The Kimberley Dynamiters were on the road this past weekend, with games against the Chase Heat, the 100 Mile House Wranglers and the Kamloops Storm. The Nitros came away with one win and two losses, including an overtime loss — not the results this team strives for, but not bad considering the team was far from 100 per cent healthy.
“We have a bad illness going through the team to the extent we had to leave some guys at home,” said head coach, general manager Derek Stuart. “It was a battle just to get through the games to be honest. We weren’t good in any of the games. It was tough, but we made it home safely and are hoping to get healthy this week.”
The roadtrip started with a game against the Chase Heat, who are currently sitting at the bottom of the Doug Birks division. Despite their sickness, the Dynamiters came away with a blistering 10-2 win.
Kade Leskosky scored the first and the tenth goal of the game. Tristan Weill added a hat trick to his already remarkable points tally for the year. Trey Stephenson, Carter Hensch and Tyler Lindal got a goal each and Luke Rothfos got two.
The KIJHL recently asked head coaches to say something about their Most Valuable Player and their Most Improved Players.
Stuart had this to say about Weill:
“Tristan has been dominant since our first game and a big reason was him coming into training camp in excellent shape. He leads our team in goals, assists and points and is a very important part of our offence. He has speed, skill and is extremely strong, which makes him very hard to play against.”
Stuart said that during Lindal’s rookie season last year he was mainly used in a fourth line role, where he started out this season as well.
“Hard work and determination has made Tyler a fixture in our top-9 forwards,” Stuart said. “He is an outstanding penalty killer and his versatility enables him to play on any line in any role, while still being able to contribute.”
The Dynamiters carried this momentum into the first period of their game against 100 Mile House.
Reese Walsh opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. Goals from Hayden Selin and Parker Konneke made it 3-o for the Nitros after the first period.
Following a scoreless second, the Wranglers came alive in the third, scoring three unanswered goals and sending the game to overtime and then ending it with a goal from Tyler Smoluk 30 seconds in.
On Sunday, The Kamloops Storm got off to an early lead with two goals in the first. Stephenson would score Kimberley’s only goal of the game late in the second period, but the Storm answered back shortly after. An empty netter from Kamloops’ Evan Clark would make for a 4-1 win for the Storm.
The Nitros will look to shake this weekend off and focus on getting healthy before their next road trip, which sees them take on the Nelson Leafs on Friday, Jan. 12 and the Beaver Valley Nitehawks on Saturday, Jan. 13.
“This type of thing happens to every team at some point, it’s just unfortunate it happened to us on our longest road trip of the season,” Stuart said. “One of those weekends you can’t take anything from and just have to erase from the memory.”