Riders shutout and three KIJHL "Records?"

This Week's Fernie Free Press "Off the Glass" Column in FULL NOT THE HATCHET JOB FEATURED IN THE PAPER

The Ghostriders were shutout at the January 10^th deadline and couldn’t find a trading partner.  It is possible (likely) that the other teams, who are always crying poverty, don’t want to deal (conspire) with the rich guys. Anyway, Rider Gm Will Verner had this to say. “We are very happy with what transpired on Tuesday as sometimes the best move is no move at all. We feel we have a deep club up front and our defence is as good as any team at our level. We felt if we could not make a significant impact to our club we would stick with our team. Derek Georgopolous and Connor McLaughlin have missed significant time and as they come back to the line-up our club will get a spark”.

Well he may be right as the boys defeated Revelstoke 5-4 on Friday and in Nelson they won 4-3 in double OT where the aforementioned McLaughlin scored twice including the O/T winner.  The Grizzlies and Leafs are two of the better teams in the league and the Riders easily skated with them. As the year has progressed the younger players have really improved and don’t look out of place even against the better teams. Meanwhile, Kimberley is starting to lose (choke) some key games but could still finish in first place. The winner rides the Golden Rockets, the loser has to use the Thunder Cats litter box in the playoffs.

Three KIJHL records to talk about. The first one is the Fastest Natural Hat Trick that happened January 6^th when Kamloops forward Colten DeFrais scored 3 goals in under two minutes in 9-3 win against Summerland. He’s awarded a second one as he was just as fast to plead not guilty to his assault charge talked about in this column last week.

And finally, Brett Lyon (20yrs old now) played for the Riders in 2007-08 then moved on to the WHL and last week was traded from Moose Jaw to Kelowna. Lyon’s claim to fame on his twitter site is that he currently holds the KIJHL record for the most penalty minutes in a shift with 70. The game sheet on the KIJHL web site credits him with 6 game misconducts and 2 fighting majors all at the same stoppage (stupage) in a Rider win vs Spokane. Way to go Brett, I think.