Adam Taylor might be new to the Kimberley Dynamiters, but he knows a thing or two about their division.

When he and his new mates travel to Creston tonight, you can bet the 140 regular season games the defenceman once played for the Thundercats will be front of mind.

He’s also got the added incentive of being in his final year of junior hockey eligibility. He turned 21 on Sunday, sharing overage status with J.T. Ward and Matt Foster.

“It’s our last crack at it,” said Taylor, after Saturday night’s 5-2 victory over the Chase Chiefs. “I’d like nothing more than to get back at my two old teams and just win.”

After three years in Creston, Taylor played last season for the Fernie Ghostriders.

A first-round playoff date against one of his former teams seems likely, but games like tonight’s will go a long way to determining what happens.

Fernie locked up first place in a division weeks ago and Columbia Valley cinched up last place in 2009. That’s left Creston, Kimberley and the Golden Rockets to figure things out amongst themselves.

Including tonight’s game, Kimberley has a pair against each of the two clubs they’re battling with. The Nitros are in fourth entering play, but things are so tight that a regulation win would put them in third, one point back of the Thundercats.

Kimberley is making a push for second place, which would ensure two things: home ice advantage, and a first round opponent other than Fernie, who was 8-0-1 against the Nitros this season.

The best-case scenario for Taylor would be a first-round clash with Creston, followed by a fight with Fernie in the second.

He probably didn’t imagine the circuitous route he would have to take to get to this point.

Fernie traded him last summer to the Peninsula Panthers on Vancouver Island.

On Oct. 24, Taylor was traded to the Grand Forks Border Bruins. He said his move from North Saanich came because the Panthers had brought in another 20-year-old, and had lots of depth on the blueline.

“It cleared up a billet house, and just made sense to trade me from there. I have no hard feelings about it,” he said.

Grand Forks, in turn, sent Taylor to the Cold Lake Ice in northern Alberta.

Taylor wasn’t having fun up there, and he got injured prior to the trade deadline.

Neither happy nor committed to Cold Lake, he told the club they should release him over a younger player who wanted to stick around.

“I know this area better, this league better and I’m more happy to be playing down here,” he said.

“I’m more excited to be here than I was up there because I didn’t know anyone I was playing against. The rivalries really didn’t matter to me there, where here I understand the rivalry between Kimberley and Fernie, between Kimberley and Creston.

“I’ve got more passion for this league than any other league.”

Taylor said that, if his junior career has to end, he wants it to come against a team he hates.

“That’s the only way I can put it: I’ve got to hate those two teams, as much as I enjoyed my time with them. I’ve got to hate both of them and just do what I can to beat them,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we’re all going to be friends, it’s just hockey. But from now on, they’re not my friends. That’s the way it’s got to be, and I think everyone else understands that on the other side. That’s all I can say about that.”

While Taylor had a goal and an assist in his Nitros’ debut Saturday, he wants to use his experience and size to help out Kimberley’s younger players.

With less than a second to go and a faceoff in Kimberley’s zone on Saturday, Taylor dropped the gloves with a Chase Chief he said had been taking liberties with Taylor McDowell. While the linesmen intervened before any blows could be traded, Taylor sent a message to his new team.

“You’ve kind of got to have it that way. You can’t have a bigger guy like that going after a 16-year-old. It’s kind of gutless on his part, but it’s guys like me that have to do that and know my role,” he said.

“I understand it’s not every night I’m going to be scoring goals and getting assists like that, but I’ve got to be solid and tough, block shots and keep my head straight and focused.”