It’s retro night at the Trail Memorial Centre as the Smoke Eaters host the Nanaimo Clippers, with both clubs wearing their retro jerseys for the first time, as the Smoke Eaters look to hand the Clippers their second loss of the year.
Season series:
Oct. 29 Nanaimo at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Nov. 20 Trail at Nanaimo 7:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters come into Friday’s game with a 3-3-1-0 record after their weekend split at the showcase in Chilliwack. It was a positive bounce back performance for many players after the 6-3 loss to the Eagles. Evan Fradette was fantastic in the OT win over Langley and the Smoke Eaters got a variety of goals from up and down the line up. They’ll begin a two game home stand that sees them host the Clippers tonight and then the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday. The Smoke Eaters will have to be at their best as the Clippers come in as the coastal conference leaders with a 6-1-0-0 record. They’re also a team that doesn’t allow many goals with just 14 allowed, the second lowest in the league. The last time the Clippers came to Trail was in October of 2019 and the Smoke Eaters won 4-1and set a new franchise record for most consecutive wins at nine.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Michaelis (5-3-8)
Disher (3-4-7)
Cunningham (2-5-7)
Lagerback (3-3-6)
Hunter (1-5-6)
The Clippers started the year 4-0 with four straight wins over the Powell River Kings, out scoring them 21-6 in those four games. Their one loss so far on the year has come from an interior conference team, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, at the BCHL showcase last weekend, as the Backs won 4-1 over the Clippers. Cooper Black, the Clippers netminder has started the year 6-0. Only Trail’s netminder Fradette has played more minutes and made more saves than the Clippers keeper. Aside from the goaltending battle the Clippers once again being helped out by former Smoke Eater Sean Donaldson, who leads the Clippers with six goals in five games. The Clippers are coming off a Wednesday night win over Alberni Valley, after this they’ll continue east to play the Cranbrook Bucks for their inaugural meeting, as they take a trip through the Kootenays
Clippers leading scorers:
Fraser (2-7-9)
Donaldson (6-1-7)
Craig (1-6-7)
Gerrie (5-1-6)
Mahoney (2-4-6)
Puck drop for tonight’s game is 7pm at the Trail Memorial Centre, tickets are still available and can be bought at tickets.trailsmokeeaters.com or at the door. If you can’t make it to the game, catch all the action on BCHLTV or listen on Mixlr. The pregame show starts at 6:50pm!
