Opening night at Cominco Arena was fast, feisty, skilled and the result couldn’t have been any better for the hometown crowd of 1,621.
The Smoke Eaters supplied three unanswered second snipes to secure a 5-3 win over the Vernon Vipers.
The visitors started strong, scoring first on a three-way passing play finished by Luke Bibby, about 11 minutes into the first period, but the Smokies struck back three minutes later.
Judah Makway’s huge hit behind the Vipers net, allowed newcomer Alex Hebblethwaite to set up a wide-open Evan Sundar in close and he buried his first regular season goal as a Smokie.
The Vipers regained the lead just two minutes into the second period as Will Schumacher battled his way through the defense and scored unassisted, but again Trail battled back two minutes later.
First star Jason Stefanek went hard to the net and powered a shot past Vipers goalie Colin Reay and snapped home the go-ahead goal about two-and-a-half minutes later.
The 20-year-old Californian connected from in close, converting a three-way passing play with Ridge Dawson and Attila Lippai on the power play, with a poised push of the puck into the far corner.
Defenseman Lucas Lemieux jumped up into an opening in the Vipers zone and gave Trail a two-goal lead just past the 12-minute mark, finishing a beautifully executed play with Sundar and Hebblethwaite.
The Vipers punctuated an early third period push with rookie Vinny Ipry going forehand-backhand-five hole to finish an odd-man rush to make it a one-goal game.
The Smokies defended well and goalie Teagan Kendrick looked confident with solid saves when they were needed.
The teams also went end-to-end several times as time ticked away and it took an empty net goal from former Merritt Centennial, Jack Ziliotto one a shot from inside the Smokies blue line, to seal the deal with four seconds left on the clock.
Trail outshot the Vipers 30-28, went 1-for-5 on the power play and killed off 3-of-4 Vernon advantages.
Tonight, the Smokies host West Kelowna who will be looking for a bounce-back performance after a 9-0 Friday night loss to the Bucks in Cranbrook.
Opening faceoff at Cominco Arena is set for 7 o’clock and good seats are still available at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.
