After winning their previous four games the Kimberley Dynamiters simply did not bring their best stuff to the Civic Centre on Friday, Nov. 18 and were defeated by the Nelson Leafs after giving up a two goal lead they’d built in the first.
Kasey Miller has been on a tear this month and started out strong once again with a power-play goal halfway through the first. Cam Reid scored his eighth of the season four minutes later and the Nitros were up by two after the first.
READ MORE: Dynamiters players account for two of the KIJHL’s 3 Stars of the Week
Leafs’ captain Bennett Anklewich scored the only goal of a very lackluster second period and then Nelson tacked on two more in the third.
With just two and a half minutes left in the third period, Nelson’s Lucas Byrne was sent to the box for high sticking. Kimberley then pulled goalie Trystan Self making it six on four for the final minutes of the game. The Dynamiters laid down an onslaught on their opponent’s net all the way down to the very last seconds, when the puck crossed the goal line and the team and crowd went crazy.
The refs however deemed that the goal did not count and the Dynamiters had to accept a tough 3-2 loss.
“Our first period was okay, our second was terrible and our third wasn’t much better,” said head coach, general manager Derek Stuart. “We didn’t have any legs or any jump tonight, I don’t if that was a goal or not, but the ref made a decision. It shouldn’t have come down to that, we weren’t very good tonight.”
Whether it was a case of being imbued with too much confidence after four big wins, including beating Grand Forks 6-0, the best team in Nelson’s division, Stuart was not sure.
“I’ll have to find that out, but we definitely didn’t have any jump,” Stuart said. “A lot of our faster guys didn’t look fast tonight, they were beating us to a lot of loose pucks, we just didn’t have our A game tonight and unfortunately we lost.”
Kasey Miller, who now has six goals and four assists, said his recent success owes to the fact that he has a lot more confidence this year and is starting to figure out and see the ice better in the offensive zone.
”I just think we weren’t ourselves,” he said after the game. “I don’t think we were fully prepared to play tonight and we have been playing good lately and tonight we were just uncharacteristic. We didn’t stick to our game after the first period. I don’t know if it was overconfidence I just think we just let off the gas a little.”
He also commented on the recent announcement that team captain Ryan Bennett is retiring from hockey due to a persistent injury and said that he and the rest of the assistant captains will need to step up in his absence.
READ MORE: Dynamiters captain Ryan Bennett retires from hockey due to persistent injury
“Benny has been a huge part of this team for five years now,” Miller said. “He was on the team when they had a lot of success, before COVID, so he knows a lot about what it takes to win, so he’s definitely a huge guy to miss, to show some of these guys coming to the team what it’s like to play in Kimberley and the winning culture that we have here. He’s a huge leader and we’re going to miss him.”
Following the game against Nelson the Nitros have a week to prepare for their next matchup, at home against the 100 Mile House Wranglers on Friday, Nov. 25. Stuart said the team will be working on getting in the shooting lanes more in the defensive zone and sacrificing their bodies a bit more.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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