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Local KIJHL clubs focus as playoffs approach
KIJHL Notebook
By Emanuel Sequeira
As the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) winds down to the completion of its 2021-22 regular season, the KIJHL Notebook digs into what some teams are focused on as they close out their schedules. Also highlighted are the remaining matchups for some teams.
Eddie Mountain Division
Columbia Valley RockiesÂ
Columbia Valley Rockies head coach Briar McNaney said they are emphasizing one word to the team, and they know every meaning behind it – opportunity.
“We have the opportunity to win our division, we have the opportunity to make a legitimate push for the league title, we have the opportunity to set in stone this new team culture we’ve built,” said McNaney. “We have the opportunity to stay together as a group even longer than some have predicted us to be at the start of the season, and we have the opportunity to create a lifelong memory together. This far, we have given ourselves the opportunity that many people don’t get to experience in their lifetimes; the opportunity to achieve a common goal as a team. Our area of focus is on ourselves and what we can achieve together.”
Kimberley DynamitersÂ
Derek Stuart and his Kimberley Dynamiters coaching staff have been preparing the players for playoffs all season with the amount of on and off-ice conditioning they do.
“The guys want to win our division and we will need to win out in order to accomplish that so playing playoff hockey for us has already started,” he said.
Half of the Dynamiters’ remaining six games are at home, where they have 14 wins in 18 games.
Fernie Ghostriders
Ty Valin, head coach and general manager of the Fernie Ghostriders, emphasizes to his players to clean up their game and focus on details every day.
“You keep working on things you have in place. It would be nice to finally shake this COVID bug that we have going through our team,” said Valin. “It has been lingering since Christmas. We want to get guys back in shape and play with pace.”
Creston Valley Thunder CatsÂ
The Creston Valley Thunder Cats have seven games remaining on their schedule. All except one are against divisional opponents as they will face the Kimberley Dynamiters three times, Fernie Ghostriders twice and the Golden Rockets once. In 26 games against divisional opponents, the Thunder Cats have 10 wins.
Head coach and general manager Bill Rotheisler will have his team focused “more on sharpening up some details and continuing to evolve our pace of play.”
“The part that doesn’t change is trying to play a playoff brand of hockey well before actual playoffs,” he said. “We have found what works for us, and now it is about playing that way all the time, and finding a tempo that is going to produce consistent success throughout the post-season.”
Golden Rockets
The Golden Rockets close out their regular season schedule against teams in their division, in which they have six wins in 26 games. They face Fernie (three wins in five games) and Columbia Valley (two wins in six games) three more times and Creston Valley (one win in seven games) once.
Click here to read about the rest of the teams in the KIJHL.
KIJHJL/ Tami Quan photo
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