The Smoke Eaters head into the final weekend of the exhibition schedule against a familiar foe for the East Kootenay’s as they look to wrap up the preseason in style.
The Smoke Eaters are coming off a dominant 7-2 win over the Wenatchee Wild where both goaltenders that featured in the split game faired well while the offence, that was still missing Brady Hunter and newly acquired forward Mathieu Cobetto-Roy, scored a total of 10 goals over the two game set. In comparison to last year, and this only being preseason, the Smoke Eaters only scored ten or more goals on two occasions in a weekend set. Regardless it’s one of the many positives to take away from the teams first showing of the season against another BCHL team. Trey Fechko, Quinn Disher and Adam Marshall were among the few names that stood out on the weekend with other returning guys like Nicholas Remissong, Ridge Dawson and Josh Schenk all having notable weekends as forwards. Defensively the Smoke Eaters look strong with 4 returning players who know what is expected of them on a nightly basis.
The Bucks return to the BCHL after a two game swing through the AJHL. The Bucks took on the Reigning CJHL National Champions the Brooks Bandits and walked out of Brooks with a 5-2 win. The Bucks would fall in overtime a day later to the Okotoks Oilers 6-5. The Bucks saw a large piece of their offence advance during the off season with Tyson Dyck, who was drafted in the NHL Entry draft, head to the University of Massachusetts to play NCAA Div. I hockey. So far though, the likes of Noah Quinn and Luke Pfoh, both returning players, lead the way in points after the opening two games, while Nathan Airey has returned as a staple on the between the pipes for the Bucks.
Tonight’s game starts at 7pm as the Smoke Eaters and Bucks face off for the first time this season. Tickets for tonight’s exhibition game are just $5, tickets can be bought online ahead of time at Tickets.trailsmokeeaters.com or at the ticket booth, with doors opening at 6pm. If you can’t make it to the arena, catch tonight’s game on HockeyTV or listen free on Mixlr.com with Ben Phillips and Rob Squires starting at 6:50pm.
