After a heartbreaking 4-3 loss on Friday night to their interior division rivals the Prince George Spruce Kings, the Smoke Eaters will take the ice again looking to get back in the win column as the Merritt Centennials come to town, wrapping up their Kootenay swing.
Season series versus Merritt
Sep. 24 Trail 7 at Merritt 4 Final
Oct. 28 Merritt 1 at Trail 5 Final
Nov. 19 Merritt at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Dec. 9 Trail at Merritt 7:00 pm PST
Dec. 16 Merritt at Trail 7:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters will know that there are no easy nights in the BCHL and with the Centennials not too far behind the Smoke Eaters, this game becomes that much more important early in the season. The second period let the Smoke Eaters down last night, however credit has to be given to Prince George who came out with a much stronger effort than that they had started the game with. The Smoke Eaters made up for their second period by tying the game back up at 3 thanks to goals from Ridge Dawson and Quinn Disher, however a late goal from Prince George stole at least a point away from the Smoke Eaters who arguably deserved at least that. Now against the Centennials the Smoke Eaters know they are going to run into a hard working team that never gives up or quite goes away, that’s evident in how the two games have been played between these two sides this year, with the Smoke Eaters winning both contests.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Parsons (7-8-15)
Fechko (5-10-15)
Remissong (8-6-14)
Disher (5-8-13)
Hunter (3-10-13)
The Centennials wrap up their two game Kootenay road trip in Trail coming off a 5-2 loss on Friday night in Cranbrook. The Bucks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead but again the Centennials refused to go away, scoring twice in the middle frame as Walker Erickson and Connor Farren tallied goals. However that would be as close as the Cents would get as the Bucks added one more in the third and shut the Centennials out. Merritt comes in like the Smoke Eaters on a three game slide, with Merritt’s last win a 3-2 win against Prince George last Friday. The Cents lost the final of their three game weekend to Vernon 2-1 in overtime as they took the Vipers the distance after splitting with Prince George.
Centennials leading scorers:
Krill (11-8-19)
Murray (6-12-18)
Erickson (8-8-16)
Allen (0-14-14)
Lowe (6-6-12)
Puck drop between the Smoke Eaters and the Centennials is set for 7:00PM this afternoon at Cominco Arena. Make sure to buy your tickets ahead of time and skip the lines at tickets.trailsmokeeaters.com. If you can’t make it to the arena, catch all the action with Smoke Eaters broadcaster Ben Phillips and colour commentator Rob Squires on HockeyTV and on Mixlr!
