FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 3rd, 2018
DUNCAN, B.C. – The Trail Smoke Eaters scored four times but struggled to keep the puck out of their goal, falling to the Cowichan Valley Capitals by a 6-4 score at the Island Savings Centre on Centre on Saturday night.
Hayden Rowan scored twice in the game, including a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal, while the Smoke Eaters also tallied twice on the power play but couldn’t keep the puck out of their goal as they suffered the two-goal setback to the Capitals in the second game of their three-game weekend.
The Smoke Eaters and Capitals played a fast-paced opening frame resulting in Trail opening the scoring in the first six minutes of play, courtesy of Jeremy Smith burying a loose rebound to get the visitors ahead. Tyler Ghirardosi took a pass from Spencer McLean on the right-wing side and worked his way to the top of the face-off circle before his shot went off the right pad of goaltender Jack Grant with Smith filling the slot and pouncing on the loose puck before beating Grant on the glove side. His 5th goal of the season helped Trail to a 1-0 lead at the 5:24 mark of the opening frame.
An influx of scoring came about in the 2nd period with Cowichan Valley getting on the board and tying the game early in the frame. David Melaragni had his original shot blocked by Hayden Rowan in the slot before getting it back and wristing a shot past the glove side of Marcoux on the power play at the 2:35 mark that tied the game.
The Capitals took their first lead of the game a few moments later at the 4:51 mark as Niko Esposito-Selivanov converted on a puck into the slot. Timber Lewis had his shot glance off of a leg and into the slot for Esposito-Selivanov as he beat Marcoux on the glove side and gave the home team a 2-1 advantage in the 2nd period.
Cowichan Valley picked up their first two-goal lead of the night at the 9:12 mark of the middle stanza with Brady Lynn carving his way through the Smoke Eaters defense. Lynn worked his way in from the blue line and went up the middle on two Trail defenders before beating Marcoux with a backhander over the blocker side to extend the Caps advantage to 3-1.
The Smoke Eaters continued to claw back and get within a goal before the period was out at the 16:11 mark of the frame, stemming off of a nice passing play on the power play. Carter Jones set up Michael Hodge in the left face-off circle before passing in front for Hayden Rowan as he chipped the puck over the glove side shoulder of Grant for his 8th goal of the season and a 3-2 Capitals lead into the 3rd period.
The Capitals earned another early period man advantage and converted for the second time with Paul Selleck alone in the right face-off circle and taking a pass from Esposito-Selivanov to find the open goal and restore the two-goal lead at 4-2 at the 2:31 mark of the final frame.
Esposito-Selivanov was at it again with his second goal of the game at the 6:29 mark of the period as he found a rebound in front and beat Marcoux to push the Cowichan Valley lead to 5-2.
Mack Byers forced a puck out of his zone on a 5-on-3 penalty kill and chipped to the middle for Rowan, who got behind the defense and tucked a shot past Grant on the blocker side for his second of the night and 9th goal of the season and got Trail within a pair of goals at 5-3 at the 9:07 mark.
Brady Lynn snapped a shot from the left wing at the 10:10 mar to give the Capitals a 6-3 lead before Max Kryski closed out the scoring with his first career BCHL goal as he jammed home a rebound off of a Kent Johnson rush on the power play with six seconds remaining in the game to finish as a 6-4 final in favour of the Capitals.
Adam Marcoux turned aside 28 of the 34 shots he faced in the game in his 9th loss of the season before being relieved by Tanner Marshall in the final 9:50 of the game where he made 4 saves. Jack Grant picked up his second win of the season while making 29 saves on 33 shots in the victory.
FINAL SCORE: 6-4 Capitals
SHOTS ON GOAL: 38-33 Capitals
SMOKE EATERS PP: 2/7
SMOKE EATERS PK: 4/7
3 STARS:
1) Niko Esposito-Selivanov (2-1-3)
2) Brady Lynn (1-2-3)
3) Lucas Vanroboys (2-2-4)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Paul Selleck (1-1-2)
ATTENDANCE: 845
The Smoke Eaters (7-10-3-1) look to close out their road trip on a high note as they return to the Mainland for a matchup against the Surrey Eagles (6-16-0-0) from the South Surrey Arena. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM with the pre-game show getting underway at 3:50 PM with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
