It wasn’t the Smoke Eaters night, as the Vees take the game on Saturday by a score of 8-2.
The Vees made life difficult all night for the Smoke Eaters who were under siege in the first period. The Vees outshot the Smoke Eaters 15-3 and opened the scoring as Josh Nadeau and and Adam Eisele both found the net just three minutes apart. The Vees did well at clogging up the neutral zone, winning puck battles and being first to loose pucks.
In the Second the Smoke Eaters found a bit more room, starting winning a few more battles but struggled with bad ice inside the SOEC as simple plays for both teams were resulting in missed passes and turnovers. The Vees were the team capitalizing on their opportunities though most of the night. After falling down 3-0, Brady Hunter sprung Zach Michaelis on a break away as he beat Kaeden Lane on the blocker side to get the Smoke Eaters on the board.
The Vees made it 4-1 shortly after as they capitalized on a powerplay, as Nadeau picked up his second of the night. The Smokies brought it back to within two again not to long later as a faceoff win by Quinn Disher in the Vees zone was executed to perfection. Disher won it forward and was then free to pass it out front for Cunningham, who walked around Lane to make it 4-2.
The Smoke Eaters would walk out of the second period down still by two, but with the game very much in reach heading to the third period. However the Vees would strike again on the powerplay that they carried into the third to make it 5-2 Penticton. The Smoke Eaters did respond well after that goal as they had a chance in front of the Vees net to bring the game back within two, but couldn’t get the shot through the crowd of Vees players who were back defending. Then the game really got away from them as the Vees scored three in 51 seconds to make it 8-2 and seal the victory.
The Smoke Eaters will have the opportunity this coming weekend to bounce back against the same two teams, as Salmon Arm comes to Trail on Friday and the Vees on Saturday.
