A strong start from the Smoke Eaters and a late powerplay goal helped push the Smoke Eaters to their fourth win of the year in a 4-3 win over the Cranbrook Bucks.
The Smoke Eaters who were coming off a strong performance on Wednesday night kicked things off the same way tonight as it was Quinn Disher who opened the scoring. Disher who added his fourth of the year just 1:09 in scored the first goal for the second consecutive game, both within the first 1:30 of the game.
The Smoke Eaters kept the pressure on scoring twice more in the opening 5:35 of the game. The second was a beautiful team goal on the powerplay finished off by Kalen Szeto for his second as a Smoke Eater. Ryan Helliwell made the pass to the left side for Chase Dafoe, who went goaline for Noah Wakeford who picked up Szeto back door to make it 2-0.
The hot start was finished off with Wakeford getting his third assist of the game as he gave it to Brady Hunter at the bottom of the left circle who snapped one past Nathan Airey to make it 3-0. From there the Smoke Eaters started to let off the gas little by little. They held the 3-0 lead into the second period where a bouncing puck and a miss played pass led to a defensive error at the Bucks first goal as Zeth Kindrachuk beat Hamming at 8:52 of the second period.
The Smoke Eaters then got hit by an early goal as 15-year-old Walker Gelbard broke through the defence with a beautiful solo effort for his first BCHL goal and a 3-2 game. The Smoke Eaters then continued to struggle through the third, fighting the puck as much as they were the Bucks, However with a powerplay gifted to them late, Helliwell scored his second of the year, beating Airey on the blocker side corner to restore the two goal lead. The Bucks would add one more on the 6-on-5 with 33 seconds to go but were never able to tie the game as Cayden Hamming stood tall late, making 29 saves, for his first BCHL win. Helliwell’s powerplay goal stands as the game winner as the Smoke Eaters improve to 4-4 on the year/
VH Sport Three Stars
1st: Walker Gelbard 1G,2A (CRA)
2nd: Noah Wakeford 3A (TRA)
3rd: Cayden Hamming 29/32 Saves (TRA)
Able Plastics Powerplay 2/6
Flying Steam Shovel Penalty Kill 3/3
The Smoke Eaters now need to refocus and reset as they take on the Vees Saturday night starting at 6PM. Catch the game on BCHLTV, The Shaw Community Spotlight or listen on Mixlr with Ben and Rob starting at 5:50pm
