The Smoke Eaters kick off a three game island road trip, where they will play three games in two and a half days wrapping up Sunday afternoon, as they start things off in Port Alberni to take on the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
The Smoke Eaters head to Port Alberni for their lone season matchup against the Bulldogs, looking to get back above .500 and respond from last Saturday’s loss. It won’t be easy however with the Smoke Eaters short handed on the weekend and needing to dig deep in what is always a difficult three game stretch for any team. The Smoke Eaters will be looking to take the first 30 odd minutes along with the first 7 minutes of the third period from Saturday’s loss in Penticton and turn that into a full 60 minutes. The Smoke Eaters powerplay continues to produce near the top of the league at 27.5% but will need to be cautious of the Bulldogs penalty kill, which has a league high six shorthanded goals despite having a 74% success rate. Outside of the special teams battle the Smoke Eaters are going to have to rely on their entire lineup this weekend if they want to leave the island with any points. The Smoke Eaters won the lone meeting of the season last year against Alberni 4-2 in Trail.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Remissong (6-6-12)
Parsons (5-7-12)
Cobetto-Roy (4-8-12)
Disher (3-7-10)
Hunter (3-6-9)
The Bulldogs are looking to build off of back to back wins last weekend as they took care of business against the Chilliwack Chiefs and the Coquitlam Express winning 5-2 and 4-3. The Bulldogs, like the Smoke Eaters have had a up and down start to the season, while also losing three games in a row prior to last weekend all against interior teams. The Bulldogs lost a 5-3 in their showcase opener to Vernon, they then couldn’t stop a Vees comeback the following day despite taking a lead into the third period. They had a similar story then on Saturday night in Merritt where the Centennials roared back in the third to win 6-5. The struggle for the Bulldogs has been specials teams. Alberni lost all five of their leading scorers from last season’s regular season coastal conference winning team and have yet to find the right combination this year, operating at 12.8% through the opening 13 games. Hobbie Hedquist has also struggled slightly based on the standard he set last year, as he emerged as one of the top goalies in the league, going 28-9-0 last year.
Bulldogs leading scorers:
Bono (7-8-15)
Maltais (6-9-15)
Beneteau (4-7-11)
VanSickle (6-4-10)
Boilard (5-3-8)
Smoke Eaters, Bulldogs for the only time this season takes place tonight at the Alberni Valley Multiplex as the Smoke Eaters look to kick off their road trip on the right note, while the Bulldogs look for their third win in a row. Catch all the action with Smoke Eaters broadcaster Ben Phillips on HockeyTV and on Mixlr starting at 6:50pm!
