PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
The Trail Smoke Eaters make their first trip of the season to familiar territory as they head to the South Okanagan to face-off against the Penticton Vees from the South Okanagan Events Centre on Saturday night.
Smoke Eaters vs. Vees 2018/19 Regular Season Schedule:
Saturday, November 10th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (6:00 PM)
Friday, November 30th @ Trail Memorial Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 1st @ South Okanagan Events Centre (6:00 PM)
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 had a lengthy history from a season ago, playing a total of 13 times between the regular season and playoffs. The Smoke Eaters fell in the seven-game season set, earning a win, overtime loss and a tie to go along with three losses in regulation. The two teams met in a seven-game Interior Division Semi-Final series in which the Smoke Eaters defeated the Vees with a 4-2 Game #7 victory to advance to the Interior Division Finals.
Trail comes into Saturday night looking to push their way back into the win column after a 2-1 shootout loss to the Coquitlam Express on Friday night at the Trail Memorial Centre. Mack Byers scored the lone regulation goal for the Smoke Eaters on the power play while Kent Johnson tallied the only shootout goal in the defeat. Adam Marcoux turned aside 22 of the 23 shots he faced in the game in his 9th loss of the season.
Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:
Braeden Tuck (9-12-21)
Kent Johnson (9-10-19)
Carter Jones (6-13-19)
Trevor Zins (5-11-16)
Diarmad DiMurro (0-15-15)
The Smoke Eaters make their first trip to Penticton since their Game #7 victory from last season in the Interior Division Semi-Final, a series in which the Smoke Eaters won a total of three of their four games at the SOEC. Although the personnel may be different with both teams, the emotion and play will certainly pick up between two teams that had a long history of games from a season ago.
Adam Marcoux will get the start in between the pipes for the Smoke Eaters and will look to keep his strong play going as of late. The Calgary, Alberta native turned aside all 20 shots he faced in a relief appearance in Surrey on Sunday before helping the team to a victory and was very good in last night’s contest, stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced in the game in the shootout defeat.
The Penticton Vees enter Saturday night with a 12-6-2-1 record and sit 3rd in the Interior Division and are coming off of a 4-2 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Ryan Sandelin scored twice in the game while James Miller and Eric Linell added singles in the victory with Jack LaFontaine stopping 25 of the 26 shots he faced in his 10th win of the season.
Vees Leading Scorers:
Eric Linell (13-15-28)
David Silye (7-19-26)
James Miller (11-13-24)
Ryan Sandelin (13-7-20)
Brendan Harrogate (7-7-14)
The Vees have seven players returning from last season including captain and forward Massimo Rizzo along with Ryan Sandelin, Jack Barnes, Lukas Sillinger and Cassidy Bowes. Defensemen Kenny Johnson and James Miller each have returned on the back end for General Manager and Head Coach Fred Harbinson’s squad while having a familiar face in the lineup with former Smoke Eater forward Andre Ghantous being brought in from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs earlier this season.
Penticton has gotten solid offensive production over the last few games but there has been a trio of players at the charge of that offence. Defenseman James Miller has a staggering 11 goals from the back end, scoring in each of his last four games and owns a four-game point streak where he has registered four goals and three assists for seven points in that span. The Spruce Grove, Alberta native sits 2nd in scoring amongst defenseman, three points behind Victoria’s Carter Berger.
The other two players that have been hard to contain as of late come in the way of Eric Linell and Ryan Sandelin. Linell, a Great Neck, New York product, leads the Vees in points with 28 and is the owner of a four-game point streak of his own with three goals and four assists for seven points while Sandelin, a native of Hermantown, Minnesota, has scored in each of his last three games and has six points over a four-game point streak.
The Smoke Eaters and Vees drop the puck on the first of their six-game season series at 6:00 PM from the South Okanagan Events Centre with the pre-game show getting going at 5:50 PM with a free audio stream at mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
