The Trail Smoke will look to bounce back as they make a stop in Langley to play the Rivermen Saturday night.
Regular season vs the Rivermen
November 22nd @ Trail Memorial Centre – 4-4T
December 7th @ George Preston Recreation Centre 7:15pm
The Smoke Eaters are coming off a tough loss to the league leading Coquitlam Express, as in the teams first game without four of their top players, are still trying to figure things out. It wasn’t without its positive performances from many of the young Smokies who stepped into bigger roles, Chase Dafoe, who scored the lone goal for Trail on Friday night had a solid game, Jaden Senkoe, Mike Colella and Connor Sweeney also created many scoring chances but weren’t able to find the net. Tonight they’ll get some help as Carson Briere is expected to make his BCHL debut for the Smoke Eaters in Langley. These teams met just three short weeks ago in Trail where a thrilling game was halted at 4-4 due to a serious player injury at the time. The Smoke Eaters exploded for a three goal first period, leading to a goaltender change for Langley during the intermission. The Rivermen turned away the three goal deficit in the second but a late goal from Kent Johnson sent the Smokies to the break up 4-3. Both teams will be looking to settle the score tonight.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Johnson (23-36-59)
Colella (15-28-43)
Ozar (13-26-39)
Lapointe (11-18-29)
Ghirardosi (14-13-27)
The Rivermen have been on their best run of games this season with a 6-2-0-1-1 record over the last ten. They’re coming off a 4-3 win over the Merritt Centennials on Tuesday night and before that beat Vernon and Salmon Arm. The Rivermen have also lost their top scorer to the World Junior A Challenge in Brendan Budy, who has lead the way with 15 goals and 24 assists. The Rivermen will get a boost on the back end as Jake Livingstone makes his return from a five game suspension. Livingstone sits fifth among defenceman in league scoring and is tied for second on the Rivermen. Tonight is the lone game of the weekend for Langley as they have their annual teddy bear toss tonight as well.
Langley Rivermen leading scorers:
Budy (15-24-39)
Musa (10-15-25)
Livingstone (6-19-25)
Fraser (9-13-22)
Leduc (10-9-19)
Game times is set for 7:15pm as the Smoke Eaters look to get back into the win column while the Rivermen look for back to back home wins. Join the pre game show with Ben Phillips tonight starting at 7:05 on HockeyTV or Mixlr.
