It’s their final test against a BCHL team as the Smoke Eaters look to hand the Cranbrook Bucks their first loss of the preseason schedule with a showdown Saturday night at Cominco.
PRESEASON SCHEDULE
Sep. 24 Cranbrook @ Trail – 5-3 L
Sep. 25 Trail @ Cranbrook – 3-1L
Sep. 30 Wenatchee @ Trail – 5-4 SO L
Oct. 2 Cranbrook @ Trail 7:00 pm PDT
Oct. 4 National Women’s Team @ Trail 7:00 pm PDT (SOLD OUT)
Coming off a 5-4 shootout loss on Thursday night, the Smoke Eaters find themselves still searching for that first preseason win ahead of the start of the BCHL season on October 8th. With three close games played so far, it’s been the second period that has let the Smoke Eaters down so far, despite going toe-toe with the Wild on Thursday, it was the two quick goals followed by a quick answer by the Wild that gave the home side trouble in the middle frame. They played well enough to be up 3-1 or even 3-0 to the Wild but those few moments resulted in a 3-3 tie and the game eventually going to overtime and a shootout. Now after a night off the Smoke Eaters look to bounce back and get a full 60 minute performance under their belts against the Bucks.
Cranbrook is in fine form to start the preseason with three straight wins and while it’s only preseason, it’s a great start and a positive sign for the organization and it’s fans. The Bucks took care of the Wild with a 3-1 win on Friday night. The Bucks outshot the Wild 51-26 in the win and got goals from Noah Quinn, Brendan Rogers and Rhys Bentham en route to the win. They’ll be looking to make it four straight to also end their preseason schedule against BCHL teams before they also play Canada’s National Women’s team on Tuesday night.
Tickets for tonight’s game are just $5 and are available at the door or online at tickets.trailsmokeeaters.com. If you can’t make it to tonight’s game you can watch it online at HockeyTV or listen for free on Mixlr. The Teck Trail pregame report starts at 6:50pm with Ben Phillips.
