Fort Nelson Yeti hold Flyers to 1-1 wins!

: Rane Marshall throwing a hit in the first game.

: Physically impressive Tanner Whidden fends off the FSJ captain Jeff Shipton.

: The Yeti celebrate their first win of the season Saturday night in front of the home crowd.

: Ryan Carter on a break away in Game #1 Saturday night

: Ryan Carter moves in at the boards.

: Gritty two-way play from captain, Ryan Carter, results in a win for the Yeti at Saturday’s game.

: This past weekend was very successful for the Fort Nelson Yeti hosting the Fort St. John Flyers. The Flyers came to Fort Nelson as the current 1st place team in the North Peace hockey league, the same league that the Yeti were denied joining in the fall. Each team won a game, with the Yeti winning a thrilling game on Saturday evening and the Flyers coming back to even up the weekend series with another exciting win in the Sunday afternoon game. The Fort Nelson arena was abuzz with fans showing their support and everybody leaving at the end of the weekend, having watched two really exciting games. “It shows how far we have come already this year,” said Ryan Carter. “We played the flyers at the start of the year with our first two senior hockey games for many of these players, and got beat by a pretty good hockey team in October 9-2 and 5-0. To come back and not just compete but win against them later in the year shows how we have developed, and how the team is improving. It takes a lot of dedication to play and succeed at the senior level and these guys have worked hard at it”.

Fort Nelson News – Sports Correspondent

“This weekend is something we can all be proud for our fans and we now prepare ourselves for the provincials where we hope to bring a championship home to Fort Nelson,” said Carter

Saturday, January 25th

The first game of the weekend was a thriller that set the tone for the weekend. The Flyers came out in the first period and took it to the Yeti early. Cory McEchran, a new addition goalie for the Yeti, was outstanding early in the game holding the Yeti in it while they found their legs versus the defending provincials AAA champs. The Flyers scored the first goal of the game with the Yeti answering right back a minute later with a goal from Josh Bostock.

The teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period before the Flyers regained the lead late in the second period with a power play goal. It looked like the 2-1 lead would hold up for the rest of the period until a late flurry by the home team and a goal by Mike Fiddler had the Yeti adding the equalizer with 32 seconds left in the second period. The third period brought the fans out of their seats; Tanner Whidden threw the body check of the weekend to the roar of the fans taking a good chance away from the Flyers. Shortly after that, Ryan Carter put the Yeti ahead for the first time in the game with a short-handed goal with six minutes remaining. The Flyers turned up the pressure late in the game and with a penalty against the Yeti and the goalie pulled Ryan Carter scored the clinching goal into the empty net with 34 seconds left in the game. The fans were so loud in the last few minutes of the game that the 50/50 winner did not know they won and it went unclaimed until Monday morning. This was the first win of the year for the Yeti and an exciting game for the fans to enjoy.

Sunday, January 26th

In the matinée matchup of the series the teams brought much of the same from the night before. With this being the fourth time that the teams have played this year there was much more physical play and roughing between the whistles as the rivalry is growing. The Yeti started out much stronger in this game taking it to the Flyers early and earning a four minute power play. Unable to score on the man advantage the Flyers again scored first with a Power Play goal of their own to go up 1-0. The Yeti added a little more late period drama once when Rane Marshall scored with one second left in the period to tie the score. The teams also traded goals in the second period, as Barney Streeper deflected a puck into the net to help carry the Yeti into a tie going into the third period again. The Flyers were able to increase their lead in the third period in this game going up 3-2 and then again 4-2 with five minutes remaining. The Yeti pulled their goalie in desperation with two minutes left in the game, and were able to get back within a goal after a nice rush by Andy Welsh ended with a lucky bounce and a goal for the home team. With the goalie still pulled the Yeti could not find any more late period heroics or the tying goal, the Flyers were able to score in the empty net to seal a 5-3 victory to even the games for the weekend.

This finalized the season series between the two Teams. The Yeti will be travelling to the Coy Cup Provincial tournament in March.

The FSJ Flyers had nothing but good things to say about their trip, commenting on the fan support, hospitality of the team and the level of competition. They will be reporting their experience to the NPHL, with the Yeti’s intention to attempt to join the NPHL again.