Linden Marshall – 45 saves on the night.
In the first half of the home & home series with the Vernon Vipers the Smokies traveled to Vernon on Friday night and skated to a 4-3 win. Smokie Goaltender, Linden Marshall, held off a Vernon second and third period barrage and Kale Howarth potted 2 goals to lead the Smoke Eaters to the win.
The Smoke Eaters fell behind 2-0 after the first period on Viper goals by Jimmy Lambert and Riley Brandt.
The Smokies scored three unanswered goals in the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the third. Kale Howarth scored his first of two on the night with a power play goal at 5:02, assisted on by Ross Amour and Joshua Lamframboise. At 12:31 Kyle Chernenkoff scored his first goal of the season on a feed from Luke Santerno. Joshua Lamframboise scored his 10 goal of the season at 16:59 to put Trail up 3-2. Luke Santerno picked up his second assist of the night.
The Vipers came out flying and evened the score at 3 when Jagger Williamson scored. Just seconds later the Vipers scored what seemed to be the go ahead goal but it was determined that it did not go over the goal line. That set up the heroics for Kale Howarth as he skated down the left side of the ice, cut in on the Vipers goalie and potted a high shot over his shoulder. It was an unassisted marker for the winning goal.
Howarth – two goals – power play and wining goal.
Howarth was named first star of the game, Michael Ufberg of the Vipers was named second star and Trail’s goalie Linden Marshall with his 45 saves on the night was named third star. Jimmy Lambert of the Vipers was named Fortis Energy Player of the Game.
AssistantCoach/GM Curtis Toneff quoted, “We had a slow start on the road in a tough building to play in, but the guys came to play Smoke Eater hockey in the second and third.” “Our big guns found the back of the net and our young D-men really had a breakout kind of night.” We had a group effort to block shots and Linden made the big saves at key times.” “It was two big points on the road in our division.” “We’ll enjoy it tonight and be ready for Vernon to come out hard tomorrow.” “We hope to see a big crowd at the Cominco Arena.”
The Smokies now find themselves just one point behind third place Vernon Vipers, and three points ahead of fifth place Salmon Arm.
The Smokies return home for the second game of the home and home on Saturday night at the Cominco Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM with the doors opening at 6:15. The Smoke Eaters are hoping for strong fan support for this early season crucial game.
“GET IN THE GAME”
