After a less than stellar performance on Friday eveing at the Cominco Arena against Cowichan the Smoke Eaters rebounded on Sunday afternoon in Trail defeating the Victoria Grizzlies 2-1. The game proved to be one of the more exciting games in the Cominco Arena this season. The game saw end to end action by both teams. Victoria scored at 15:07 of the first period on a goal by Dante Hahn with assists going to Brayden Geisinger and Colby LIvingstone. That’s how the scored stood after one period of action. Trail scored two goals in the second period with both coming on special teams. Trail’s first goal scored by Kale Howarth assisted on by Harlan Orr was a power play goal. The winning goal came at the 12:58 mark of the second period when two local players, Spencer McLean and Ross Armour combined to make it 2-1 for Trail. It was a shorthanded goal by McLean. The remainder of the game was scoreless as Trail hung on in the the dying seconds as Victoria pulled their goaltender for a sixth attacker. Victoria outshot the Smoke Eaters on the night 30-15 but the shot count was deceiving as Trail held a substantial territorial advantage with many shots missing the net.
Linden Marshall, the Smokies goaltender, had a great night for Trail and was named firs star of the game. Spencer McLean, with the winning goal, was named second star and Dante Hahn of the Grizzlies was named third star.
The Smokies now go on the road for the next five games with an Island/Mainland trip this weekend. They will face Victoria on Thursday night, Nanaimo on Friday night and Langley on Saturday night. The following weekend the Smokies travel to Wenatchee on Friday the 27th and then on to Penticton for a Saturday night tilt. They will face West Kelowna on December 1 before returning home to play Alberni Valley on December 4th and Wenatchee on December 5th.
