The Smoke Eaters close out their four game homestand on Friday night as the West Kelowna Warriors come to town for the final meeting of the regular season between the two sides.
Season series versus West Kelowna:
Oct. 13 West Kelowna 5 at Trail 4 Final
Nov. 26 West Kelowna 7 at Trail 3 Final
Jan. 14 West Kelowna 0 at Trail 4 Final
Jan. 29 Trail 5 at West Kelowna 10 Final
Feb. 20 Trail 4 at West Kelowna 8 Final
Mar. 4 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters will look to come out of their four game homestand with a .500 record after falling 5-3 to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Wednesday night. The Smoke Eaters looked in complete control midway through the second until a few errors and a deflected puck gave the Silverbacks a lifeline to tie the game at 3. Now as they face off against the Warriors the Smoke Eaters would like nothing better than to get back in the win column against a team that has had the Smoke Eaters number for a majority of the games. They’ve been high scoring contests with 27 goals being scored in the last two games between the two teams. The Smoke Eaters will get Ridge Dawson and Ethan Willoughby confirmed to be returning. The bad news is they will be without their leading scorer in Brady Hunter who picked up an injury during the third period on Wednesday and could miss some considerable amount of time. It’s a next man up mentality for the Smoke Eaters with plenty of minutes and points up for grabs.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Hunter (21-35-56)
Michaelis (24-21-45)
Lagerback (20-21-41)
Disher (11-23-34)
Cunningham (8-20-28)
The Warriors come to Trail after a loss of their own on Wednesday night down in Wenatchee. The Warriors who have picked up a few injuries themselves lost 3-1 to the Wild. The Warriors are without Pat Lawn and Charles Alexis Leagult on the back end due to those injuries. The Warriors were shorthanded in the last outing against the Smoke Eaters winning 8-4 but definitely weren’t in control of the game as Justin Katz bailed his team out many times throughout the night. The Warriors who are battling to keep home ice advantage in the first round will know they need a better effort on the road to keep above both Vernon and Cranbrook who are hot on their heels.
Warriors leading scorers:
Trudeau (26-25-51)
Cristall (24-20-44)
Bar-Lev-Wise (18-25-43)
Jugnauth (7-34-41)
Joughin (4-30-34)
Puck drop goes tonight at 7pm from the Trail Memorial Centre as the Smoke Eaters close out their four game homestand against the Warriors, looking to get the last laugh of the regular season series between the two teams.