Game Day | PEN at TRA

Make it an even dozen!

The Trail Smoke Eaters extended their franchise record winning streak to 12 games with a 7-4 shunning of Sherwood Park in front of a Cominco Arena crowd of 2,201 and it didn’t take long for the house to start rocking.

Rookie Deacon Drummond drilled a shot in off the post at 2:18 in an offensive opening period punctuated by newbies.

Josh Evaschesen made it 2-0 on a dirty deke just over three minutes later after Carter Matthews raced out of the penalty box to retrieve the puck cleared down the ice by Jack Kennedy and fed a wide-open Evaschesen with a perfect pass.

Cade De St. Hubert hit the top corner, crashing the net for a Ridge Dawson rebound about three minutes later and the Smokies carried a 3-0 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes. De St. Hubert has scored in three straight games.

The Crusaders got on the board about four minutes into the second period on a pass that went in off the skate of Smokies defenseman Isaac Fecteau, but then the streakers went to work.

Jason Stefanek made it 12 games in a row with at least one point, snapping in his 23rd goal of the season on a breakaway just past the midway point.

Ridge Dawson then scored a team record 16th shorthanded goal of the season in dramatic fashion.

The captain was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down on a breakaway.

Dawson dangled slowly across the front of the net, waited for goalie James Venne to flop and sent a sharp angle wrister into the opposite top corner of the net, just inside the post to snipe what turned out to be the game winning tally.

After the Crusaders scored two minutes later on a power play, Christian Kim, who had already extended his points streak to 10 games, jammed in a shot from the side of the net along the goal line to make it 6-2 Trail. Kim has now scored in six straight games.

A determined Dawson delivered again in the final minute of the period, taking the puck out of the corner, battling through the crease and jamming the puck through Venne.

The Crusaders who scored twice in the third period outshot the Smokies 35-31, with Trail killing off 5-of-6 penalties against the top power play in the BCHL.

The Smokies were 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

Tonight, the second place Smokies collect for a Cominco Arena collision against the conference leading Vees.

The gap is four points after Vernon battled back from a 2-0 third period deficit in Penticton to tie the game with two-tenths of a second left in regulation and scored early in overtime to complete the dramatic 3-2 upset.

The Smokies also recorded a 3-2 overtime win in Penticton the last time these two met just over a month ago.

Stefanek scored a sensational goal to tie the game late in the third period and added the overtime winner to knot the season series at two games each.

Opening face-off is at 7 p.m. and good seats are still available at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.