The Spruce Kings find themselves in Trail tonight to take on the Smoke Eaters as part of their three game road trip that wraps up Sunday afternoon in Salmon Arm. This will be the first meeting of the season between the Smoke Eaters and the Spruce Kings, leaving only three more including two back in Prince George. Both teams will be looking for wins with both teams coming off one goal losses last night. The Spruce Kings were able to take one point last night in an overtime decision whereas the Smoke Eaters lost in regulation time.
On Friday night the Spruce Kings opened their three game road trip with a quick goal less than four minutes into the game. Sam Muchalla tipped a hard shot by newly acquired Brad Bourke past Kevin Jebson, the Warriors starting goaltender. Prince George held onto three one goal leads through regulation; unfortunately, the only time that Westside led the game was when they scored their game winner 1:11 into the overtime period.
In the Cominco Arena, the Trail Smoke Eaters scored twice in a span of nine seconds to take a 2-1 lead on the visiting the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The home team was unable to hold onto their lead giving up the tying goal just past the midway mark of the game. The Capitals restored their one goal lead in the first minute of the third period and then held the Smoke Eaters off the rest of the way to take the two points away from Trail.
The Smoke Eaters are likely to be a nasty bunch and the Spruce Kings won't be pushovers either as both teams don't like their current records. For the Spruce Kings it is slightly better as they have been playing .500 hockey through their last nine outings. The Trail Smoke Eaters are a little below that with only two wins in their first twelve games to start the season. The Smokies last win came against the Burnaby Express one week ago in Trail.
Roster moves have been a part of the shakeup for both squads with the Spruce Kings replacing five players from the opening weekend and the Smoke Eaters making deals that have seen four players come in. Feeling more like a library book, Kiefer Smiley finds himself back in the Interior Conference after being loaned out again by the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Last year it was the Quesnel Millionaires that put Smiley to work for them with the loss of Jeff Malcolm to an injury. This time it isn't so much an injury as much as it is the lack of numbers by their off-season acquisition Devon Murtaugh from the Westside Warriors.
Earlier in the season Marc-Antoine Chaput was acquired from the Surrey Eagles and just this weekend the Smoke Eaters picked up defenceman Mitch Kaufmann and Josh McEwan a forward who is a cousin to Spruce Kings rookie defencman, Clayton McEwan. McEwan picked up two minors and a fighting major in his first appearance with his new team. Kaufmann didn't figure on the score sheet in his first game with the Smoke Eaters.
Recent changes for the Spruce Kings included a trade that saw Andrew Pickering dealt to the Merritt Centennials for a twenty year defencman. Brad Bourke picked up his first point as a member of the Spruce Kings off a hard shot from the right point that Sam Muchalla tipped in to opening the scoring against Westside. Bourke has been looking to improve his game steadily and was happy with the first half performance but wishes he could have done more especially in the final minutes of the third period.
With the Spruce Kings on a powerplay to end regulation and roll over into an extra frame if necessary, Ed Dempsey put Bourke out on the right point to try and duplicate his first period shot. Unfortunately for Bourke and the Spruce Kings, the best shot from just inside the blue line was blocked by the wrist of Grayson Downing and then a second attempt rattled off the boot of Downing's skate.
Although they didn't get any power play goals, the Spruce Kings also prevented the Westside Warriors from getting any which is a huge feat that not many other teams can brag about. The Spruce Kings with their road best penalty kill on the road held the league's best home power play unit to nothing more than a few shots on five attempts.
The Spruce Kings will be looking to build on their penalty kill success as well as the successes they had with the top two lines. Sam Muchalla, Brooks Robinson and Jeff Earnest set the tempo early and tried to keep the heat on the Warriors all night. After the game the Westside Warriors broadcaster asked me if that top line also drove the bus and suggested that they put up nearly forty minutes of ice time each.
