In front of a packed house in West Kelowna on Family Day, the Smoke Eaters completed the season sweep with a 5-2 win over the Warriors.
The Warriors would open the scoring in this one as Holden Kodak finished off a back door pass from Tyler Cristall just 2:39 into this game. The Smoke Eaters then charged back getting a goal from Matt Osadick to tie the game 9:38 of the first period. Osadick scored his fourth goal and 11th point since joining the Smoke Eaters 14 games ago, as he had a wide open net to bury the rebound on the shot from Cody Schiavon.
The goaltenders then put on a show in the second period with Johnny Derrick and Matteo Paler-Chow each making numerous highlight reel saves. Paler-Chow robbed Warriors forward Carter Wilkie on three separate occasions to keep the score tied at 1. The Smoke Eaters then broke that with Owen Ozar’s first of the night as he knocked in his own rebound after a nice passing sequence with Kent Johnson and Michael Colella. The Smoke Eaters then doubled their lead on a power play goal from Chase Dafoe, a goal that helped Johnson hit the 100 point mark for the season. Take nothing away from tip in front by Dafoe as his goal would stand as the eventual game winner.
In the third the Warriors came out and closed the gap with a power play goal of their own from Brandon Pigeon as he got the puck on the doorstep and made no mistake from in tight. Trail would answer with Ozar’s second of the night and one of his best of the year as he took the drop pass from Johnson to make it 4-2.
Ozar picked up his 24th of the year and 63rd point on the goal to restore the two goal lead. Then with the Warriors pressing and on the power play late in the game Jaden Senkoe would step out of the box and onto the score sheet to make it 5-2 as he picked the opposite corner to Ozar, going blocker side on Derrick. The Smoke Eaters picked up win number 35 while also setting a franchise best for most road wins in a season at 15 games. Paler-Chow made 31 saves in the win as he bounced back in a big way following last weekends game against the Vipers. Johnson finishes the season series against the Warriors with 22 points in six games.
The Smoke Eaters wrap up the regular season this weekend with a home game against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday and on the road in Merritt on Saturday night.
