By Josh Lockhart
The Kimberley Dynamiters held the last game slot of the KIJHL College Showcase on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018, and were the ‘visiting’ team against the Osoyoos Coyotes.
The Nitros offence in the first was powered by their defence, with Jackson Bohan scoring on the power play, and Noah Danforth scoring his first career KIJHL goal.
“It was a long time coming,” Danforth said after the game. “It’s been a while since I scored a goal.”
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There was a weird sequence of events that led to the puck being lobbed in the air, and then Coyotes’ goalie reaching out like he was catching a home-run ball. In that moment Coyotes keeper used their blocker for protection and made head contact, which led to them being given a game misconduct, and the back up goalie came in.
“They were being chippy, and trying to get us off our game,” Bohan said. “We stuck to it. Don’t retaliate. Stand there and take it. Let them take all the penalties.”
In the second, it continued to be all Nitros, as they scored three goals. Brock Palmer, Kole Halvorson (his first as a Nitro), and Cam Russell, gave the Nitros a commanding 5-0 lead after 40 minutes.
In the third, the team swapped goals with Coyotes. Palmer scored his second of the game, then Osoyoos got their first of the game. Captain Chase Gedny scored the teams seventh goal, and then Osoyoos notched their second on the scoresheet.
By the end of the game, it was 7-2 for the Nitros. Brett Anderson made 18 saves in the win.
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For Braiden Koran, the showcase was his first two games back from injury, he was impressed with the teams ability to showcase itself, but also happy to be back playing.
“It feels great. It feels way better than I expected,” Koran said. “I thought I was going to be sore when I came back, but it felt great right out of the first shift yesterday.”
The Nitros will now get back into a regular routine with practices and prepare for Holiday Classic with the Fernie Ghostriders this weekend. They travel to Fernie on Friday for a 7:30pm start. Then returning to the Civic Centre Saturday, game time is 7pm.