The Trail Smoke Eaters will be relieved to know they don’t have to face the West Kelowna Warriors anymore in the regular season.
The Warriors concluded its season-long dominance over the Smokies by sweeping back-to-back games at the Cominco Arena on the weekend.
Friday night’s 9-0 rout and Saturday’s 4-1 win gave West Kelowna a perfect 7-0 record in matchups against Trail this season and they did it in convincing fashion outscoring the Smokies 49-13 in those games.
That pattern held true on the weekend as the Warriors steamrolled the Smokies Friday.
West Kelowna broke open a 1-0 game with three goals in the first four minutes of the middle frame to chase Trail starting goalie Bailey MacBurnie. Linden Marshall didn’t fare much better in relief as the Warriors put another five pucks behind him as West Kelowna solidified its hold on second spot in the Interior Conference.
Saturday saw a better effort from the home team but that didn’t derail the Warriors bid for the season sweep.
Garrett Forster scored twice in the first period to give the visitors the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Down 3-0, Trail finally gave the home fans reason to cheer when Nolan Redler replied for the Smokies just seven seconds after going down by three. That’s as close as it got as Jonathan Desbiens potted his second of the game for the Warriors in the third to seal the win.
The Smokies sit five points out of a playoff spot behind Vernon, which holds two games in hand.
Any last-gasp push for the final spot will need to come soon. Trail has only six games left on the 2015-16 calendar including the first of three against Salmon Arm tonight in the North Okanagan city.
Trail’s next home game is Feb. 19 when Merritt comes to town.
