With three games in hand on fourth place Vernon Vipers the Smokies missed a chance to capitalize on one of those games in hand last night in Trail. Matthew Greenfield, West Kelowna goaltender, who took first star honors in the game led the Warriors to a 4-1 win at the Cominco Arena in Trail. Greenfield, faced 35 Trail shots and stymied the Smokie attack on several occasions. Bailey MacBurnie of Trail was named second star of the game facing 43 Warrior shots. Liam Blackburn of the Warriors was named third star of the game with one goal and one assist on the night.
West Kelowna opened the scoring at 2:08 of the first period on a goal by Quinn Foreman with assists going to Reed Gunville and Jared Marino.
At 14:36 of the second Liam Blackburn put the Warriors ahead 2-0 on a power play goal. The Warriors took a commanding 3-0 lead at 18:58 of the second period on another power play goal by Jonathan Desbiens.
At 13:22 of the third period the Smokies scored a power play goal of their own to make it 3-1. Kale Howarth scored with assists going to Kyle Star and Jake Kauppila. Rylan Yaremko of the Warriors rounded out the scoring at 19:02 when he scored an empty net goal with the Smokies net empty for a sixth attacker. Although the official scoresheet has Yaremko scoring the goal it was announced and it seemed that Liam Blackburn actually scored the goal.
Trail went 1/6 on the power play while West Kelowna went 2/8.
The Smokies missed several excellent chances to get back in the game while Bailey MacBurnie made a number of point blank saves to keep Trail in the game.
Trail’s next home game is on Saturday night at the Cominco Arena against the Surrey Eagles. Game time is 7:30 PM.
