Nearly 2000 fans packed into the Civic Centre for the time-honoured Christmas Classic, but unfortunately they did not get the results they hoped for, as the Fernie Ghostriders won both games.
The Dynamiters have swept the last three Christmas Classics and head coach Derek Stuart said he actually can’t remember the last time the Ghostriders won one of the two games.
“I was disappointed but it’s also a bit expected,” Stuart said. “You give teenagers 14 days off they’re going to be rusty and we made way more mistakes than Fernie did in the Friday-night game and they were able to capitalize on some of our glaring mistakes.
READ MORE: Dynamiters dominate sold-out Christmas Classic with two wins over rivals Fernie
“That was a rather longer break than normal for some reason. Usually it’s six or seven days, but this year it was a couple weeks for both teams and from a coach’s point of view the caliber of hockey was pretty similar to early September.”
Tristan Weill potted a nice goal early in the first period, but Fernie’s Cole Fournier answered back shortly after. Taylor Haggerty then made it 2-1 with a top-corner shot and Eric Martin’s hat trick would make it a 5-1 victory for the Ghostriders.
Saturday’s game in Fernie was a lot less one sided, with no goals until Parker Konneke gave the Nitros a lead seven minutes into the third period. Haggerty would tie things up with less than three minutes remaining sending the game to overtime that went for less than a minute before Ben Skarsen secured the Ghostriders’ win.
“I thought our compete was much better on Saturday, we made less mistakes on Saturday for sure, but it’s a circus in that rink at the best of times. It’s not really hockey when you play in that arena, it’s just too tiny,” Stuart said.
“I thought we deserved a better fate though. I liked our compete level, both teams battled hard, but I think if you talked to their coach as well they weren’t at the top of their game and neither were we, but that’s to be expected with that many days off.”
While it wasn’t the result the Kimberley fans wanted, Stuart won’t dwell on the losses for too long.
“These are write-off games for sure,” he said. “We had guys who it appeared had forgotten all of our systems. Both teams had guys that were really severely out of shape after not doing anything for two weeks, so they’re games that are for the fans.
“I think the coaches aren’t very fond of them, they’re more of a social gathering and they’re kind of a coin flip just because of the long break. But to give Fernie credit, they made way fewer mistakes than we did on Friday.”
It’s now time to get back to work. The Dynamiters will have some solid practises this week before heading out on the road for two weeks.
“I’m excited to get some practices in, that’s what we need right now,” Stuart said. “Despite the two losses we’re in first place in our division and we control our own destiny, so it’s time to get to work. Holidays are over, it’s time to get back in shape and back in the swing of things in terms of doing our systems properly and playing the way we were before the break.”
On this road trip the Dynamiters will take on 100 Mile House, Kamloops, Nelson, Chase and Beaver Valley, before heading back to the Kootenays for a game in Creston on Friday, Jan. 19. Their next home game is against the Golden Rockets on Sunday, Jan. 21.
“I always call it some free team building, get on the road get to stay in a couple hotels, and play three teams we haven’t seen this year and won’t again until next year,” Stuart said. “It’ll be fun to get away, we’ve had a lot of home games and they’re great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also needed sometimes to get away from everything as well.”