PHOTO: Garrett James/BCHL
The Trail Smoke Eaters conclude their six-game home stand and look for their third straight victory as they host the Langley Rivermen in the final “Retro Night” of the season on Friday at the Trail Memorial Centre.
Smoke Eaters vs. Rivermen 2018/19 Regular Season Schedule:
Thursday, September 20th @ Prospera Centre (4-1 Rivermen) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 8th @ George Preston Arena (3-1 Rivermen) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, February 15th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
The Smoke Eaters and Rivermen meet for the third and final time this season with Langley coming away victorious in the two previous matchups, including an early December tilt at George Preston Arena with Trail falling by a 3-1 score. Bryce Anderson opened the scoring in the game for the Smoke Eaters before the Rivermen came back with three unanswered goals, including two in the 3rd period, for the win. Adam Marcoux turned aside 22 of the 25 shots he faced in the game in the defeat.
Trail comes into Friday night’s contest on the heels of back-to-back wins after a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory against the Penticton Vees on Wednesday night at the Trail Memorial Centre. Owen Ozar scored a pair of regulation goals and helped set up the game winning marker coming just nine seconds into the extra frame with Carter Jones finding the back of the net. Donovan Buskey was outstanding in the Smoke Eaters net, turning aside 33 of the 35 shots he faced in his 3rd win of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Chase Stevenson (18-31-49)
Carter Jones (14-35-49)
Kent Johnson (18-24-42)
Trevor Zins (11-31-42)
Braeden Tuck (13-25-38)
Scoring the game winning goal kept the recent stretch of strong play going for Bemidji State University commit Carter Jones who has now collected points in six of his last seven games. The Hillyard, Washington native has 2 goals and 9 assists for 11 points in that span including a big night on Wednesday in scoring the overtime winning goal and adding an assist to tie for the team lead in points with 49.
With Adam Marcoux sidelined, Donovan Buskey will get his third straight start in between the pipes for the Smoke Eaters and brings back-to-back wins with him in the crease. The North Vancouver, BC native turned aside 33 of the 35 shots he faced on Wednesday night, including an impressive 17 of 18 in the game’s opening period, and has stopped 62 of his last 67 shots faced, good for a .925 SV%.
Trail was a very disciplined group on Wednesday night, not heading to the penalty box once against the Vees and have seen their penalty kill on home ice stay strong in keeping the puck out of the net. The Smoke Eaters rank 4th in the BC Hockey League in penalty kill percentage at home at 83.7% and have taken the second-least penalties on home ice, going to the PK 92 times in 27 games with the Prince George Spruce Kings (81) being the only team to better that. During their current six-game home stand, the Smoke Eaters have gone 15-for-16 on the penalty kill.
The Langley Rivermen come into the game with a 25-24-2-1 record and sit in 4th place in the Mainland Division, trailing the Coquitlam Express by three points for 3rd place after dropping a 6-0 decision to the Prince George Spruce Kings on Saturday night at George Preston Arena. Shayne Battler started the game, stopping 12 of the 15 shots he faced in his 6th loss of the season before Braedon Fleming came on in relief, turning aside 7 of the 10 shots thrown his way.
Rivermen Leading Scorers:
Ethan Leyh (15-23-38)
Jack Livingstone (9-26-35)
Trevor Ayre (23-10-33)
Daneel Lategan (15-16-31)
Tanner Versluis (12-16-28)
The Rivermen face a tough three-game trip beginning in Trail on Friday night with stops in Penticton against the Vees on Saturday and conclude their Interior trek with a Sunday afternoon matchup against the Vernon Vipers. Langley is looking to try and break out of a tough February funk, having dropped their last three games after a 1-0 victory over the Coquitlam Express on February 2nd. Goal scoring has been a sore spot for the ‘Riv as of late, posting four goals in their last four games.
Langley has been one of the better teams this season in preventing goals, sitting 4th in the league in goals against at 156 this season in 52 games played. The Rivermen have excelled while on the penalty kill as well, placing 3rd in the league in penalty kill percentage at 84.1% and have been very good on the road this season, operating at an 83.6% clip, ranking 5th in the BCHL in road penalty killing.
The Smoke Eaters and Rivermen play in the final “Retro Night” of the season at the Trail Memorial Centre for a 7:00 PM face-off. Tickets are available for purchase at the Smoke Eaters Main Office as well as at the door ahead of the opening puck drop.
