Coming off a much needed win on home ice in a barn burner against the Wenatchee Wild, the Smoke Eaters quickly shift their focus to the West Kelowna Warriors, who come to Trail for the first meeting of the year, on the back of back-to-back defeats.
Season series verse West Kelowna
Oct. 8 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PDT
Dec. 10 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Jan. 6 Trail at West Kelowna 7:00 pm PST
Feb. 18 Trail at West Kelowna 7:00 pm PST
Feb. 24 Trail at West Kelowna 7:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters will look to build off Friday’s win on home ice as 7 different players got in on the scoring in a 7-5 win over the Wild. The Smoke Eaters got production from every aspect of their game, all four lines produced at least a goal, the powerplay hit once and so did the penalty kill with Judah Makway’s shorthanded tally in the second period. That being said there were a few things defensively that they’ll want to clean up ahead of tonight’s game. The Smoke Eaters were much more comfortable with the puck defensively and weren’t plagued by the turnovers that cost them games last week against the Bucks. Tonight again they’ll have to be aware of the high flying offence of the Warriors, who despite having one of the highest offseason turnover for players, have a potent offence.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Remissong (4-1-5)
Parsons (3-2-5)
Bushy (1-4-5)
Cobetto-Roy (2-2-4)
Hunter (1-3-4)
The Warriors come to Trail to wrap up their Kootenay road trip after spending Friday in Cranbrook. The Warriors started the season 3-0-0 after opening weekend wins on the Island against Cowichan and Victoria then returned home for a 7-4 win over Wenatchee. Since then the Warriors have been on the wrong side of the final score twice with a 10-3 drumming from Penticton and a hard fought point against the Bucks last night losing 4-3 in extra time. The Warriors will be again without one of their key players in Luke Devlin, the sixth round Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick, who is serving the second of a three game suspension. The Warriors still have plenty of players who can put the pick in the net, including fellow NHL draft pick of the Seattle Kraken Ben McDonald.
Warriors leading scorers:
Salandra (2-6-8)
Nelson (2-4-6)
Hlusiak (1-4-5)
Hayes (0-5-5)
Norlin (2-2-4)
The Smoke Eaters face off against the Warriors to wrap up the weekend as they look to make it back to back wins on home ice. Tonight is hockey Jersey night inside Cominco as we ask you, the best fans in the BCHL to wear your favourite hockey jersey to tonight’s game. Skip the lines and buy your tickets ahead of time 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!
