The confines of their home arena were not friendly for the Smokies as they dropped two games to the West Kelowna Warriors over the weekend.
On Friday night the Warriors Kylar Hope had a pair of goals and seven others had singles as the West Kelowna defeated the Smoke Eaters 9-0. Rylan Yaremko’s late goal in the first proved to be all that the Warriors needed. Matthew Greenfield of the Warriors made 27 saves for the shutout, his second of the season. The Warriors led 1-0 at the end of the first but blew the game wide open when they scored 6 unanswered goals in the second. Scorers for the Wariors in the second were Liam Blackburn, Tyler Anderson, Brett Mennear, Kyle Marino, Kristian Blumenschein and Hope. First star of the game was Warriors Kylar Hope, second star, Brett Mennear and third star, Kyle Marino. Bailey MacBurnie and Linden Marshall shared the duties in net for the Smokies.
The Smokies lost 4-1 on Saturday to the same West Kelowna Warriors. The Smokies rebounded strongly after the Friday night drubbing but despite the loss 4-1 it was a much better performance.
The Warriors led 2-0 after the first period on two goals by Garrett Forster.
The Warriors pulled ahead 3-0 on a goal by Jonathan Desbiene scored at 2:11 of the second. Nolan Redler of Trail scored ust 7 seconds later to pull the smokies within two but that was all they could muster for the remainder of the game despite having some great chances.
In the third Jonathan Desbiens of the Warriors added a fourth goal to seal the win for West Kelowna.
Nii Noi Tehteh was named the Fortis Energy Player of the Game. Jonathan Desbienes of the Warriors was named first star, Kyle Marino of the Warriors was named second star and Bailey MacBurnie of Trail was named third star. MacBurnie faced 35 Warrior shots making 31 saves.
In a previous post I made some negative comments regarding officiating at Smoke Eater home games. I would like to apologize for making those comments and in particular extend a personal apology to our home-grown officials. I’ve been involved with the Junior Smoke Eaters for over 12 years and prior to that with the Senior hockey team. My comments stemmed from a misguided passion for our hockey club but were uncalled for. Without a doubt refereeing is an integral part of the game and, as with hockey players, many referees strive to move on to the next level. The BCHL promotes the development of young referees and I’m sure when those officials are scheduled for a game they want to do the best job they can. As with anything, there is a learning curve for these young officials and my comments made their job that much more difficult. Further, we have a number of veteran local officials that have refereed in the area for many years and they should be commended for their service, not criticized for it.
The negative comments made, were mine, and should not reflect on the Smoke Eater organization as a whole.
Rick Basso
