win that game. We didn’t have a ton of puck luck but I didn’t have a huge issue with our effort. I thought we played hard,” he said. The Ghostriders lost 4-2 against the Thundercats, who they have battled against all season.
The game against the Kamloops Storm was more one-sided, with Kamloops dominating over the Ghostriders for a final score of 4-0.
“We had seven regular guys out of our line up and I think they smelled blood in the water and, truth be told, they took it to us,” he said. “They’re a good hockey team [and] there is a reason that they are one of the top three teams in the league.”
Mohr thought the Storm might have been motivated by the fact that the Ghostriders beat them in their home arena on Oct. 31, adding that might have been a factor in how hard the Storm played on Saturday night.
The Ghostriders have been plagued by injury for much of the season, and currently have many of their defensemen out, including Keagan Kingwell and Ryan Kennedy, both of whom were injured in the weekend’s games.
“I can’t be too hard on their effort right now, they are playing hard and we’ve just got to continue weathering the storm and do what we can to scrape up some points,” said Mohr.
The Ghostriders also hosted the Golden Rockets on Nov. 10, winning 4-2. Mitch Titus scored the first two goals of the game, earning him praise from Mohr and young fans.
The Ghostriders face division rivals, the Kimberley Dynamiters, in Kimberley on Friday and host the Sicamous Eagles on Saturday. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Follow The Free Press on Twitter for live updates of all home games.