PHOTO: Alicia Baas/Powell River Kings
The Trail Smoke Eaters aim for back-to-backs wins on home ice as they close out their regular season series against the Island Division’s Powell River Kings on Saturday night at the Trail Memorial Centre.
Smoke Eaters vs. Kings 2018/19 Schedule:
Friday, September 21st @ Prospera Centre (2-1 Kings) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, October 5th @ Hap Parker Arena (3-1 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, October 13th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
The Smoke Eaters and the Kings have played an even season series so far this year with each team coming away with one victory a piece. The Kings took a 2-1 decision at the Bauer BCHL Showcase before the Smoke Eaters earned a 3-1 victory over the Kings in Powell River. Blake Sidoni, Carter Jones and Braeden Tuck scored in the game for the Smoke Eaters while Adam Marcoux made 31 saves on 32 shots for the victory.
Trail comes into Saturday looking to pick up back-to-back wins after a solid showing a night ago, scoring a 6-4 victory over the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Friday night. Hayden Rowan collected a hat trick in the game while Michael Hodge, Braeden Tuck and Tyler Ghirardosi scoring singles in the game. Adam Marcoux started the game and turned aside 11 of the 13 shots before being relieved by Tanner Marshall, who stopped 4 of the 6 shots he faced in collecting his first win of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Braeden Tuck (7-7-14)
Levi Glasman (3-9-12)
Diarmad DiMurro (0-12-12)
Carter Jones (3-8-11)
Kent Johnson (6-4-10)
Hayden Rowan collected his first career BCHL hat trick on Friday night against the Capitals and has points in five of his seven games this season. The Pemberville, Ohio native sits tied for 2nd in team scoring with six goals and has seven points in seven games this season while playing big minutes on the penalty kill and in the defensive zone.
A pair of point streaks were extended on Friday night as each of Diarmad DiMurro and Levi Glasman saw their consecutive games with a point run up to three games. DiMurro found his way on the scoresheet with another assist to tie for the lead amongst defencemen in points with 12. Glasman also has seen his helpers rack up over the last three games, earning four points in those last three contests to sit 2nd in team scoring.
Tanner Marshall will get the start in goal on this night for the Smoke Eaters after coming on in relief a night ago. The Kelowna, BC native has started twice for Trail, including a game against the Kings at the Showcase in Chilliwack and was outstanding. So far this season, Marshall has posted a 1-2 record to go along with a 2.86 GAA and a .905 SV%.
The Powell River Kings come into Saturday night after earning their 7th win of the season on Thursday night as they picked up a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings. Ben Berard, Mitchell Williams, Christian Buono, Josh Coblenz and Ethan Schmunk all tallied in the game for the Kings while Mitch Adamyk turned aside 35 of the 37 shots he faced in the game for his 6th win of the season.
Kings Leading Scorers:
Ben Berard (10-5-15)
Ryan Brushett (5-10-15)
Neal Samanski (2-9-11)
Matt Fawcett (3-7-10)
Mitchell Williams (5-3-8)
The Kings captain Ben Berard has had a strong past several games for the Kings, collecting points in each of his last six games with goals in each of those contests. The Duncan, BC native has scored seven goals while adding two assists for nine points over the last six games, including a power play goal against the Smoke Eaters last Friday night.
The power play for the Kings in the month of October is starting to find some leverage, having scored in three of its last four games. It was a big factor on Thursday night as the Kings connected on their first two opportunities on the man advantage in the game and went 2/3 on the night with Berard leading the BC Hockey League with six tallies on the power play.
Powell River is in the midst of five straight games away from the Hap Parker Arena, with stops in Prince George and Trail before heading back to Vancouver Island for a three-game weekend in Cowichan Valley, Victoria and Nanaimo. The Kings will log over 2700 kilometres on this trip alone while playing just two games over four days away.
The Smoke Eaters and Kings drop the puck at 7:00 PM from the Trail Memorial Centre with tickets available for purchase at the Smoke Eaters Main Office.
