Nitro's Add Local Talent to Roster

The Nitro's showed off their new additions to the team at the recent Bull-A-Rama.

Matt Barzilay is from Cranbrook. He is a new years day baby. He played a majority of the season with the Cranbrook Knights, leading the team in goals (19), assists (25), points (44), and powerplay goals (6) in 32 games. He played six regular season games with the Nitro's scoring one goal.

Trevor Van Steinburg is from Cranbrook. He played seven games with the Nelson Leafs, notching an assist. He spent most of his time playing for the Ice in Major Midgets.

Jesse Wallace is from Kimberley. He played with the Cranbrook Knights and was their second leading scorer, with 15 goals, 21 assists for 36 points in 27 games. He also led the team in game winning goals, with two. He played three regular season games notching an assist, and played five games in the playoffs scoring one goal and adding two assists.

Team announces new GM; retain coaching staff; looking for volunteers

The Kimberley Dynamiters released the following statement about coaching staff, GM and volunteers:

We'd like to thank our fans, coaching staff, volunteers, sponsors and of course our players for a very successful 2013/2014 season. Wrapping up the past season and starting to prepare for the upcoming season, we are sharing some of the happenings of the club.

We are happy to announce that our Coach Jerry Bancks and Assistant Coaches Jeff Keiver, Mike Reid and Todd White will all be returning for the upcoming season. New to our GM position is our Past President Dave Smith. Our new President is Chad Koran, our 2 Vice Presidents are James Leroux and Glen Johnston. Treasurer position is being held by Kathy Merkel and Secretary is Tasha Johnston.

We have a great group of directors again this year, Don and Marg Fabro as our life long directors and holding regular director positions are Larry Limacher, Karrie Hall, Derrick Smith, Robyn Wardle, Melanie Holloway & Troy Bobak. Under these directors is a long list of volunteers as well who all contribute in many ways to help make our hockey club the success it is.

Our community organization is always looking for volunteers to join us. We have a few volunteer positions that will need filling for the upcoming season. This is a great way to get involved within the community and give back to the town all while helping the players on our team grow and achieve their hockey goals as they move on to different levels of hockey from here.

The main position we are trying to fill is Treasurer. We would like to fill this position quickly, because once the season starts in September it is a bit busier within the organization. If interested in finding more out about this position or other opportunities please contact Chad Koran at korans@telus.net, James Leroux at k_leroux@telus.net or Glen & Tasha Johnston at gtjohnston@shaw.ca. This position will have the assistance from the board and directors to help the new person transition into it.

Bryce Nielsen commits

Sorry that I am late with this, but Bryce of has committed to New England College for the upcoming season. Good luck Bryce!

League Standings & Playoff Results vs Power Rankings

Now that the Beaver Valley Nitehawks are done dominating the Western Hockey world, I felt it was appropriate to finally post this.

I have displayed the final power rankings, the end of regular season standings, against regular season division and conference winners, with the division and conference post-season winners.

The #1 trend I saw in this is that the league leading team, Kamloops Storm, faced off against the top power ranked team, Beaver Valley Nitehawks. The Power Rankings predicted 3/4 division leaders in the regular season, and 3/4 in the post season (looking at the top 4 power ranked teams).

Team	Final Power Rankings	Regular Season			Post Season
		League Standing	Division Leader	Conference Leader	Division Winner	Conference Winner	League Winner
Beaver Valley Nitehawks	1	4			X	X	X
Creston Valley Thunder Cats	2	3	X		X
Summerland Steam	3	5	X
Kamloops Storm	4	1	X	X	X	X
Nelson Leafs	5	2	X	X
Kelowna Chiefs	6	6
Sicamous Eagles	7	13
Osoyoos Coyotes	8	8			X
Kimberley Dynamiters	9	7
Spokane Braves	10	15
Chase Heat	11	9
Fernie Ghostriders	12	10
North Okanagan Knights	13	12
Grand Forks Border Bruins	14	18
100 Mile House Wranglers	15	11
Castlegar Rebels	16	14
Princeton Posse	17	16
Golden Rockets	18	19
Columbia Valley Rockies	19	17
Revelstoke Grizzlies	20	20

This is my first time doing this, so I am interested to see what happens next year. If the regular seasons top team will face off against the power rankings top team in the playoffs.

Bull-A-Rama on May 3

KIJHL Finals Preview: Beaver Valley Nitehawks vs Kamloops Storm

The team I have picked to win it all, has advanced to the final, Beaver Valley Nitenhawks. And my mulligan pick, Kamloops Storm (since Summerland fizzled out early), are in the final as well. I'm stoked for the series showdown starting March 28. I will admit I am a Beaver Valley bandwagon fan right now.

I think it is worth noting that the top defensive teams (ranked 1 and 2 during the regular season) have both reached the final.

          VS          

Offence:

Beaver Valley ranked 4th (4.40 GFA)

Kamloops ranked 3rd (4.75 GFA)

Edge: Kamloops +1

Defence:

Beaver Valley ranked 1st (2.75 GAA)

Kamloops ranked 2nd (2.79 GAA)

Edge: Beaver Valley +1

Goaltending:

Beaver Valley ranked 3rd (.916 SV%)

Kamloops ranked 8th (.907 SV%)

Edge: Beaver Valley +5

Special Teams:

Beaver Valley ranked 2nd (109.94 PP+PK)

Kamloops ranked 3rd (108.38 PP+PK)

Edge: Beaver Valley +1

Series Edge:
Beaver Valley with a +7 points after tallying up the edges in each category.

KIJHL Playoff Preview: Creston Valley Thundercats vs Beaver Valley Nitehawks

                 VS                 

Offence:

Creston Valley ranked 1st (5.42 GFA)
Beaver Valley ranked 4th (4.40 GFA)

Edge: Creston +3

Defence:

Creston Valley ranked 6th (3.10 GAA)
Beaver Valley ranked 1st (2.75 GAA)

Edge: Beaver Valley +5

Goaltending:

Creston Valley ranked 5th (.911 SV%)
Beaver Valley ranked 3rd (.916 SV%)

Edge: Beaver Valley +2

Special Teams:

Creston Valley ranked 1st (109.94 PP+PK)
Beaver Valley ranked 2nd (109.94 PP+PK)

Edge: Creston +1

Series Edge:
Beaver Valley with a +3 points after tallying up the edges in each category.