Game time tonight is 7:30pm from the Cominco Arena in Trail with the game audio available from 93.1 CFIS-FM and also from the Spruce Kings website, just click on the CFIS-FM Listen Live link at any time. Pregame show will get underway at 7:15pm with player and coaches interviews followed by the call of the game with yours truly. You can text me or email me and I will try and get to your message through the course of the game.
Rosters ...
Trail Smoke Eaters
1 Kiefer Smiley (G 5'11" 180 2/23/1990 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 00)
2 Graeme Strukoff (D 5'11" 185 3/30/1991 Chilliwack, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 Pim 27)
4 Wade Bennett (D 5'08" 170 4/22/1990 Gardena, CA, USA) (GP 9 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 Pim 04)
5 David Piccard (D 6'00" 200 6/7/1990 Anchorage, AK, USA) (GP 9 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 04)
6 Eric Walker (D 6'01" 187 2/23/1993 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 Pim 14)
7 Steve Koshey (D 5'08" 175 3/27/1991 Trail, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 2 A 4 Pts 6 Pim 04)
9 Travis St. Denis (F 5'07" 155 9/9/1992 Trail, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 6 A 5 Pts 11 Pim 14)
10 Darnell Dyck (F 6'02" 185 4/18/1991 Chilliwack, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 Pim 09)
11 Sam Mellor (F 5'10" 175 11/21/1992 Cranbrook, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 6 A 3 Pts 9 Pim 02)
14 Scott Jacklin (F 5'11" 178 3/9/1990 Kimberley, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 4 A 4 Pts 8 Pim 13)
16 Matt Wilkins (F 5'11" 175 1/26/1991 Kimberley, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 9 Pts 9 Pim 10)
17 Nick Sandor (F 6'00" 187 2/15/1989 Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 10 Pts 10 Pim 02)
18 Josh McEwan (F 5'10" 175 4/7/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 09)
20 Sean Nugent (F 6'02" 210 11/8/1989 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 1 A 0 Pts 1 Pim 24)
22 Thomas Abenante (F 5'09" 160 3/16/1990 Trail, BC, CAN) (GP 6 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 00)
23 Tye Lewis (F 5'10" 185 6/24/1989 Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 7 A 10 Pts 17 Pim 08)
24 Marc-Antoine Chaput (D 5'10" 170 12/11/1991 Masouche, PQ, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 Pim 14)
25 Paul Mailey (F 5'09" 165 7/28/1990 Trail, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 Pim 04)
26 Mitch Kaufmann (D 6'00" 192 8/9/1991 Red Deer, AB, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 00)
35 Garrett Beckwith (G 6'00" 180 1/4/1990 Parsipany, NJ, USA) (GP 8 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 00)
Prince George Spruce Kings
1 Alex Wright (G 6'01" 185 4/20/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 Pim 00)
3 Wes McLeod (D 6'02" 185 9/30/1990 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 5 A 8 Pts 13 Pim 21)
4 Clayton McEwan (D 6'00" 180 11/26/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 Pim 04)
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 Pim 15)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/1990 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 06)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/1/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 09)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/1990 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 Pim 00)
10 Brad Bourke (D 6'01" 175 4/21/1989 Onoway, AB, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 02)
11 Kyle Manlow (F 5'10" 165 6/28/1991 Murrieta, CA, USA) (GP 10 G 1 A 0 Pts 1 Pim 02)
15 Luke Hannas (F 6'02" 185 9/9/1991 Williams Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 Pim 45)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/8/1991 Whittier, AK, USA) (GP 9 G 3 A 1 Pts 4 Pim 13)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/1989 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 4 A 15 Pts 19 Pim 14)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/1992 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 6 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 02)
21 Stewart Lambert (F 6'00" 175 4/5/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 02)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/1991 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 Pim 39)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 2 A 5 Pts 7 Pim 04)
24 Josh Pineiro (D 5'10" 211 8/25/1989 Huntington Beach, CA, USA) (GP 9 G 4 A 5 Pts 9 Pim 23)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/8/1989 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 3 A 5 Pts 8 Pim 13)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 5 A 10 Pts 15 Pim 19)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/1990 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 Pim 00)
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