The Trail Smoke Eaters get set for a weekend double header at home, as Interior division rivals the Vernon Vipers come to town.
Season series vs Vernon
October 19th @ Kal Tire Place 3-2 OTL (BOXSCORE)
November 8th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
November 9th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
December 18th @ Kal Tire Place 7pm
January 18th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
February 9th @ Kal Tire Place 2pm
The Smoke Eaters (14-6-2-1) come into the weekend on a 6 game point streak, and following a win Wednesday night over the Penticton Vees. The Smoke Eaters will love nothing more that to knock off a Vipers team that beat them in the second round of the BCHL Playoffs last season, and ended the Smoke Eaters 9 game win streak with an overtime win back on October 19th. On Wednesday night the Smokies got goals from Kent Johnson and Philippe Lapointe as the dynamic one-two punch of the Smoke Eaters continue to cause problems for the opposition. GM and HC Jeff Tambellini described them as lines 1A and 1B prior to Wednesday nights game. Owen Ozar has a eight-game point streak, Lapointe is on an four game goal streak and Johnson finds himself with points in his last seven games. Meanwhile assistant captain Tyler Ghirardosi is quickly closing in on 100 BCHL points and has 94 following the game on Wednesday night.
The Smoke Eaters special teams is also causing havoc for the opposition as the power play has improved to 2nd in the BCHL, while the penalty kill sits third. The Smokies PK is also on an unbelievable run of 53 straight kills. Whats even more impressive is Logan Terness, since taking over the Smoke Eaters net in the third period against Cowichan on October 11th, hasn’t allowed a power play goal. 53 consecutive kills from when the Smoke Eaters last allowed a power play goal and since Terness has emerged as one of the top BCHL goaltenders.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers
Johnson (17-26-43)
Colella (12-23-35)
Ozar (10-19-29)
DiMurro (5-15-20)
Ghirardosi (7-8-15)
The Vernon Vipers (12-7-1) come into the weekend on a nice run of games themselves with a 8-1-1 record over their last ten. But their last four games sees them 2-1-1 after a loss to the Nanaimo Clippers and an overtime loss to the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The Vipers, thanks to their impressive run of 9-1-1 sit six points back of the Smoke Eaters in the Interior and have three games in hand. They’ve done so with the help of some great goaltending of their own, Rielly Herbst has mirrored Terness in taking over the net on October 11th for his side and putting up strong numbers. Herbst whose only played ten games this year is 8-1-1, with a 2.22 GAA and 0.918 SV%. The Vipers penalty kill is also a strong point in their game as it sits 4th at 89.6%.
Vernon Vipers leading scorers
Kowalski (7-10-17)
Marritt (9-7-16)]
Sleeth (2-8-10)]
MacDonald (5-3-8)
Holt (4-4-8)
Game time is at 7pm from Cominco Arena as the Smoke Eaters families are in town. Pack the rink and show your support as parents from all over come to experience Trail for the weekend. If you can’t make it to the game you can always watch on HockeyTV or Mixlr starting at 6:50pm with Ben Phillips, as the Smoke Eaters look for another two points against their own division.
