Skip to content

The Trail Smoke Eaters down Eagles before falling to Rivermen and Express

The Trail Smoke Eaters took three of six points on the road in a three game swing through the Lower Mainland on the weekend.

It was a good start to the Trail Smoke Eaters three game road swing through the Lower Mainland on the weekend, starting with a win against Surrey Friday, the Smokies would take the league-leading Langley Rivermen to overtime before falling to Coquitlam on Sunday.

The Smoke Eaters beat the Surrey Eagles 5-3 with Brian Basilico scoring twice including the winning goal at 7:53 of the second period, before falling to the Rivermen 3-2 in overtime on Saturday, and 7-2 to the Coquitlam Express Sunday.

The Smokies took a 4-1 lead on goals from Sean Davies, Jake Lucchini, Dylan Mascarin, and Basilico midway through the second, before goals from Surrey's Austin Ferguson and Chase Murphy would cut it to one.

Basilico, however, would net his 10th of the season when his shot at an empty net was intercepted by a thrown stick, but the goal would count due to the infraction.

Against Langley Saturday, the Smokes Dylan Bowen scored with 7:59 in the third period to tie it at 2-2 and send the game to overtime. However, Austin Azurdia would net his second of the night beating Trail netminder Dustin Nikkel at 1:21 of the first overtime to keep Langley atop the BCHL standings.

The Rivermen outshot the Smokies 46-19 on the night and while Nikkel was stellar in net for Trail, it was former Smoke Eater Lyndon Stanwood who would register the win.

In a Sunday afternoon tilt against Coquitlam, the Smokies AP Jeremy McNeil scored first but Coquitlam replied with five straight markers as the Express rolled to a 7-2 victory over Trail. McNeil also received third-star honours as the Smokies outshot the Express 35-30 but Express goalie Gordie Defiel stymied Trail snipers all night.

Trail's next home game goes on Friday against Surrey at 7:30 p.m. at the Cominco Arena.