A capacity crowd of over 2,600 fans cheered the Trail Smoke Eaters to their 21st home victory on Friday.
Chase Dafoe netted a hat trick and goalie Logan Terness earned his record tying 27th win in leading the Smoke Eaters to a 5-1 win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Dafoe opened the scoring from his kitchen in front of Silverbacks netminder Grant Adams, tipping a point shot from Michael Colella on the power play just 7:55 into the opening frame.
Less than a minute later Braden Costello lifted a bouncing puck over the shoulder of the Backs goalie for a 2-0 Trail lead. Dafoe added his second of the night, making a slick backhand-forehand move in front of Adams, and lifting it top shelf at 14:33 of the second period to make it 3-0.
Salmon Arm’s Luke Mylymok tallied a power-play goal with 7:36 to play to cut the lead to two.
A brilliant rush by Jaden Senkoe sent a backhand over the glove of Adams to restore the three-goal lead, and Dafoe completed the hat trick at 4:50 for the 5-1 final.
Trail plays the Centennials in Merritt on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.
