FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 18th, 2019
WENATCHEE, WA. – The Trail Smoke Eaters surrendered two late 1st period power play goals that proved to be the difference as they fell by a 6-2 score to the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the Town Toyota Center.
The Wild were quick on the puck in the early going and were first to hit the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes of play on one of their first shots of the night at the 3:09 mark. Nathan Iannone moved in and the right-wing side and threw a puck to the net from inside the blue line that eluded Smoke Eaters netminder Donovan Buskey above the right pad to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
After a bit of back-and-forth play, Chase Stevenson tied the game at the 14:18 mark of the opening period, giving himself a late birthday present. Celebrating his 20th birthday on Sunday, Stevenson drove the net from the right wing and took the puck to the slot before getting a shot past the blocker side of an out of position Austin Park for his 17th goal of the season and tied the game at 1-1.
Wenatchee would take advantage of some undisciplined play by the Smoke Eaters and get their lead back just under two minutes later at the 16:05 mark courtesy of Matt Dorsey. Lucas Sowder had the puck at the right goal line on the glove side before spotting a streaking Dorsey on the blocker side on the back door as he fired into the open net to give the Wild a 2-1 lead on the power play.
The man advantage was again successful at the tail end of the 1st frame at the 19:26 mark of the period with PJ Fletcher extending the Wild advantage to two goals. Fletcher took a Sowder pass below the right goal line and drove out to the front of the net before sliding the puck under the right pad of Buskey for Wenatchee’s second power play goal of the period and a 3-1 lead.
AJ Hodges gave the Wild a three-goal lead with his first goal of the night at the 9:22 mark of the 2nd period. Matt Dorsey made the play, driving down the right wing and putting a puck through a defender’s legs before passing for Hodges on the blocker side as he tapped it into the net and extending Wenatchee’s lead to 4-1.
Hodges would earn his second goal of the night at the 12:52 mark of the middle stanza and stemmed from another strong play off the stick of Dorsey. The Wenatchee forward got the puck down the right wing after a rush from the Smoke Eaters came the other way and sent the puck to the blocker side where Hodges chipped in his second of the night and made it a 5-1 Wenatchee lead after two periods.
The Smoke Eaters had the better of the play in the final period as Owen Ozar potted his 9th goal of the season to cut the lead to 5-2. Braeden Tuck shot from a sharp angle on the left wing goal line with the puck going off of Park and to his glove side where Ozar banged it in for his third goal in two games south of the border at the 13:11 mark of the 3rd period.
Dylan Herzog capped off the night in scoring with his 1st career BC Hockey League goal as he drove down the right wing and slipped a puck under the pad of Buskey on a net drive to give the Wild a 6-2 lead at the 18:05 mark of the period and close out the scoring.
Donovan Buskey made his first start as a member of the Smoke Eaters and stopped 33 of the 39 shots put his way but battled hard in the crease in his first loss. Austin Park made 18 saves on 20 shots as he collected his 15th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 6-2 Wild
SHOTS ON GOAL: 39-20 Wild
SMOKE EATERS PP: 0/3
SMOKE EATERS PK: 0/2
3 STARS:
1) AJ Hodges (2-0-2)
2) Matt Dorsey (1-2-3)
3) Jacob Modry (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Lucas Sowder (0-2-2)
ATTENDANCE: 2,491
The Smoke Eaters (16-21-6-3) conclude their weekend south of the border as well as their six-game season series against the Wenatchee Wild (26-15-2-1) on Saturday night at the Town Toyota Center. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 PM with the game being broadcasted live on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:50 PM with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
