The Smoke Eaters walked into Nicola Valley Memorial Arena on Friday night 2 points on the docket, and walked out with a 8-0 win.
The Smoke Eaters didn’t waste much time in putting the pressure on the Merritt Centennials. Just 4:31 into the game Zach Michaelis, who made his return to the Smoke Eaters line up after missing the last four, would open the scoring with his 19th of the year, as he tapped home the rebound in front of John Hicks.
The Smoke Eaters would stop there, Hicks who was under siege, couldn’t keep the Smoke Eaters out forever as following a successful penalty kill, Hendry would pick off the puck at his own blueline, find Adam Parsons on the right side who walked into the Centennials zone and found the back of the net for a 2-0 Smoke Eaters lead.
Newly committed forward Quinn Disher would score minutes later by going to the front of the net, finding a rebound on the shot from Charlie Strobel and beating Hicks. Then before the period was out Ridge Dawson also jumped on a loose puck to score his fourth of the year and make it 4-0 Trail.
The Centennials would come out hard to start the second period and probably deserved a goal if not for some fantastic goaltending by Evan Fradette. The Cents were credited with 16 shots in the second and most came in the first half of the period. Then at the halfway point of the second the Centennials were awarded a 5-on-3. a key interception by Connor Michaud led to a 2-on-1 shorthanded that Even Bushy would finish off to extend the Smoke Eaters lead to five.
The Smoke Eaters scored again in the second with a powerplay goal off the stick of Michaelis who scored his 20th of the year and his second of the night, giving Trail a commanding 6-0 lead going to the third period.
The Smoke Eaters then played a clean and composed third period, scoring twice more while continuing the keep the Cents off the board. The Smoke Eaters 7th goal was scored by Charlie Strobel at the exact time the powerplay expired, in house it wasn’t credited as a powerplay goal. Then to cap the night off Michaelis would finish off his first BCHL hat-trick with another powerplay goal, beating Jackson Baker under the blocker arm.
The Smoke Eaters closed out the game with Fradette picking up his second BCHL shutout. They now head to West Kelowna for a meeting with the Warriors, their first game at Royal LePage Place on the year. Puck drop is set for 7pm.
