PHOTO: Mike Hockley
OCTOBER 12th, 2018
TRAIL, B.C. – The Trail Smoke Eaters used a four goal third period and a Hayden Rowan hat-trick to help them to a 6-4 victory over the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Friday night at the Trail Memorial Centre.
Rowan opened the scoring in the game while also collecting the fourth Smoke Eaters goal of the night and capped off the night with an empty net goal with nine seconds remaining in the game to help Trail get back in the win column and earn their third home victory of the season with a two-goal win over the Capitals.
The Smoke Eaters opened the game with great jump and were rewarded with the game’s first goal as Hayden Rowan did the honours. Mack Byers laid a pass from the right face-off circle to the bottom of the dot for Rowan, who snapped his 4th goal of the season over the glove side of Capitals goaltender Matthew Waite for the 1-0 lead at the 8:18 mark.
Cowichan Valley was quick to respond, however, as just 41 seconds later at the 9:03 mark of the frame, Adam Conquest knotted the game even at 1-1. Conquest got a pass in the right circle and fired a shot over the glove side of Smoke Eaters netminder Adam Marcoux and tied the game up.
The 2nd period saw more goal scoring and it came from the visitors as Olivier Gauthier put the Capitals ahead for the first time in the game. Gauthier let a shot go from the left face-off circle and found daylight on the glove side of Marcoux to give Cowichan Valley a 2-1 lead at the 5:17 mark of the middle stanza and was the final shot Marcoux faced on the night as Tanner Marshall came on in relief.
The Capitals extended their lead to a pair of goals at the 11:00 mark of the middle frame as Lucas Vanroboys was the beneficiary of a puck sent to the front of the goal. Kolten Cousins battled threw a stick check and passed from the blocker side to Vanroboys in front as he punched the puck past Marshall for a 3-1 lead.
Trail continued to apply pressure and eventually broke through to cut the deficit to one goal at the 18:18 mark of the 2nd period with Bryce Anderson outworking his man off the puck and sending a pass from the right face-off circle to Michael Hodge in the slot. Hodge fired a wrister over the glove side of Waite and his 3rd goal of the season got the Smoke Eaters within a marker.
The 3rd period saw the Smoke Eaters erupt with offense, especially early in the period and began with Braeden Tuck tying the game just 1:04 into the frame. Tuck capped off a terrific passing play from Levi Glasman and Kent Johnson to beat Waite through the five hole for his 7th of the season and a 3-3 tie.
Just 37 seconds later, Rowan earned his second goal of the night on another strong play off the rush as Mack Byers found Rowan in the left circle as he let a shot go over the shoulder of Waite for his second of the night and gave Trail a 4-3 lead at the 1:41 mark of the period.
Tyler Ghirardosi ripped a wrist shot from the left circle over the glove side shoulder of Waite for the eventual game winning marker at the 5:55 mark of the 3rd period for his 4th goal of the season and extended Trail’s lead to 5-3.
David Melaragni cut the deficit to one goal at the 10:26 mark in the 3rd period with a shot off the rush before Rowan completed the hat trick and iced the Smoke Eaters victory with an empty net goal with just nine seconds remaining and helped Trail to a 6-4 win.
Adam Marcoux started the game, turning aside 11 of the 13 shots he faced before Tanner Marshall came on in relief and made 4 saves on 6 shots for his 1st win of the season. Matthew Waite stopped 21 of the 26 shots thrown his direction in his second defeat of the year.
FINAL SCORE: 6-4 Smoke Eaters
SHOTS ON GOAL: 27-19 Smoke Eaters
SMOKE EATERS PP: 0/3
SMOKE EATERS PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Hayden Rowan (3-0-3)
2) Tyler Ghirardosi (1-0-1)
3) Ryan Moon (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Mack Byers (0-2-2)
Attendance: 1,871
The Smoke Eaters (6-3-1-2) remain on home ice as they look to make it back-to-back wins against Island Division foes as they welcome the Powell River Kings (7-4-0-0) at the Trail Memorial Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Smoke Eaters Main Office.
