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Preview – Smoke Eaters Kick Off 2022/23 Campaign In Penticton

The Smoke Eaters return to the scene of the crime, the same building their season ended in last year will be the same one they start this season in, as the Smoke Eaters head to Penticton to take on the Vees.

Season Series Against Penticton

Sep. 23 Trail at Penticton 7:00 pm PDT
Oct. 29 Trail at Penticton 6:00 pm PDT
Nov. 12 Penticton at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Jan. 13 Penticton at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Mar. 4 Penticton at Trail 7:00 pm PST

The Smoke Eaters will look to open their 2022 season with two points on the road in Penticton, which will be no easy task. The Smoke Eaters split their opening weekend of the preseason with Wenatchee before dropping both games the following week against the Bucks. The Smoke Eaters played an exciting brand of hockey over those two games against the Bucks, but a lapse of 4 minutes in each game was the deciding factor as the Bucks capitalized in bunches. The SOEC wasn’t an easy place to play last season for the Smoke Eaters who won once (the only team in the post season to beat Penticton) and lost another in overtime with the rest being regulation defeats. 11 players, who were part of last years team, will be looking to crash the party as the Vees celebrate their championship season.

The Vees will kick off their title defence on Friday night, looking to protect their interior division and BCHL titles. The Vees, after losing their first game of the post season to the Smoke Eaters in game one at the SOEC, went on an incredible run of 16 straight wins, walking through the competition to claim the Fred Page Cup. The Vees went 2-0-0-1 in the preseason losing in a shootout to Vernon in the first game. The Vees also return a large core for this season with 13 players returning to Penticton from the championship run. The big change for the Vees comes in net with two new netminders tasked at holding the fort with Hank Levy and Luca Di Pasquo, who is committed to Michigan state. Amongst the returning forwards for Penticton their lethal duo of Josh and Bradley Nadeau return again with Russian born forward Aydar Suniev bound to take a larger role this year after joining the Vees mid season.

Puck drop from the SOEC will be shortly after 7pm as the Vees will introduce their players to the fans while also having a banner raising ceremony prior to puck drop. Catch all the action once it gets going with Smoke Eaters broadcaster Ben Phillips on HockeyTV or listen free on Mixlr, with the pregame show starting at 6:50pm.