Coming off a 4-3 win against the Bucks on Friday night the Smoke Eaters now prepare for a showdown with the Penticton Vees, who are undoubtedly looking to get their revenge.
Season Series Verse Penticton
Apr. 2 Penticton @ Trail 4-1 L
Apr. 8 Trail @ Penticton 6-0 L
Apr. 11 Penticton @ Trail 6-1 L
Apr. 14 Trail @ Penticton 3-2 W
Apr. 17 Penticton @ Trail 6:00 pm PDT
Apr. 23 Trail @ Penticton 7:00 pm PDT
Apr. 26 Trail @ Penticton 7:00 pm PDT
Apr. 29 Trail @ Penticton 7:00 pm PDT
May. 2 Penticton @ Trail 4:00 pm PDT
May. 8 Penticton @ Trail 6:00 pm PDT
The Smoke Eaters will know they have to be better than they were in last night’s win if they hope to hand the Vees their second loss of the year and second consecutive to the Smoke Eaters. The Start from Trail was exactly what they wanted, scoring three goals in the opening 5:35 of the game. from there they let off just enough that the Bucks were able to work their way back into the game and make it interesting. The Smoke Eaters can’t afford to give up the chances they did and expect to win against a Vees team with so much firepower. The Smoke Eaters now know what it takes to beat the Vees, they did so on Wednesday night and if they can replicate that performance, minus the penalty trouble they found themselves in the task becomes easier. The start will once again be a big indicator in how this night might go. The Smoke Eaters have scored within the first two minutes for their last two games (both goals by Quinn Disher) and have gone on to win the night. Playing with the lead is much easier than playing from behind. Both these teams are 4-0 when leading after the first period.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Disher (4-4-8)
Wakeford (3-5-8)
Helliwell (2-4-6)
Hunter (3-2-5)
Wolford (2-3-5)
The Vees let the Bucks feel their wrath on Thursday night following their loss to the Smoke Eaters by scoring seven goals. Now with another night off to prepare for the Smoke Eaters they’ll be eager to right their wrongs from Wednesday. That being said there wasn’t much wrong from the Vees perspective on Wednesday, They outshot the Smoke Eaters 42-27, but a slow start and strong goaltending by Logan Terness proved too much for them to overcome. Ryan Upson helped lead the way for Penticton with a hat-trick on Thursday night while Kaleb McEachern made 19 saves for his second BCHL win. The Vees are also yet to give up a powerplay goal with teams penalty kill unit killing off all 25 times they have been shorthanded, the only team to stay perfect so far.
Vees leading scorers:
Wilson (7-7-14)
Quillan (5-5-10)
Upson (4-6-10)
Malmquist (2-8-10)
Williams (2-5-7)
The Smoke Eaters and the Vees faceoff at 6pm tonight on BCHLTV, the Shaw Community Spotlight with Trevor Miller or you can listen for free on Mixlr.com, where Ben Phillips and Rob Squires will have the Teck Trail Pre-game show starting at 5:50pm, as well as a live intermission and post game breakdowns.
