Before the Smoke Eaters host the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday back at the Trail Memorial Centre (Buy Tickets), their schedule sees them head to the Okanagan to take on the their other Pod season rivals, Penticton Vees on Friday night.
Season Series
Oct. 15 Trail at Penticton 7:00 pm PDT
Dec. 11 Penticton at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Feb. 5 Trail at Penticton 6:00 pm PST
Feb. 12 Penticton at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Mar. 5 Trail at Penticton 6:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters are coming off a Wednesday night loss to the Warriors where a back and forth game was decided by the Smoke Eaters own errors. Despite the scoreline Trail was the better team. More disciplined, took their chances in the powerplay, we’re faster and controlled the much of the play. Still they’ll be frustrated with the result and leaving the two points behind. Now as they get set for tonight’s game with Penticton, they’ll want to replicate many of the positives from Wednesday like the powerplay, their ability to attack with speed and of course the penalty kill. What they’ll hope to limit is defensive breakdowns against a team so regularly gifted offensively like the Vees. With a decent core of returning players in Penticton the Smoke Eaters will be aware of that the Vees can bring after facing them 10 times in the pod. Newcomers like Lagerback and Michaelis, who have come as advertised, will look to continue their play in hostile territory.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Michaelis (3-0-3)
Lagerback (2-1-3)
Disher (1-2-3)
Hendry (0-3-3)
Michaud (1-1-2)
The Vees have started their BCHL season as they have the last many years and that’s winning on opening weekend to start 2-0. Their coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night after a 4-2 win over the Vipers to open the season. Fin Williams has been leading the way so far for the Vees. The Vees captain has scored twice including the overtime winner against the Wild. These two sides are familiar with one another given the pod history they shared last year, with 9/10 games ending in Penticton’s favour, a record the Vees will be looking keep up as the new season series kicks off. The Vees are yet to leave the SOEC this season and will be looking to stay undefeated on home ice.
Vees leading scorers:
Williams (2-2-4)
Nadeau (2-0-2)
Niedermayer (2-0-2)
McDonald (1-1-2)
Djurasevic (0-2-2)
Tonight’s game goes at 7pm from the South Okanagan Event Centre as the Smoke Eaters and Vees do battle for the first time in the 2021/22 BCHL season. The Teck Trail Pre-Game report gets started at 6:45pm with Ben Phillips on BCHLTV or listen free on the Smoke Eaters Mixlr feed.
