Jayden Kostiuk has been named captain of the Kimberley Dynamiters, following Ryan Bennett’s retirement due to an injury that has plagued him since a bad hit and subsequent surgeries last season.
READ MORE: Dynamiters captain Ryan Bennett retires from hockey due to persistent injury
Dynamiters head coach Derek Stuart said the decision to give Kostiuk the C was a decision made by the coaching staff.
“Jayden has been a captain of all his minor hockey teams, he’s here for the right reasons, he does everything right, he knows our systems really well,” Stuart said. “He’s a guy you have to probably watch quite closely to appreciate everything he does on the ice and he’s a great leader off the ice, he’s really mature. So it was a perfect fit.”
Kostiuk, born in January 2002 in Coaldale, Alta., played minor hockey in Coaldale, Taber and Saskatoon. This is his second season with the Dynamiters and is currently sitting at 11 points with four goals and seven assists, following last year’s total of 11 goals and 10 assists.
“It’s an extreme honour,” Kostiuk said. “I mean it’s unfortunate Benny had to hang em’ up, but we’ve got to move forward and do the best we can, so it’s definitely an honour.”
His leadership skills were put to the test in his first game as captain, despite playing against a team that on paper looked to be a fairly easy opponent. Heading into Friday’s game the 100 Mile House Wranglers were sitting at five wins, 13 losses, compared to the Dyanmiters 13 wins and five losses.
The Dynamiters did get the win, just perhaps not in the resounding fashion they would have liked, taking the Wranglers down just 2-1.
“I’ll take it, I just wanted to get this game over with a lot of our guys are sick,” Stuart explained. “Quite a few of them probably shouldn’t have been playing, but they sucked it up and played. Three of them literally couldn’t play who didn’t come to the rink tonight.”
Those three players who couldn’t make it to the rink were Matt Saretsky, Connor Klassen and Carson Cleland, all valuable assets to the team.
“It’s tough, I’m glad we got the job done tonight, but we’ve got to be better, we know that,” Kostiuk said. “Doesn’t matter how many guys are sick, but we’ve got a chance to bounce back tomorrow and try to get the job done.”
The following night’s game did not, however, go in their favour, with the Golden Rockets scoring twice in the first three minutes and leading 3-0 after the first period.
“When you hold a team to nine shots at even strength and control the puck most of the game you should win,” Stuart reflected. “But we weren’t ready to go and gifted them their first two goals by careless mistakes. Tough to come back against a real good goalie when you do that.”
The Nitros have two more games on the road coming up, against Castlegar and Nelson next weekend, before their next home game on Friday, Dec. 9 against the Fernie Ghostriders, followed by two more home games on Dec. 10 and 13, both against Golden.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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