Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Monday, 28 January 2019
Kimberley Dynamiters win their lone weekend game in double overtime
The Ferne Memorial Arena was filled to capacity to see the 'Riders and Nitros go head to head for the sixth and final time this regular season.
"It's crazy loud in there," Neil Kingston said. "The fans same really great, and it's a great place to play. But as a team coming in, you have to feed off that and make your own energy."
The first period was and furious. There were only five stoppages in play. No penalties. No goals. Very entertaining.
"We dominated the pace," Kingston said reviewing the game, "kind of drowned out the noise of that rink that the fans bring and just played our game."
Despite leading in shots, the Nitros surrendered the games first goal early in the second period.
In the third, Keegan McDowell found a way to swat a bouncing puck into the net to tie the game at one.
Tied at one, the Nitros had 41 shots to the 'Riders 23 heading into over time.
The first extra period was four-on-four, and produced no result.
The second overtime period was three-on-three. With just under two minutes left, Spencer Kennedy playing the 'Riders for the first time since being suspended in a game against them, drove to the net and backhanded the puck in for the overtime winning goal.
"It was pretty sweet," Kennedy said. "There was some conflict therea, and some of those guys don't like me very much over there. Me being the guy to score the goal was kind of cool."
Kennedy was named the Away Star of the Game, while Adam Andersen made 27 saves.
"We really took it to them," Kingston said. "It was good to show ourselves that we can win in that rink and play with that kind of energy."
With the win, the Nitros won the regular season series 4-1-1. It was also their last game of the month, and the Nitros went 7-0-1-1 in January.
"I really liked how we played. We played better in January than we did in December; that's a good sign. Hopefully we can play better in February than we did in January."
The Nitros play on the road Friday in Invermere against the Columbia Valley Rockies, to then return home on Saturday to host the Creston Valley ThunderCats.
Saturday, 26 January 2019
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
The Kimberley Dynamiters shutout the Columbia Valley Rockies 3-0 for 5th win in a row
The Kimberley Dynamiters are on a roll after winning the fifth game in a row on Tuesday against the Columbia Valley Rockies.
It was a busy Tuesday night game. The Kimberley Dynamiters recognized emergency services prior to puck drop, the Gary Pearson Memorial Award was presented, and it was unused ticket night.
All this drew a crowd of 832, again, on a Tuesday night.
Similar to the game against the Columbia Valley Rockies on Friday, the Nitros opened the scoring early, with Brandt Bertoia scoring the first goal of the game.
Thirty-five seconds into the second period, Brock Palmer made it a 2-0 game. Moments later Keegan McDowell scored on the power play.
The remaining 36 minutes of gameplay was scoreless.
"In terms of offense, we looked a little bit tired, and just couldn't find that extra gear that we have." head coach and general manager Derek Stuart said. "That was our eighth game in 18 days."
Adam Andersen made 17 saves to earn his third shutout of the season.
"It's great. We got a great team here. It's easy when you get nights like these. It's nice when you can keep them all out, and put up saves like that, and play a complete game."
"Whenever you keep a team to below 20 shots, you know your playing great defence."
After the game, Stuart praised the teams penalty kill, as he noted that the team hasn't had a power play goal scored against in five games.
Upcoming, the Dynamiters have a lone game this weekend against the Fernie Ghostriders (22-12-3-3) in Fernie.
Stuart wants the team to continue to play Nitros hockey to keep the momentum alive.
"We just need to continue to play our game. For us it is more about us doing our good things."
Puck drop is 7:30pm at the Fernie Memorial Arena.
Lead photo by Jonathan Righton
Sunday, 20 January 2019
The Kimberley Dynamiters win both weekend games as Skytt, Halvorson and Daniels play their former teams
On Friday the Nitros traveled north to Invermere to play against the Columbia Valley Rockies. For Ryan Skytt, it was his first game back in Invermere since being traded to the Nitros at the end of November.
"It's a very strange feeling." Skytt said about returning to Invermere. "I usually don't get too nervous for games, after playing in the league for three years now. But this one, I definitely did feel some nerves; after my first shift, it slowly went away."
Skytt opened the scoring for the Nitros early, and then they just poured it on. Brady Daniels, Brock Palmer, and Ryan Bennett all scored before the end of the first, chasing the Rockies starting goaltender from the crease.
Skytt then scored his second of the game early in the second. Moments later when Keegan McDowell scored on the power play, the Nitros made the game unreachable.
The Rockies did score their lone goal of the game in the second.
However, Brandt Bertoia and McDowell each added another goal to finish the scoring, and win the game 8-1.
In the two games that Skytt has played against his former team, he has scored four goals and one assist; and to add to that, since he was traded the Rockies have gone 5-9-1. Keep in mind, he was their captain when they traded him.
"I want to bring the same compete and drive to every single game I play," Skytt said. "You want to make sure that you know that you are the best player you can be in those games, to make sure that they wish that you were still over there."
The next day, two other Nitros, Daniels and Kole Halvorson, got to faceoff against their previous team, the Castlegar Rebels.
Similar to Skytt, both Daniels and Halvorson were in leadership roles on the team. Halvorson was the captain, and Daniels an assistant captain.
"It was weird for me," Daniels said. "I played a full season there last year. We got a warm welcome coming back.
"But it was definitely weird being on the other side of things: in the other change room, on the other bench."
The Nitros had scored 20 goals in their past three games heading into this game, but their high octane offence was tamed against the Rebels.
"With the team we have now, we know we can score." Skytt said "It's not the only way to win these games. We know we have a steady group of defensemen and two really good goalies."
They were able to muster up two goals, by Spencer Kennedy and Cam Russell. While Brett Anderson built a wall of his own, stopping all 34 shots for his second shut out the season.
"It means a lot." Anderson said. "Even though we are a really good team, if we don't play our best, I can step up and give them a chance to win the game, and I think I did that."
Anderson has quietly, but steadily, posted a 14-1 record, the second best record in the KIJHL.
"My record means a lot to me, just the fact that I only have one loss on the year to arguably one of the best teams in the KI, Kelowna. When other teams play us, regardless of whether it is me or Adam in the net, they know that they are in for a tough night."
For Stuart he is extremely pleased with how the team has played, as they have held their opponent to two goals or less nine times in the last 10 games.
"I was extremely happy with our commitment to team defense in our three road wins this week," Stuart said. "Our penalty kill was outstanding, and at even strength we limited our opponents to very few scoring chances."
After embarrassing the Rockies in their own barn Friday, the Rockies will seek revenge when they come to town on Tuesday.
"They are going to be pretty pissed off, of course," Daniels said. "We kind of smacked them around in their own arena. They will be coming out probably a lot harder and more physical.
"We are going to stick to our game plan, because it obviously worked."
Puck drop is 7pm at the Kimberley Civic Centre.
Friday, 18 January 2019
KIJHL Power Rankings: January 2019
We are due for a Power Rankings!
I have decided to go back to the "difference" meaning the difference between the standings and the power rankings.
Just a word on understanding it, a positive number means that a team is performing better than their record suggests. Whereas a negative number in the difference column means that a team is finding a way to win games that they shouldn't be winning.
As an example, the 100 Mile House Wranglers and Osoyoos Coyotes are doing better than their record suggests. However, the Spokane Braves are finding ways to win.
Keep in mind that I was harsh about Kimberley winning games they shouldn't be winning earlier this season, the Power Rankings have since caught up to their record. So a course correction can happen in the standings, or in the power rankings.
But now, lets get to the first KIJHL Power Rankings of 2019!
(remember, click on it to make it bigger)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)