Coming off a 5-0 win on Friday night the weekend only gets tougher as the Smoke Eaters will host the newly crowned Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy winners, the Coquitlam Express.
Season series against Coquitlam:
Trail 1 @ Coquitlam 4 (Dec 6 2019) Final
Trail vs Coquitlam February 15th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
The Smoke Eaters are coming off just their second shutout of the season, and first on home ice, as they got their revenge against the Bulldogs. Kent Johnson scored the game winner in the first period as he grabbed three points, giving him twelve points in his last five games. With four games remaining Johnson is sure to hit the 100 point mark and get past it with ease. Johsnon also comes into tonight’s action with a three game goal streak where he’s tallied five in that span. The last time the Smoke Eaters saw the Express was the first weekend of December when the Smokies had four players away at the World Junior A Challenge. With those players back in it will be a battle of two highly skilled teams. The Smoke Eaters will look to keep their record on home ice alive with 12 consecutive victories at Cominco Arena and an overall record of 15-3-0-1 in their last 19 games.
Last ten games: 8-1-0-1
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Johnson (41-56-97)
Colella (25-38-63)
Ozar (22-39-61)
Lapointe (20-35-55)
DiMurro (6-30-36)
The Express make their one journey to Cominco coming off a 3-2 win over the Penticton Vees on Friday night. A win that secured the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy for the Express for the team with the best regular season record. The Express this season have been nothing short of a power house, they’ve lost just two games on home ice and eight all year. Led by rookie Greg Lapointe, who is challenging Smoke Eaters goaltender Logan Terness for Rookie of the Year honours, leads the Express in points and goals this season. They’ve also been back stopped by star goaltender Clay Stevenson, who due to a NCAA transfer rule won’t be able to help the Express after March 3rd when he turns 21. Stevenson leads all goaltenders in SV%, GAA and wins this season as he picked up his 30th last night. The Express did bring in goaltender Joe Howe from the Victoria Grizzlies at the deadline to replace Stevenson, as he’s taken a bit of a back seat down the stretch. Coming off a highly emotional win last night the Express will have to try and not drop their play coming into another hostile environment.
Last ten games: 6-2-1-1
Express leading scorers
Lapointe (28-30-58)
Wildauer (20-34-54)
Gregga (14-29-43)
Trotman (15-27-42)
Connell (17-23-40)
The Smoke Eaters will look for win number 35 as they host the Express, looking to avenge the loss from earlier in the year and knock off the top team in the BCHL. It’s also Team Photo Giveaway as the first 750 fans will get a copy of the Smoke Eaters team photo. The Doorways “Not So Newlywed” Game takes place in the 1st intermission and Puck Toss winner takes home a 50 inch LG smart TV from Canadian Tire! Puck drop will be just after 7pm with the broadcast starting at 6:50pm on HockeyTV or Mixlr with Ben Phillips.
