It’s only fitting that the Trail Smoke Eaters play their final home game of the regular season against their Kootenay rival, the Cranbrook Bucks.
The teams opened the regular season at Cominco Arena with the Bucks recording a crazy 5-4 win in overtime, scoring a goal with one second left in the second period, and the overtime winner with just three seconds left on the clock.
Trail leads 5-2-2 in head-to-head matchups this season, with the majority of the games being low scoring and tough defensive battles.
Both teams will be looking for redemption.
The Bucks were beaten 4-1 Saturday night at home by the West Kelowna Warriors, who recorded a 3-1 win Friday night in Trail.
The Smoke Eaters will try to bounce back from a three game slide, including avenging last Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Bucks at Cominco Arena.
The Smoke Eaters will again be without injured 20-year-old forwards Ethan Mann, Adam Parsons and Mathieu Cobetto-Roy, which also means the top sniper against Cranbrook is out of the lineup.
Cobetto-Roy leads all players in the season series with four goals and four assists.
The Trail troupe will also have to deal with Cranbrook’s top player in head-to-head battles this season.
Noah Urness has three goals and four assists in just five games. He missed the other four after returning to finish his Minnesota High School hockey season.
Urness picked up three assists last Saturday and scored two goals, including the overtime winner in a 2-1 decision on November 12 in Cranbrook.
It will also be a showdown between offensive defensemen. Trail’s Ethan Warrener has two goals and four assists against the Bucks, while Adam Barone has three goals and one helper. Nelson product Bryce Sookro has a goal and three assists against the Smoke Eaters, while Cranbrook’s leading point producer, Joseph Blackley has two goals and two assists. All four are quarterbacks of their team’s power play units.
Smoke Eaters goalie Teagan Kendrick will also sit out the final game of his three game suspension. Ryan Parker was outstanding in goal Friday night against West Kelowna.
Game time is 3 p.m. and good seats for the last home game of the regular season are still available at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.
