The Kimberley Dynamiters will play their final out-of-division game of the season tonight in Grand Forks.

Then, it’s back to Kimberley Saturday for a tilt against the Creston Valley Thundercats (7:30 p.m.). It will be the Nitros’ final regular season game against the Cats.

Creston enters the weekend in second place in the Eddie Mountain Division, with a five- point cushion on Kimberley.

“If we have any aspirations of second, it’s definitely a must-win for us — a must-win-in-regulation time, almost,” said Dynamiters’ head coach Kevin MacKay. “It’s huge, but every game we’ve come across the last little while, we’ve been playing that way. We know what it means to us, and I think the guys will respond to it.”

Kimberley has five games to go before playoffs, with two of those coming at home. They close out the campaign at home in two Sundays with a Valentine’s Day battle with the Golden Rockets at 6 p.m.

Creston and Kimberley played last Tuesday, with the Thundercats scoring three times in the third period of a 3-1 win.

“They’ve maybe snuck a couple of points off us the last couple of games in Creston where we probably deserved a better fate,” said MacKay, whose club was 0-4-0 there this season.

“There’s a little bit of payback that we should definitely try to send them, that’s for sure.”

The Dynamiters will have to face the Grand Forks Border Bruins first. While their 5-39-1-1 record isn’t intimidating, they started the week at 3-39-1-1.

“They’re always play tough at home, and they had a big win (7-4 Wednesday) against Beaver Valley, so that’s two in a row for them. There’s nothing to lose from their point of view,” said MacKay.

On Tuesday, the Bruins had dispatched the host Penticton Lakers 4-3 in overtime.

“They’ve cleaned house, and they’re all young guys and all inexperienced,” said MacKay. “There’s no pressure on them. They’ve just got to go out there and have fun, and teams are maybe taking them a little lightly when they play them.”

It’s been a few years since MacKay was in the Grand Forks Arena, but he remembers it having good ice.

It hasn’t been so long for Brennan Romanovitch and Kieran Spice, who both started the season in Grand Forks.

“I think (the Bruins) have made quite a few changes since they’ve been there, but still maybe they (can shed light on) what to expect from the ice, the boards and what opportunities we can expect off that,” said MacKay. “We’ll pick their brains a little bit and see what they can give us.”

After tonight’s game, the Nitros can expect to pull back into town at around 3 a.m. MacKay is thankful this is the first and only time they’ll have to do that this season.

“Usually it happens a few times a year, so we’ve been fortunate that way, with just the one trip where we get back late,” he said. “After a game, it will take the kids a couple of hours to wind down anyways. Probably about half way through, guys start getting some sleep and a little bit of rest on the bus. Then hopefully they’ll get into bed and finish that off — as long as they don’t sleep all day. You want them to get back up at a decent time.”

No Speedy Recoveries

The Nitros aren’t any healthier than they were last Tuesday against the Thundercats. MacKay — remaining mum on the nature of injuries with playoffs a couple of weeks away — doesn’t anticipate Corson Johnstone, Chad Filatoff or Brennan Foreman will return any time soon.

“I’d be surprised if we get them back,” he said. “It depends how far we go (in playoffs). They haven’t even skated since their injuries… We’ll see how it goes day-by-day and hopefully we can get back any one of them relatively soon.”

The source of most of the Dynamiters’ stop-gap affiliates, the Cranbrook Ice are playing this weekend.

Kimberley has arranged for a Penticton midget to join them in Grand Forks. Forward Ollie Dickson had been close to making the Dynamiters at camp last summer.

Back home on Saturday, they should have nine forwards and six defencemen.

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