The Trail Smoke Eaters play their final two home games of the regular season this weekend, including tonight’s Friday night contest against the West Kelowna Warriors, which includes the team awards ceremony immediately after the game, followed by the annual Fan Photo on the ice.
Trail has taken the last two head-to-head matchups with a superb 6-4 decision on February 10th at Cominco Arena, in a game that featured a two goal effort by Ridge Dawson, who leads all Trail scorers in the season series with four goals and two assists.
The Smokies secured a crazy 6-5 comeback win in overtime in West Kelowna on March 1st, when Dawson created havoc in front of the net during Adam Marshall’s overtime winner, which bounced off the backboards and in off goaltender Rorke Applebee.
That game also featured defenseman Ethan Warrener’s first career hat trick as the Smokies battled back from a 5-3 deficit after two periods.
The Warriors opened the season series with a 6-5 overtime win in Trail on the second night of the regular season and recorded 5-3 and 6-3 victories on home ice.
Warriors leading scorer Felix Caron has been their top point man head-to-head against Trail, with 3 goals and 5 assists.
The Warriors are riding an eight-game point streak including four victories. The overtime loss to Trail and their most recent 4-3 setback to the conference-leading Penticton Vees are part of the streak.
The Smoke Eaters are trying to recover from back-to-back losses last weekend in Salmon Arm and at home against the Cranbrook Bucks. Trail had won four games in a row before last weekend.
20-year-old forwards Adam Parsons and Ethan Mann suffered injuries on the road last Friday night and leading scorer Mathieu Cobetto-Roy was also unavailable for the game against Cranbrook.
All three remain on the injured list.
Goaltender Teagan Kendrick will sit out both games this weekend, to serve the reminder of his three-game suspension.
Ryan Parker will be backed up by Cam Brochu, a 17-year-old from Grande Prairie, AB, playing with the Titans Hockey Union.
The Smoke Eaters are still trying to reel in the fourth place Vernon Vipers, whom they trail by five points with four games remaining for both teams.
The Vipers play the Spruce Kings in a weekend doubleheader in Prince George.
The game against West Kelowna is slated to start at 7 p.m. – with the team awards ceremony to follow immediately after the game – and the Smokies host Cranbrook again on Sunday at 3 p.m. Good seats are still available for both games at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.
