The Smoke Eaters kicked off the 2022 playoffs in style as they walked into Penticton on Thursday night and opened the series with a win over the Vees.
Trail wasted no time on scoring either, scoring two goals 1:10 apart to take a 2-0 lead inside the first five minutes against the Vees. Ridge Dawson scored the first Smoke Eater playoff goal in over two years as he picked the corner on Kaeden Lane as he came up the left side and into the Vees zone.
Zach Michaelis chipped in a minute later as he was left unmarked in front of the Vees net and was found by Charlie Strobel, giving the Smoke Eaters, from a Vees perspective, a shocking 2-0 lead inside five minutes.
The Vees would begin to chip away as Adam Eisele got Penticton on the board ten minutes later as he would find the loose puck in front of Cole Tisdale to make it 2-1. The Smoke Eaters would waste no time restoring their two-goal lead as Josh Schenk got in on the scoring two minutes later as he walked in again on the left side and got a shot around lane who over committed on to his near post giving Schenk the angle and all he needed to make it 3-1.
The Vees would get one more before the period was out after Tisdale made an acrobatic save the Vees held the zone and got another opportunity seconds later through Jackson Nieuwendyk got a second opportunity to make it 3-2.
In the second the Vees came out hard, tying the game at the mid way point of the period as Casey McDonald scored on the powerplay. The Vees also kept the Smoke Eaters off the shot clock for the first 12 minutes of the second before they finally allowed a shot. But the Smoke Eaters had chances in the back half of the period to retake the lead.
The third period was executed as planned from the Smoke Eaters who got the game winner of the stick of Charlie Strobel as Michaelis returned the favour from the first period goal for a game defining goal in the third.
The Vees would knock on the door but get answered every time by Tisdale and a team effort to block shots as the Smoke Eaters added an empty netter from Corey Cunningham to seal the victory.
The Smoke Eaters open the series in Penticton with a 5-3 win and take a 1-0 series lead in the Interior Division Quarter-Finals. Tisdale stopped 39 of 42 shots for a first star performance while Michaelis was named the second star in the win. Game two goes Friday night back at the SOEC with puck drop set for 7pm.
