The Fernie Ghostriders finished up their four exhibition games with no serious injuries, a 3-1 record and a happy Coach. In fact Head Coach & GM Will Verner was very happy after the four games and was impressed with with the veteran presence left over from last year and some of the new players on the ice this year.
“We have a good mix of veteran “D” men and forwards and have a good starting point to build on.” Coach Verner said then added “ There is a strong group of leaders here with a team first attitude and the guys from last year were well coached, their positional play is good and that should give us a bit of an edge to start the season.”
As we were talking to Verner he was in the process of signing nineteen year old goaltender Nigel Nolan for the upcoming season and the Coach was quite happy about that development. Verner says “ I'm very excited to get Nigel here in Fernie, he played Junior “A” last year in Manitoba (OCN) and in the SJHL with Noter Dame.” “ I've seen him play and I know what he gives us so for now Nolan's got the ball now and he'll start in Golden on Friday.”
The Ghostriders first league game this year is in Golden and they won't play at home until September 21st because the Fernie arena is undergoing part one of some long overdue renovations. This year the fans will see new boards and some much needed high glass around the whole rink, including where the screen was at the south end of the rink. Rider fans are anxiously awaiting their home opener against the Kamloops Storm on the 21st and are sure to like their new digs.
And finally, Coach Verner thinks the Ghostriders strong point this year will be their defensive core and one of his key guys on the line will be third year vet Cody Reinbold. Verner says “ Cody competes, moves the puck and when we challenged him at the end of the second in our last game he took the challenge to heart and set up a couple of goals that won the game for us”.
Ghostrider returning players are, Joe Deluca, Lee Klapp, Scott Anderson, Scott Cisco, Dave McIvor, Tyler Dolby, Scott Traverse, Dan Baker, Tim Crawley and Mike Baloun. Last year local players Liam Buliziuk, Travis Harrad and Jeff Zmurchyk also played a few games and this year they look like they are ready to play full time.
