The Kimberley Dynamiters prepare for weekend after losing in OT

On Wednesday night the Kimberley Dynamiters traveled over the Salmo-Creston Pass to get to Nelson to face the Leafs.

However, the bus was not carrying a full roster. The Nitro’s have three suspended players, George Bertoia, Brandon Langridge, and Garreth Osmar; there were several out with the flu; and lastly, some had school commitments. As a result, Dynamiters head coach and general manager called up two affiliate players, Johnny Elias (00) and Quaid Anderson (01) to fill the space. However, this still left the Nitro’s with only 17 skaters and no backup goalie.

The Nitro’s started out great, with Nicholas Ketola, a former Leaf, getting revenge against his former team by giving the Dynamiters a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

“It felt good to get that first goal.” Ketola said, “I had been in a slump and to get it against my former team, it felt really good.”

In the second period the Nitro’s lost traction.

“In the second we took our foot off the gas.” Stuart said, “We seemed a little bit complacent and satisfied with our first period.”

The Leafs outshot the Dynamiters 19-10 while taking over the game with a 2-1 lead.

In the third Brandt Bertoia, who was named the Away Start of the Game, would level the game at two to force overtime.

But in the same fashion of how the game started with Ketola getting revenge against his former team, Leafs captain, Sawyer Hunt a former Nitro, would score the overtime winning goal against the Dynamiters.

“It was one of those games where we deserved to win,” Stuart said. “But you are not going to win every time that you deserve to win. The first time we played Nelson in Kimberley, they probably deserved to win, things evened out in the end.”

Goaltender Cody Call was the victim of the ‘evening out’ as he made 30 saves in the loss.

Coach Stuart, overall, was really pleased with his team’s performance, and in particular Ketola, B. Bertoia and Devon Langelaar:

“Ketola and Brandt Bertoia were excellent last night. They were the best two forwards for our team. Langelaar was fantastic was last night as well, two excellent assists.”

The Dynamiters now shift their focus to Saturday’s game when they play the Creston Valley Thunder Cats (26-7-1-1). The Cats bolstered their lineup with Junior A talent at the KIJHL roster deadline, adding defenceman Austin Anselmo (97) from the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners (NOJHL), and forward Michael Spenrath from the Calgary Canucks (97).

To prepare for the game, Stuart gave his team the day off on Thursday to rest up and get healthy for Friday’s practice where they will “prepare for Creston by watching video.”

“By now, our players know what to expect, and [Creston] knows what to expect from us.” Stuart said, “come Saturday it is just going to be which teams execute their systems the best and which team is more disciplined.”

As for Ketola, “I'm looking forward to getting the guys back from their suspensions and our guys getting healthy again. That will really help out … and playing dynamiters hockey.”

Puck drop is 7pm at the Kimberley Civic Centre on Saturday.