The Trail Smoke Eaters open their Interior Division Quarterfinal series against the Merritt Centennials on Friday night with Game #1 taking place at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
Smoke Eaters vs. Centennials 2018/19 Regular Season Schedule:
Saturday, November 17th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (4-2 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 23rd @ Trail Memorial Centre (2-1 Smoke Eaters/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, December 21st @ Trail Memorial Centre (5-2 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 22nd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (5-3 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, February 2nd @ Trail Memorial Centre (3-2 Smoke Eaters/SO) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, February 16th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (6-4 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Interior Division Quarterfinals Schedule:
Game #1: Friday, March 1st @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
Game #2: Saturday, March 2nd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
Game #3: Tuesday, March 5th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Game #4: Wednesday, March 6th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
*Game #5: Friday, March 8th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
*Game #6: Saturday, March 9th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
*Game #7: Monday, March 11th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
* – If Necessary
The Smoke Eaters and Centennials played six games over the course of the season with Merritt winning four of the half dozen matchups. The Cents picked up a victory in all three of the games played at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena while Trail earned wins in two of their three games at the Trail Memorial Centre with an overtime and shootout victory.
The franchises are two of the longest run in the BC Hockey League but have only met once in the playoffs, dating back 12 years ago to the 2006 postseason. The Centennials won that series four games to one in a best-of-seven first round set that featured Fruitvale, BC native Kevin Limbert and Trail’s very own Jon Hanley.
Trail closed their regular season with a 5-4 overtime victory against the West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday night at the Trail Memorial Centre. Max Kryski, Owen Ozar, Hayden Rowan and Spencer McLean each scored in regulation before Carter Jones ended the game just 17 seconds into the extra frame. Donovan Buskey turned aside 34 of the 38 shots he faced in the game to collect his 5th win of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Carter Jones (17-38-55)
Chase Stevenson (19-34-53)
Kent Johnson (20-26-46)
Trevor Zins (12-34-46)
Braeden Tuck (15-28-43)
Leading Scorers vs. Centennials:
Chase Stevenson (1-8-9)
Carter Jones (2-2-4)
Braeden Tuck (2-2-4)
Trevor Zins (2-2-4)
Owen Ozar (2-1-3)
The Smoke Eaters will look to continue their playoff success from last postseason after advancing to the Interior Division Final against the Wenatchee Wild. Trail swept the West Kelowna Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs before defeating the Penticton Vees in seven games in the Interior Division Semi Finals while falling in the third round of the postseason to the Wild in five games.
Playoff experience plays a big factor every go around in the postseason and the Smoke Eaters have plenty of players with games in the seasons most important months. Trail has a total of 198 games of Junior ‘A’ playoff experience under their belts, led by 18-year-old defender Powell Connor, who has played in 41 career playoff games including the Western Canada Cup and most recently, the National Junior ‘A’ Championship a season ago. The Centennials come into the series with 84 games of experience in the postseason, more than half of that of the Smoke Eaters.
Finishing the season as the Smoke Eaters leading scorer, forward Carter Jones comes into the postseason rolling with points in ten of his last eleven contests. The Hillyard, Washington native has scored 6 goals while adding 12 assists for 18 points in that stretch, including 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points during a season-ending six-game point streak. Scoring the overtime winner in the Smoke Eaters final regular season game against the West Kelowna Warriors gave the Bemidji State University commit 100 points in his BCHL career.
Special teams could play a big factor in games played in Merritt and the Smoke Eaters power play ended the season on a strong note. Trail has gone 6-for-20 over the last four games of the regular campaign, scoring a power play in three of those four contests and have made the Centennials pay for undisciplined play this season. The Smoke Eaters have gone 7-for-24 on the man advantage in the season series against the Cents and have been even better when playing in Merritt, going 5-for-16 at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena on the PP.
The Merritt Centennials closed the regular season with a five-game winning streak, capping it off with an overtime victory of their own, defeating the Vernon Vipers by a 4-3 score. Payton Matsui, Bradley Cocca and Nicholas Wicks scored in regulation before a late Vernon comeback forced the game to overtime. Mathieu Gosselin won the game in overtime with 15 seconds remaining in the extra frame with Austin Roden stopping 33 of the 36 shots he faced in his 27th win of the season.
Centennials Leading Scorers:
Bradley Cocca (23-45-68)
Mathieu Gosselin (22-38-60)
Nick Granowicz (32-27-59)
Nicholas Wicks (18-41-59)
Matthew Kopperud (27-24-51)
Leading Scorers vs. Smoke Eaters:
Nicholas Wicks (3-5-8)
Brendan Schneider (3-2-5)
Bradley Cocca (1-4-5)
Christian Sabin (3-1-4)
Nick Granowicz (2-2-4)
The Centennials come into this postseason looking to bounce back after a tough year in the playoffs a season ago, dropping their first round series to the Wenatchee Wild in four games. Merritt did have a good playoff run during the 2016 postseason, defeating the Warriors in four games before battling with the Vees into Game #7 before falling in Penticton.
The Cents leading scorer through the season and Brown University commit Bradley Cocca comes into the postseason playing solid hockey. The Mississauga, Ontario native owns a four-game point streak to close out the regular season, posting 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points in that span. Cocca finished the season 6th in total scoring in the BC Hockey League and collected 45 assists through his 58 games played which ranked him 3rd in the league in that department.
Centennials netminder Austin Roden carried the mail down the stretch after an injury to Vincent Duplessis and the 20-year-old puck stopper relished in the opportunity. The Victoria, BC native won eight of his last nine starts, including five consecutive to close the regular season, and posted a 2.40 goals against average along with a .936 save percentage over the course of those nine games. In four games against the Smoke Eaters this season, Roden has earned a 3-0-0-1 record with a 2.69 GAA and a .878 SV%.
Home ice advantage is a big key in any series and may have the most impact in this set with five of the six games in the season series between the Centennials and Smoke Eaters going to the home team. Merritt has one of the best records on home ice through the regular season, holding a record of 20-6-2-1 at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena this season while being tied with the Victoria Grizzlies for the most goals on home ice with 129 and sitting 3rd in the league in goal differential at home with a +37.
The Smoke Eaters and Centennials will do battle in Game #1 of their best-of-seven Interior Division Quarterfinal tonight at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the game being broadcasted live on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com beginning with the Teck Trail Operations Pre-Game Report at 6:45 PM with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
