The Trail Smoke Eaters return home for a mid week test as they host the Wenatchee Wild on Wednesday night, looking to get back in the win column.
Regular season vs Wenatchee
September 20th @ Town Toyota Centre 3-1L (BOXSCORE)
October 30th @ Trail Memorial Centre 5-1W (BOXCSORE)
December 11th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
January 24th @ Town Toyota Centre 7:05pm
January 25th @ Town Toyota Centre 7:05pm
January 31st @Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
The Smoke Eaters are coming off a mainland trip they’d rather forget as the Smokies were unable to collect any points. The Smokies battled hard each night, but injuries and absentees proved the challenge to large a task. Smoke Eaters head coach Jeff Tambellini said before the game on Sunday that he knows his team can be better, even without their top players. They’ll get that chance tonight against a Wenatchee Wild team also in a bit of a slump. Chase Dafoe, Connor Sweeney and Tyler Ghirardosi were a constant threat offensively for the Smoke Eaters over the past weekend. Dafoe had two goals and an assist, while Sweeney, with only one goal, had a handful of opportunities to burn the opposition with his blistering speed. Carsno Briere also continued to improve over the weekend as he makes his Cominco Arena debut still looking for his first BCHL goal. The last time the Smokies saw the Wild was back in October, where it was the Philippe Lapointe show in a 5-1 win. The Smoke Eaters will have to look to someone else besides their captain tonight.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Johnson (23-36-59)
Colella (15-29-44)
Ozar (13-26-39)
Lapointe (11-18-29)
Ghirardosi (14-14-28)
The Wild come to Trail with a mix of results as of late, losers of their last two the Wild are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. The last two being loses against Coquitlam and Vernon. The power play for the Wild has been on the rise of late sitting fifth in the league at 22% while the penalty kill has struggled to keep the puck out, allowing 31 goals this season, but they have scored the most short handed goals in the league with six. The Wild are also playing under a new head coach as Bliss Littler has had to step away from the coaching aspect due the health reason, he remains the teams general manager. Chris Clark, who’s been an assistant for the Wenatchee Wild Franchise since 2008, while the team was part of the NAHL, has taken over as interim head coach of the Wild. Wenatchee has been lead by 17-year-old Nick Cafarelli when it comes to offence, leading the team with 13 goals and 17 assists. Daniel Chenard has also made his return from injury for the Wild, solidifying things on the back end.
Wenatchee Wild leading scorers:
Cafarelli (13-17-30)
Adams (16-11-27)
Young (5-21-26)
Chorske (9-15-24)
Dorsey (6-16-22)
Puck drop is at 7pm at Cominco as the Smoke Eaters look to take two points on home ice for the second time this season versus the Wild. You can also catch the broadcast with Ben Phillips and Rob Squires starting at 6:50pm on HockeyTV and Mixlr.
