April 30/26
Princeton Posse (3) at Kimberley Dynamiters (4) 2 OT
Dynamiters win series 4-3
Avery Lynch (3) scored the KIJHL Cup-clinching goal 1:33 into the second overtime firing a shot past Gibson Horne after it bounced off the boards towards the net.
Luke Davies led the Dynamiters with two goals, while Adam Kisilevich made 38 saves for the win, and was named MVP of the KIJHL playoffs. The Dynamiters led 2-0, then the Posse tied the game on goals by Paul Vanden Elzen late in the first and Alex Westlund early into the second period. Horne was excellent in goal for the Posse finishing with 40 saves. Jace Shuttleworth also scored for Princeton tying the game 3-3, while Jalen McRae had two assists.
The Dynamiters had won eight of 11 games when leading after two periods.
Kisilevich named KIJHL Cup MVP
Coming into Game 7, Kisilevich had a 1.84 goals against average with a .940 save percentage.
The Edmonton native stopped all 16 shots the Posse fired his way in the first period. He then saved a combined 11 shots in the 21:33 of overtime.
“I felt consistency was the key for me to give the team a chance to win every night, even when the bounces wouldn’t go our way,” said Kisilevich of his play. “It’s an honour (to be MVP), I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and it’s very exciting, but it’s a collective achievement among the team and especially the defence in front of me.”
Now he’s a champion as a rookie, who recently turned 19 and said it feels “surreal.”
“Especially the way it went down, it couldn’t have been more stressful, but it was beyond worth it.”
April 27/26
Kimberley Dynamiters (5) at Princeton Posse (1)
Series tied 3-3
The KIJHL Cup Final is going to Game 7.
Luke Davies led the Dynamiters with two goals (8) and four points, while Toren Fron capitalized short-handed with his goal standing as the winner.
“We made a few adjustments and I like how the players listened and executed on them,” said Dynamiters head coach-general manager Derek Stuart. “It was a matter of time until we started getting rewarded for going to the net and getting pucks to the net. We are built for a seven-game series. We’re getting better and better as the series goes on.”
Davies’ first of two goals was the insurance marker, while Adam Kisilevich made 24 saves, surrendering a goal to Ben Dods (5).
Posse goalie Gibson Horne allowed five goals on 18 shots in 36:15 of action, then was relieved by Sharky Nowek, who saved all 18 shots he faced.
Game 7 will be in Kimberley on Thursday, April 30.
April 25/26
Princeton Posse (6) at Kimberley Dynamiters (4)
Posse leads series 3-2
The Posse are a victory away from winning their first ever KIJHL Championship.
Trailing 3-1 at the midway mark of the first period, the Posse scored four unanswered goals starting late in the first and into the opening eight minutes of the second period. The winner came off the stick of Bryton Morrow (13), while Justice Loewen led the Posse attack with a hat-trick and four points. Loewen completed the hat-trick with an empty-net goal (15).
“Juice was great,” said Posse head coach-general manager Colin Minardi of Loewen’s play. “When he’s going, he’s pretty unstoppable. It’s infectious so he pulled some guys into the fight with him. That whole line was really dialed in on both sides of the puck.”
Gibson Horne stopped 25 of 29 shots for his third straight win in the series. Loewen got the Posse’s attack going on a power-play goal, and scored twice on the man-advantage – which had six opportunities.
The Posse made changes to how they played 5-on-5 in the offensive zone and it paid off.
“The guys bought in so I’m happy with that,” said Minardi, adding he was pleased to see the power-play execute.
Luke Davies opened the scoring for the Dynamiters and led the team with two goals, while Nate Tillmanns had a goal and two points. Adam Kisilevich allowed five goals on 29 shots. Attendance was 1,569 at the Kimberley Civic Centre.
April 22/26
Kimberley Dynamiters (0) at Princeton Posse (1)
Series tied 2-2
Gibson Horne posted a second straight shutout, this time a 24-save performance. Once again the Posse got their winning goal on the power-play goal, this time by Jace Shuttleworth at 5:56 of the first period.
“That’s been one of our looks for a while now, it just so happens the play developed that way and we made a good play,” said Posse head coach-general manager Colin Minardi.
Adam Kisilevich finished with 33 saves for the Dynamiters, including 15 in the second period.
The Dynamiters went 0-for-2 on their power-play, while the Posse were 1-for-3.
“I was happy with how we were getting pucks below the goal line and going to work,” said Minardi of what he liked that he saw from his team. “We had kind of gotten away from that early on in the series, but it’s nice to have that back. It helped us sustain offensive zone time that maybe we didn’t have previously.”
The series returns to Kimberley for Game 5 on Saturday, April 25 with Game 6 in Princeton on April 27.
April 21/26
Kimberley Dynamiters (0) at Princeton Posse (1) OT
Dynamiters lead series 2-1
A crowd of 450 at the Princeton & District Arena watched as Gibson Horne was excellent in goal with a 36-save performance.
“Gibson was great for us,” said Posse head coach-general manager Colin Minardi. “He made some outstanding saves to keep us in it.”
The Posse power-play connected on its fifth opportunity with Ben Dods firing a shot past Adam Kisilevich, who made 38 saves. Justice Loewen and Carson Hebert assisted on Dods’ winner.
“We’ve been stressing net presence and traffic all series, even 5-on-5,” said Minardi. “It just looked like Shutts (Jace Shuttleworth) was able to hold his ground net front this time and Ben was able to pick his spot.”
Minardi felt his group was up and down in the game. He added they had their moments, but gave up too many odd man rushes.
April 18/26
Princeton Posse (1) at Kimberley Dynamiters (2)
Dynamiters lead series 2-0
Adam Kisilevich was excellent in goal for the Dynamiters with a 30-save performance in front of 1,418 spectators.
“Adam was steady,” said Dynamiters head coach Derek Stuart.
Kisilevich allowed the opening goal to Simon Cecconi 1:40 into the first period. The Dynamiters responded 50 seconds later on a goal from Callan Valstar, then beat Gibson Horne with a power-play goal by Jake Murdoch at 18:14. Horne wasn’t tested often by Kimberley as they recorded 13 shots, eight of which came in the first period.
The Posse went 0-4 on their power-play.
“Our penalty-kill was good taking away prime scoring chances,” said Stuart.
April 17/26
Princeton Posse (1) at Kimberley Dynamiters (3)
Dynamiters lead series 1-0
Jaden Rusznak’s 11th goal to give the Dynamiters a 2-0 lead stood as the winner, while Adam Kisilevich stopped 24 of 25 shots. Ben Dods (3) scored at 3:39 of the first period, 11 seconds after Rusznak’s goal to cut the lead to 2-1.
Toren Fron scored the insurance goal with 19 seconds remaining in the game with his fourth of the playoffs. Gibson Horne made 24 saves for the Posse.
“We had a great start and then struggled to find our bearings until midway through the second period,” said Dynamiters head coach-general manager Derek Stuart. “I thought we got better as the game went on.”
