Game Day | TRA at BFB
The Smokies open a consecutive three game road trip tonight in Blackfalds.
Trail has nailed down second place in the Interior West Division, while the Bulldogs are in a neck-and-neck battle with Brooks for first in the Interior East.
Blackfalds has a two point lead, but the Bandits have two games in hand and ended the Bulldogs eight game winning streak last Saturday with a 3-2 victory.
The Smokies are riding a three game winning streak and have emerged victorious in five of their last six games, including last Saturday’s second-place clinching, 6-4 silencing of Salmon Arm at Cominco Arena.
The Smokies have a 2-1 edge in the season series against the Bulldogs with wins of 2-1 and 4-2 in Trail. The second game on Jan. 24 saw goalie Cooper Michaluk stop 26 shots for the win in his return from three months on the injured list with a partially torn hamstring.
Trail’s last visit to Blackfalds on Family Day Monday in February, was their third game in four nights and came after a Saturday night game in Trail. The Bulldogs scored three shorthanded goals, including the empty-netter in the final minute to record a 5-2 win.
The Bulldog’s potent offensive attack, which averages four goals per game, is led by Nikita Ivashcenko, who is second in the league with 66 points and third in the BCHL with 29 goals. He also leads the BCHL with 31 power play points. Noah Mertz is the second leading scoring defenseman in the BCHL with 45 points and is second best among back-liners on the power play with 21 points. In addition to a 24% power play, Blackfalds has scored a league-leading 16 shorthanded goals on a penalty kill that tops the BCHL at 83.1%.
The Smokies offense kicked into high gear last weekend with 13 goals, including hat tricks from Erik Pastro on Friday against Spruce Grove and Zach Coutu on Saturday versus the Silverbacks.
Captain Isaac Fecteau and David Greene didn’t make the trip because of injuries, leaving the Trail troupe with 6 defensemen and 14 forwards. All three goalies, Cooper Michaluk, Lyam Leblanc and Chayse Johnson are with the team this weekend, which includes games Saturday night in Brooks and Sunday afternoon in Okotoks.
Tonight’s tilt gets underway at 6 p.m. Pacific time. It can be heard on Mixlr and watched on FloHockey.
The next home games at Cominco Arena are Friday, March 20th (vs Sherwood Park) and Saturday, March 21 (vs Victoria). Both games start at 7 p.m. Good seats are still available at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.