Josh Bagley and his bitch Frankie Richard

Kingfishers Spoil Ratz Season Opener

Blacks Harbour, NB – The archrival Fundy Kingfishers blew by the Bonny River Ratz 5-3 in the 2009-2010 season opener of the Fundy Industrial Hockey League. The game was never in question as the Kingfishers built up a 3-0 lead at the end of two periods and coasted from there.

Before the game a ceremony was held to pay tribute to Ratz player Wayne Barrett who lost his fight with cancer last July. Both of Barrett’s Ratz jerseys rose to the rafters to Tom Cochrane’s “Good Times.” The Ratz presented Wayne’s wife Allene and her daughter Brooke and son Brandon with Ratz jerseys emblazoned with the number 5 and Barrett on the back.

The Kingfishers were paced by Kenny Wright’s pair of goals while Chris Richardson, Matty Walsh and Jeff Ross potted singles. The Ratz offense sputtered all night but Jason McFarlane, Jack McNeill and Mark Johnson managed to bend the twine behind Kingfishers goalie Jamie Harris. Harris had the wall up all night and frustrated the Rodents shooters time and time again. Equally brilliant at the other end was Ratz tender Warren Giesbrecht who faced far more rubber and had far less support.

Ratz team captain Joe Stevens felt that although it wasn’t the result the Ratz desired, he did take some positives from the loss. Stevens added, “We are a team in transition with several new faces and they’re just trying to get used to all of our systems that we have in place. When everything clicks, this team will be a force to be reckoned with. I’m not saying this for sure, but we could very well be 23-1 at the end of the season.”

Kingfishers general manger Matty Walsh was happy with the win but also stressed that they may have caught the Ratz unprepared. He noted, “I don’t know if there is any such thing as a flat footed Rat but we may have seen a few of them tonight.”

In other FIHL action, the Blackland Twisters from St. Stephen down the Lepreau Pirates 8-2.