The Trail Smoke Eaters are 0-3 to start the year despite a hard fought battle with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night.
The Smoke Eaters fell 4-2 to the Backs on Friday as they hosted their interior division rivals for the first of two in Trail. The Silverbacks would open the scoring halfway through the first period as Noah Wakeford would put one past the blocker of Buskey. The Smoke Eaters would respond though as just after the powerplay expired Liam Freeborn would gets his first BCHL goal to tie things up at one after the first period.
The Silverbacks would get the lone goal of the second that included a few scrums and some heated exchanges as the two teams went at it. William Poirier would score on the powerplay as he was left alone in front to tap one home on the powerplay to restore the lead for the Backs.
In the third the Smoke Eaters had numerous chances to tie it before finally Mike Colella would sneak one past Langenegger who backstopped the Silverbacks for the win. Colella created the opportunity by racing down on a loose puck and forcing the defenceman to blindly through it up the wall to a waiting Kieran O’Hearn. O’Hearn then found Colella along in front to tie the game.
Unfortunately the lead was not to last as Daniel Rybarik would sneak one under the arm of Buskey for the game winner just under 3 minutes later. Poirier would add an empty net goal in the final minute to seal the victory for the Silverbacks.
The Smoke Eaters will look to bounce back Saturday night vs the Silverbacks looking to extract some revenge and get that first win under their belt.
