Game Day | PEN at TRA

The Trail Smoke Eaters with newly shuffled forward lines and defense pairings due to injuries and the departure of 20-year-old winger Attila Lippai, battled through the adversity to beat the West Kelowna Warriors 4-1, delighting fans and family on hand for game one of Parents Weekend.

The Cominco Arena crowd of 1,532 saw the teams grind out a scoreless game until the 11-minute mark of the second period when rookie Josh Evaschesen scored his first BCHL goal, deflecting an Isaac Fecteau shot from the point.

Evaschesen, along with fellow rookie line mates Cade De St. Hubert and Deacon Drummond were outstanding, applying constant pressure in the Warriors zone all game and were proficient when matched against the Warriors top line.

Dylan Lariviere scored the eventual winner just over four minutes later, when his attempted pass from behind the goal line banked in off Warriors defenseman Luke Schrader and the Smokies came within a whisker of making it 3-0 with about four seconds remaining in the period when the puck fluttered just wide of the Warriors net off defenseman Nathan Drapeau.

Trail boy, Judah Makway also brought the crowd to its feet with ending a furious fight with a take-down of Warriors defenseman Jack Farrell halfway through the middle frame, one in which the Smokies poured 15 shots on goal.

However, the Warriors made things very interesting about 12 minutes into the third period when Jackson Kyrkostas knocked down a long pass from inside the Warriors zone, broke in down the left-wing, and beat Smokies goalie Teagan Kendrick with backhand to forehand move across the net, putting a perfectly placed shot just inside the far post.

The Smoke Eaters regained its two goal lead a minute-and-a-half later when Captain Ridge Dawson crashed the crease with a power move and the puck laid loose in the blue paint for Jack Ziliotto to tap in his seventh goal of the season, ending an eight game drought.

Callas Pierce put the game away about a minute-and-a-half later when he made a skilled play to score on his own rebound.

He was set up on a masterful 2-on-1 pass from Makway and reached back after his momentum took him past the net to sweep in a backhander after Warriors goalie Dawson Labre made a big save on the quick-release first attempt.

A confident Kendrick earned third star honours with a 23-save performance, with some key stops in the first period when the Warriors outshot Trail 11-8.

The Smokies added another 15 third period shots totalling 38 through 60 minutes and went 0-for-2 on the power play, but Lariviere’s goal came just as the Warriors returned to full strength. The Smokies were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Defenseman Isaac Fecteau was the second star, picking up two assists and won battles all night in the defensive zone including a couple of key shot-blocks.

The absence of the injured Jack Kennedy also meant both rookie defenseman Cohen Carter and Owen McCarthy were in the lineup, and both turned in solid performances.

The Smokies (11-6-1-1) host the Vees (14-5) tonight at Cominco Arena, with a chance to avenge Monday’s 7-3 setback in Penticton.

The Vees are coming off a 4-3 Friday night victory in Cranbrook.

Opening face off is set for 7 p.m. Pacific.