The Trail Smoke Eaters won a thrilling 3-1 match against the West Kelowna Warriors at home Friday night before dropping a 5-2 game to the Vernon Vipers on Saturday.
Kienan Scott scored the winning goal for the Smoke Eaters on a third-period penalty shot to break a 1-1 tie and give the Smokies their 12th win of the season. It was Scott’s seventh goal of the season, and probably his fifth by way of breakaway as the Penticton native has been unstoppable when in all alone.
After a scoreless first period where the Smokies outhot the Warriors 11-10, Jake Lucchini opened the scoring at 14:04 beating Andy Desautels on an unassisted effort.
The Warriors outshot the Smokies 13-8 in the period with the game’s second star Adam Todd making a number of good stops, however, Brayden Gelsinger would tie it with just 28 seconds left in the middle frame to set up the game’s first star Scott’s heroics. The Warriors would swarm the Trail net in the dying seconds but Todd would withstand the assault and Dallas Calvin added an empty netter to salt away the 3-1 victory.
On Saturday, Vernon took a 3-0 lead on goals by TJ Dumonceaux, Liam Coughlin and Luke Voltin before Trail got on the scoreboard at 6:03 of the second period on a goal by Harlan Orr with assists going to Scott Davidson and Bryan Basilico.
Vernon led 4-1 after two and traded goals in the third period with eventual third-star Orr scoring his second goal of the night with Scott Davidson adding his second assist. Both teams were 1-4 on the power play and Vernon outshot Trail 32-27. Brett Clark was in goal for Trail while Jarrod Schamerhorn backstopped Vernon to the win. First star of the game was Vernon's TJ Dumonceaux, second star was Luke Voltin (Vernon) and third star went to Trail's Harlan Orr.
Trail’s next game goes on Wednesday in Penticton against the Vees, before they return to the Cominco Arena Saturday for another tilt against the Vipers.