Preview – Smoke Eaters Head To Vernon For Mid Week Test Against The Vipers

The Smoke Eaters hit the road to Vernon ahead of a 4 games in five nights, and a chance to gain some ground in the Interior Conference.

Season Series versus Vernon:

Dec. 3 Trail 3 at Vernon 5 Final
Dec. 10 Vernon 2 at Trail 3 Final SL OT
Jan. 19 Trail at Vernon 7:00 pm PST
Feb. 2 Vernon at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Feb. 25 Vernon at Trail 7:00 pm PST

The Smoke Eaters will have to pull out a result with two of their top players unavailable as Corey Cunningham and Zach Michaelis will miss the game Wednesday night in Vernon. All that means is the Smoke Eaters need to have a next man up mentality and step up. Coming off Saturday’s loss in Cranbrook the Smoke Eaters showed resilience in that game battle back from an early 4-0 deficit. The Smoke Eaters outside the first period out played the Bucks and maybe should have gotten at least a point for their efforts. That being said a rocky start to the game was the reason they found themselves playing from behind. The Smoke Eaters have split the season series so far with Vernon, as the Vipers hade a late third period surge on home ice back in December to take the first game before the Smoke Eaters outlasted the Vipers on home ice with a shootout win.

Smoke Eaters leading scorers:

Hunter (11-21-32)
Michaelis (18-12-30)
Lagerback (15-11-26)
Disher (8-15-23)
Cunningham (6-16-22)

The Vipers are coming into tonight’s game following an offensive explosion on their part as they beat the Vernon Vipers 9-1 on Saturday night. The Vipers prior to that also have a lengthy pause due to various postponements of games, the break saw them go 12 days between games, similar to what the Smoke Eaters went through. Now as they try to get back into a rhythm they’ll have to contend with the Smoke Eaters who sit 5 points above the Smoke Eaters in the interior. The big key for the Vipers, especially coming out of their break has been their ability to shake off the injury bug. Something that has plagued this team from early on in the season. With some of their regulars back in they’ll look to make up some ground.

Vipers leading scorers:

Buss (9-13-22)
Milburn (9-10-19)
MacDonald (8-11-19)
Shostak (9-9-18)
Tanaka-Campbell (3-12-15)

Puck drop for tonight’s game is 7pm from Kal Tire Place. As always fans can watch on BCHLTV or listen free on Mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters/ with the pregame show starting at 6:50pm.