The Trail Smoke Eaters dropped a pair of home games on the weekend with a 4-3 loss to West Kelowna on Saturday and a 5-2 drubbing by Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday.
The Smokies wore their impressive 1930s retro jerseys against the Warriors and the new look gave the Smokies some jump in the first period. Trail jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals from Mack Byers and Bryce Anderson. It was the Whitehorse product, Anderson’s, first goal as a Smoke Eater and was assisted by new additions Layne Sniher and Max Kryski.
However, West Kelowna battled back in the second tying the game with goals from Bennett Norlin and Mike Hardman, who wired a shot past Smokies starter Tanner Marshall with 3:41 to play.
The Warriors capitalized on a two-man advantage, when Hardman blasted a one-timer past Marshall for a 3-2 lead. Before the penalty expired, the Warriors made it 4-2 a minute later on a Willie Reim point shot at the 12:21 mark of the third.
The Smoke Eaters pressed and Kent Johnson scored his eighth goal of the season with just under four minutes to play, but that was as close as Trail would get.
The Smoke Eaters outshot the Warriors 36-22 and went 1-for-3 on the power play, while West K were 2-for-4.
On Friday, the Smokies couldn’t keep pace with the Chilliwack Chiefs at the Trail Memorial Center, falling to the top team in the BCHL 5-2.
Chiefs assistant coach, and former Smoke Eater coach and GM, Cam Keith, made a triumphant return to the Cominco Arena as his league-leading Chiefs controlled the play for most of the 60 minutes.
Ethan Bowen and Kevin Wall put the Chiefs up 2-0 midway through the first period, before a snipe from the high slot by Carter Jones cut the lead in half heading into the second frame.
However, Wall and Bowen struck again putting the Smokies up 4-1, before Trail’s Kent Johnson made it 4-2 with 3:20 to play in the middle frame. Cole Donhauser capped off the evening with an empty net goal with 23 seconds remaining.
The Chiefs outshot the Smoke Eaters 34-25 and went 2-for-4 on the power play, and a perfect 5-for-5 on the PK.
Trail travels to Wenatchee on Wednesday for a game against the Wild, then return to the Cominco Arena Friday to host Prince George.
