The Smoke Eaters make their last trip of 2019 to Kal Tire Place looking for two more points ahead of the Christmas break, as they take on the Vernon Vipers on Wednesday night.
Season series vs Vernon
October 19th @ Kal Tire Place 3-2 OTL (BOXSCORE)
November 8th @ Trail Memorial Centre 5-2 W (BOXSCORE)
November 9th @ Trail Memorial Centre 3-2W (BOXSCORE)
December 18th @ Kal Tire Place 7pm
January 18th @ Trail Memorial Centre 7pm
February 9th @ Kal Tire Place 2pm
The Smoke Eaters will look for their third consecutive win against the Vipers following back to back wins on parents weekend back in November. The Smokies are coming off a wild 7-4 loss to Salmon Arm on Sunday afternoon as the Silverbacks snapped their nine game losing streak. They will get Cody Schaivon and Kyle Pow back in tonight after Schiavon got a game misconduct for fighting while Kyle Pow received a game misconduct as well. They may be without Tyler Ghirardosi for the last few games as the Smoke Eaters veteran picked up a lower body injury during the game on Sunday and did not return. Special teams is always tight between these two teams. In the first three games, the Smoke Eaters are winning that battle with 13% on the powerplay vs the Vipers while having a penalty kill ratio of 92% over that stretch. The Smoke Eaters group that made their way back from the WJAC have come back with a vengeance. Kent Johnson continues to run away with the BCHL scoring race adding 6 points in two games last week. Powell Connor is on a seven game point streak after a goal and an assist on the weekend. Philippe Lapointe grabbed a pair of goals and assists this weekend as well, extending his assist streak to six games. Owen Ozar also had two points over the weekend as well.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Johnson (24-41-65)
Colella (15-30-45)
Ozar (14-27-41)
Lapointe (13-22-35)
Ghirardosi (18-14-32)
The Vipers are coming off a weekend split vs the Vees. James Porter Jr. earned his first BCHL shutout on Friday night as they beat the Vees 2-0 on home ice. The following night in Penticton the Vees got their revenge winning 4-1. A loss that snapped a five game winning streak for the Vipers, as they continue to nip at the heels of the Smoke Eaters in the interior division standings. While they sit six points back they also have four games in hand, so games like tonight will prove pivotal if the Vipers want to improve their position in the division. The Vipers penalty kill, which used to sit first in the league still sits third at 86%, while being the second lowest penalized team in the BCHL makes them no easy team to break down. They are the second lowest scoring team in the league with just 93 goals, while have allowed 92. To say the Vipers like to play close games is an understatement with ten of their games needing overtime or a shootout to decide the points.
Vernon Vipers leading scorers:
Kowalski (19-17-36)
Marritt (12-16-28)
Holt (12-12-24)
MacDonald (9-5-14)
Sleeth (3-10-13)
Game time is 7pm with the pre-game show starting at 6:50pm with coaches comments. The Smoke Eaters will look for two points in the final road ame of 2019 before wrapping up the calendar year on Friday on home ice. Catch tonights game on HockeyTV or listen free on Mixlr.com.
