The Trail Smoke Eaters forward Adam Parsons scored twice including the game winner, as Trail tallied four first period goals on the way to a 6-5 victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday at the Trail Memorial Centre.
Parsons scored the game winner in thrilling fashion with 1:57 to play. The Port Moody product broke in on a 2-on-1 with Nic Remissong, but when his pass was blocked by the Wild defenceman, Parsons astutely regained possession and fired in a backhand for the 6-5 lead.
The win finished a string of four-straight games against Wenatchee, with Trail going 2-1-0-1 and earning five of eight points against their Interior Conference rival.
The Smoke Eaters were busy this past week prior to the Dec. 1 roster deadline. Trail sent forward Quinn Disher to Penticton in exchange for Ethan Mann, traded Jack Kurrle to Prince George for future considerations, and traded goalie Cole Tisdale for Ty Hurley currently with the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds, and futures.
Remissong opened the scoring 3:33 into the first on a shot from the left circle that eluded Wild goalie Andy Vlaha for his ninth goal of the campaign. Parsons made it 2-0 on a centering pass from Brady Hunter, and Trail defenceman Alec Whipple tallied his first of the season with 7:09 left in the opening frame on a great passing play from Adam Marshall.
Smokies
Josh Schenk finished a dish on a hard drive to the net from Trey Fechko for a 4-0 lead with 5:37 to play, but the Wild got on the board to make it 4-1 on a goal from Gabe Dombrowski before the period was out.
Trail started the second frame with the same inspired play with Adam Marshall notching his fifth of the season on a goalmouth scramble two minutes in for a 5-1 lead.
But the Wild came back to make it interesting. Dombrowski made it 5-2 two minutes later, and Micah Berger cut the lead to 5-3 with 7:38 left in the middle frame.
Wild captain Cade Littler made it 5-4, sweeping in a loose puck with just over 14 minutes remaining, and Parker Muray scored a power play goal, tipping an Ean Somoza shot to tie it with nine minutes left.
Wenatchee
Despite the good start, the effort was not a textbook match for Trail as they were outshot 11-4 in the third period and 34-27 in the game. The Smoke Eaters went 0-for-3 on the power play, and 2-for-3 on the PK.
Notably, Trail has the second most potent power play in the Interior Conference at 23.6 per cent effectiveness, with Penticton leading the league and scoring on a lofty 36.9 per cent of their chances.
The Wild’s Littler earned the game’s first star, Smoke Eaters forward Brady Hunter second star and Parsons third star.
The win lifts the 10-11-1-2 Smoke Eaters into sole possession of sixth place in the Interior, as they get set to play the Merritt Centennials on Friday, Dec. 9 in Merritt and return to the Memorial Centre on Saturday, Dec. 10 to host the West Kelowna Warriors at 7 p.m.