Preview – Smoke Eaters host Wild In Battle For Playoff Position

With both teams officially clinching a playoff position over the weekend the only thing that remains to be decided is where they will end up amongst the standings, with the Smoke Eaters and Wild separated by just one point.

Season Series versus Wenatchee

Oct. 16 Wenatchee 5 at Trail 6 Final OT
Oct. 30 Wenatchee 1 at Trail 4 Final
Feb. 27 Wenatchee at Trail 3:00 pm PST
Mar. 9 Trail at Wenatchee 6:00 pm PST
Mar. 17 Trail at Wenatchee 6:00 pm PDT
Mar. 18 Trail at Wenatchee 7:05 pm PDT
Mar. 19 Trail at Wenatchee 6:00 pm PDT
Mar. 25 Wenatchee at Trail 7:05 pm PDT

The Smoke Eaters and Wild will play each other a total of six times between now and the end of the season, just four weeks away. The Smoke Eaters who sit a point back of the Wild but have two or more games in hand on everyone else in the conference could use the games against the Wild to climb the standings. Coming off the shootout loss on Friday night the Smoke Eaters are still looking for a much needed win to reward them for their efforts of late. Friday definitely stung, as the Smoke Eaters who played a fantastic close game against the Vipers but came out on the wrong side after 65 plus minutes. Despite not having a clear win over the last handful of games the performance the Smoke Eaters have put out is anything but a losing effort and is bound to change in their fortunes soon. The Smoke Eaters will look to take advantage of the Wild who are coming in playing their third game in two and a half days after two games in Cranbrook on Friday and Saturday. The Smoke Eaters haven’t seen the Wild since October but have won both meetings against the Wild this season.

Smoke Eaters leading scorers:

Hunter (21-28-49)
Michaelis (23-17-40)
Lagerback (18-21-39)
Disher (9-23-32)
Cunningham (8-20-28)

The Wild come in looking to increase their lead above the Smoke Eaters as well as take four of six points on their three game road trip. The advantage the wild have coming into this afternoon’s game is that this is a team that is used to three in three weekend sets. This will be the Wilds fifth triple header of the season with one more coming up against the Smoke Eaters later in March. The Wild were able to bounce back against the Cranbrook Bucks on Saturday night in Cranbrook earning a 3-2 win after falling 6-3 the night before. As mentioned these teams play each other six more times before the BCHL regular season comes to a close as they try and jostle for position in the bottom half of the interior conference. The Wild come in with one of the best powerplays and the fifth best penalty kill in the league, meaning they’ll be a tough team to beat if this game turns into a special teams battle.

Wild leading scorers:

Somoza (11-29-40)
Littler (14-17-31)
Bohn (13-14-27)
Emerson (7-20-27)
Szydlowski (11-12-23)

Puck drop is set for just after 3pm at the Trail Memorial Centre as the Smoke Eaters look to get back in the win column as they play through this four game homestand. Get your tickets online or at the box office, if you can’t make it to tday’s game watch all the action on BCHLTV or listen on Mixlr.com.