The Smoke Eaters take their road warriors act to West Kelowna.
The Trail troupe will tangle with the Warriors Friday night, hoping to rebound from a heart wrenching 3-2 loss to Penticton.
The Interior Conference leaders capped a three goal comeback on Sunday with a power play goal late in the third period in a game that also saw a pair of Smokies veteran forwards go on the injury list.
Ethan Mann and Josh Schenk will likely be unavailable this weekend after suffering lower body injuries during the hard-fought, playoff-like contest.
Trail’s last road game a week ago, was a furious 4-1 win in Cranbrook.
Much like the Sunday struggle with the Vees, the Smoke Eaters played tough and tight defense and scored key goals by getting into the tough areas around the Bucks’ net.
Trail turned in a 6-4 win over West Kelowna during their most recent head-to-head clash three weeks ago at Cominco Arena.
The Warriors had won the previous three contests, including a 5-4 overtime decision during the opening weekend of the regular season in Trail. The other two games at Royal LePage Place required empty net goals to secure.
Smokies rookie centreman, Chase Stefanek has points in five of the last six games and is now tied for second in the team’s points parade, with Ridge Dawson at 29. Mathieu Cobetto-Roy is the team leader and tied for 8th in the BCHL with 45 points.
The Warriors are led by Felix Caron who is 3rd in the BCHL point’s race with 56.
West Kelowna is also led by the BCHL’s top scoring defenseman, Isaiah Norlin, who has 45 points.
The Warriors are a solid second in the Interior Conference, with a seven point edge on Salmon Arm, but are seven points behind the Vees.
The Smoke Eaters need to go on a run if they are going to catch the fourth place Vernon Vipers, who they trail by five points, with ten games left in the regular season.
Opening face off against the Warriors is set for 7 p.m.
The game can be heard on Mixlr and watched on FloHockey.
