PHOTO: Mike Hockley
The Trail Smoke Eaters head back on the road to begin a home-and-home set against the Penticton Vees on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Smoke Eaters vs. Vees 2018/19 Regular Season Schedule:
Saturday, November 10th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (4-3 Vees/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 30th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7-4 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 1st @ South Okanagan Events Centre (3-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, December 14th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 15th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Friday, February 13th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
The Smoke Eaters and Vees begin another weekend home-and-home set tonight in Penticton after playing back-to-back nights two weeks ago that saw the Vees hand the Smokies a pair of losses. In the team’s last meeting on at the beginning of the month, the Smoke Eaters fell by a 3-2 score after working their way back from a 3-0 deficit with 3rd period goals off the stick of Carter Jones and Hayden Rowan. Adam Marcoux turned aside 18 of the 21 shots he faced in the game in the defeat.
Trail comes into Friday night’s matchup eye a return to the win column after falling by a 3-2 score in overtime to the Vernon Vipers on Wednesday night at the Trail Memorial Centre. The Smoke Eaters battled from a 2-0 deficit with Jimmy Darby scoring his first career BCHL goal late in the 2nd period and Chase Stevenson collected his 13th goal of the year in the 3rd period but would not be enough in the overtime setback. Adam Marcoux stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced in the game in his 17th loss of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Carter Jones (10-19-29)
Chase Stevenson (13-15-28)
Braeden Tuck (10-17-27)
Kent Johnson (11-12-23)
Trevor Zins (6-17-23)
Adam Marcoux will play in his 100th career regular season game tonight in Penticton where he’ll start for the Smoke Eaters. The Calgary, Alberta native has played 54 of the games with the Smoke Eaters, holding a 22-27-1 record to go along with a 3.01 GAA and a .903 SV% in that span with one shutout. The 20-year-old netminder has posted a 33-58-3 record over his 99 career games split between the Smoke Eaters and Cowichan Valley Capitals, holding a 3.56 GAA and a .899 SV% over that time.
The Smoke Eaters are starting to inch closer to full strength in their lineup as forward Michael Hodge returns to the lineup tonight after serving a three-game suspension. 16-year-old forward Chase Dafoe will make his way back into Trail lineup tonight from the Okanagan Rockets in the BC Major Midget League and will look to keep his success at the Junior ‘A’ level going after scoring his first career BCHL goal last Friday night in Coquitlam.
The Penticton Vees enter Friday night’s game with a 20-10-1-2 record and sit 3rd in the Interior Division after a weekend home-and-home against the Wenatchee Wild that resulted in a pair of loses. The latest matchup saw a 4-3 loss to the Wild on home ice at the South Okanagan Events Centre after the Vees battled from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game before falling late in regulation. Ryan Sandelin scored twice in the game for Penticton while Eric Linell added a single with Jack LaFontaine stopping 19 of the 23 shots he faced in his 7th loss of the season.
Vees Leading Scorers:
James Miller (15-28-43)
Eric Linell (20-20-40)
David Silye (13-27-40)
Ryan Sandelin (22-11-33)
Andre Ghantous (6-16-22)
Vees defender James Miller had a November to remember and was named the BC Hockey League’s Player of the Month for November. The Spruce Grove, Alberta native collected 8 goals and 14 assists for 22 points over the course of 13 games in November and helped the Vees to a 10-2-1-0 record in that time. Miller is tied with Victoria Grizzlies d-man Carter Berger for most goals by a defenseman with 15 and sits 5th in league scoring with 43 points on the season.
Eric Linell continues to add to the Vees offence over the late part of November and early December, scoring in five of his last six games. The Great Neck, New York has five goals and five assists for ten points in his last seven contests and has earned multi-point games four of those seven matchups. The University of Connecticut commit is tied for 7th in the BCHL with his 20 goals and sits 9th in the league in scoring with 40 points.
The Smoke Eaters and Vees drop the puck to begin their home-and-home set at 7:00 PM from the South Okanagan Events Centre. The pre-game show gets underway at 6:50 PM on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller. Trail returns home on Saturday night to host the Vees with the annual Teddy Bear and Toque Toss taking place at the Trail Memorial Centre. Tickets can be purchased at the Smoke Eaters Main Office as well as at the door ahead of the opening face-off of 7:00 PM.
