PHOTO: Mike Hockley
The Trail Smoke Eaters look to make it back-to-back wins on home ice as they host the Wenatchee Wild for the second time this season at the Trail Memorial Centre on Friday night.
Smoke Eaters vs. Wild 2018/19 Schedule:
Saturday, September 29th @ Trail Memorial Centre (5-2 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Wednesday, October 24th @ Town Toyota Center (5-4 Wild/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 16th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Wednesday, December 19th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Friday, January 18th @ Town Toyota Center (7:05 PM)
Saturday, January 19th @ Town Toyota Center (7:05 PM)
The Smoke Eaters and Wild play the third game of their season series with Wenatchee having won each of the first two contests, including a 5-4 overtime win in late October. Owen Ozar scored twice in his return to the lineup while Trevor Zins and Hayden Rowan added singles in the overtime setback. Adam Marcoux suffered the loss in the game, making 27 saves on 32 shots in the defeat.
Trail comes into the game on Friday night after earning a 3-2 victory over the Vernon Vipers on home ice Wednesday night. Carter Jones opened the scoring in the game while Hayden Rowan and Kent Johnson scored 3rd period markers that helped the Smoke Eaters to the victory. Adam Marcoux turned aside 24 of the 26 shots he faced in the game for his 7th win of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Braeden Tuck (9-12-21)
Carter Jones (7-14-21)
Kent Johnson (10-10-20)
Trevor Zins (6-12-18)
Diarmad DiMurro (0-17-17)
The Smoke Eaters made a move on Thursday and adding some scoring punch to their lineup as they acquired forward Chase Stevenson (’99) from the Surrey Eagles in a three-team trade. The 19-year-old was second in scoring on the Eagles with 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 25 games played this season. The West Kelowna, BC native is a veteran of 101 career BCHL games split between Surrey and the West Kelowna Warriors, tallying 32 goals and 65 points over that span while also landing a commitment to the University of New Hampshire.
Second year forward Carter Jones is on quite the tear as of late for the Smoke Eaters, earning a six-game point streak heading into Friday night’s action. After signing his National Letter of Intent for the Bemidji State Beavers on Thursday, the Hillyard, Washington has three goals and three assists for six points during the stretch and is second in team scoring.
With the 3-2 victory on Wednesday night, Trail snapped a four-game winless stretch on home ice and earned their 5th win at home this season. The Smoke Eaters had been outscored in their previous four games by a 16-8 margin and will now look for back-to-back wins for the first time since October 12th and 13th in wins against the Cowichan Valley Capitals and Powell River Kings.
The Wenatchee Wild enter play on Friday night holding a 13-9-2-0 record, good enough for 4th place in the Interior Division and are coming off of a 3-2 victory of their own against the Merritt Centennials on Wednesday night in the Nicola Valley. After trailing 2-0, Jacob Modry and Matt Gosiewski each scored 2nd period goals to tie the game before Matt Dorsey added the game winning goal late in the 3rd period. Cal Sandquist turned aside 25 of the 27 shots he faced in the game for his 7th win of the season.
Wild Leading Scorers:
Lucas Sowder (8-17-25)
Murphy Stratton (4-19-23)
Matt Gosiewski (12-9-21)
Josh Arnold (9-12-21)
Christophe Fillion (11-9-20)
It’s been a good month of November for the defending BCHL champions, who have been victorious in four of their five games in the month, including four in a row. The Wild have outscored their opponents 20-8 over the course of the last four home games and have plenty of home cooking in the month, playing 7 of their 11 games on home ice in November. Wenatchee enters the game on Friday with the Interior Division’s best road record at 7-6-0-0, two more road points than the Smoke Eaters have tallied.
Tied into the Wild’s strong record as of late has been the production of forward Josh Arnold, who has been red hot over his last six games, earning at least a point in each game with three of those being multi-point efforts. The Penticton, BC native has 4 goals and 8 assists for 12 points over that six-game span and has collected a point in 11 of his last 12 games to tie his point total from a season ago in 30 less games.
Los Angeles, California native Murphy Stratton has found his home in Wenatchee after joining the team mid-season a year ago. The 6’3”, 200-pound forward has 76 points in 78 games played and has points in 6 of his last 7 games, scoring 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points over that span. He’s certainly enjoyed his time against the Smoke Eaters this season as the University of North Dakota commit has 6 assists over the two-game season series thus far.
The Smoke Eaters and Wild drop the puck at 7:00 PM tonight from the Trail Memorial Centre with tickets available at the Smoke Eaters Main Office or at the door ahead of the opening face-off. Trail is back on the road to close the weekend out tomorrow as they head to the Nicola Valley for their first game this season against the Merritt Centennials.
