PHOTO: Mike Hockley
The Trail Smoke Eaters make their way to the Nicola Valley today for their first matchup of their six-game series against the Merritt Centennials on Saturday night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
Smoke Eaters vs. Centennials 2018/19 Schedule:
Saturday, November 17th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
Friday, November 23rd @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Friday, December 21st @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 22nd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 2nd @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 16th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
The Smoke Eaters and Centennials open their season series tonight with Merritt earning four wins in the six games from a season ago. Trail opened the season set with a victory in Merritt before falling to the Centennials in the remaining games at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. The Cents picked up two wins in three games at the Trail Memorial Centre while the Smoke Eaters earned a win on home ice in mid-January.
Trail comes into Saturday’s matchup with a 10-10-4-2 record and sit 7th in the Interior Division after their second straight win, a 3-2 victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the Trail Memorial Centre. Carter Jones, Mack Byers and Bryce Anderson scored in the Smoke Eaters 10th win of the season while Adam Marcoux made 30 saves on 32 shots in his 8th win of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Chase Stevenson (10-12-22)
Carter Jones (8-14-22)
Braeden Tuck (9-12-21)
Kent Johnson (10-10-20)
Trevor Zins (6-12-18)
The Smoke Eaters will get a new face in the lineup as Chase Stevenson makes his debut in the Orange and Black tonight. Acquired by the Smoke Eaters on Friday from the Surrey Eagles, the West Kelowna, BC native has scored 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 25 games played this season and will wear #18 as the Smoke Eaters hit the ice against the Centennials.
Second year forward Carter Jones is on quite the tear as of late for the Smoke Eaters, earning a seven-game point streak heading into Saturday night’s action. After signing his National Letter of Intent for the Bemidji State Beavers on Thursday, the Hillyard, Washington has four goals and three assists for seven points during the stretch and is second in team scoring and has opened the scoring in each of the last two games for either side.
Despite not scoring on any of their power play opportunities last night, the Smoke Eaters man advantage could get a few cracks at a team in Merritt that has been shorthanded 3rd most in the league with 133 times on the PK while getting the most power play chances in the league at 160 with special teams potentially being a big key in this game.
The Merritt Centennials come into the game on Saturday with a 16-9-0-1 record, good enough for 1st in the Interior Division and defeated the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night at the Shaw Centre. Nick Granowicz scored twice in the game for the Centennials while Christian Sabin added a single in the win. Austin Roden got the start between the pipes, making 24 saves on 26 shots for his 10th win of the season.
Centennials Leading Scorers:
Bradley Cocca (12-25-37)
Nick Granowicz (20-16-36)
Mathieu Gosselin (13-19-32)
Nicholas Wicks (4-21-25)
Brendan Schneider (9-14-23)
The Centennials have had a great start to the season and have plenty of flavour from last year’s squad with 13 returnees to their lineup including captain Nicholas Wicks. Wicks is joined by forwards Rylan Van Unen, Christian Sabin, Mathieu Gosselin, Matthew Kopperud, Brendan Schneider and Bradley Cocca while defenders Mattias Dal Monte, Michael Van Unen, Joey Berkopec and Jackson Munro. Each of goaltenders from a season ago returned between the pipes with Austin Roden and Vincent Duplessis in the blue paint.
There are many weapons for Head Coach and General Manager Joe Martin to unleash in any given game, mainly the reason for being then only team in the league with over 100 goals at 104. Nick Granowicz is one of those players that can change the completion of the game. The Michigan University commit sits 2nd in the team in points and 3rd in the league in point standings. The Macomb, Michigan native has scored 8 goals in his last 5 games and currently leads the BCHL with 20 goals.
A large part of the Centennials success this season is their play on home ice, especially when it comes to the comfy confines of the Nicola Valley Memorial Centre. Merritt comes in way a record of 10-4-0-0 and is just four wins shy of their total from all of last season. The Cents have outscored their opponents 67-49 when on home ice, the most goals for of any team in the BC Hockey League.
The Smoke Eaters and Centennials drop the puck from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena at 7:00 PM with the pre-game show airing at 6:50 PM on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
