Skip to content

Special teams get Trail Smoke Eaters off to promising start

Special teams lift Trail Smoke Eaters to early season success.
13573138_web1_180917-TDT-Glasman
Levi Glasman scored twice against Salmon Arm then tallied the winning goal versus the Vernon Vipers on Saturday at the Snake Pit. Jim Bailey photo.

Special teams powered the Trail Smoke Eaters to one of its best starts to the BCHL season in recent history with two significant division wins on the weekend.

Trail earned seven-of-eight points in its four starts this season all against Interior Division teams following a 6-3 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at home Friday and a 3-1 win over the Vipers in Vernon Saturday to sit on top the Interior standings with seven points (3-0-1-0).

Related Read: Smoke Eaters upend Salmon Arm Silverbacks

“It’s so important to get off to a good start, just with the division we’re in, the points you get early in the season, they usually pay off so much more down the line just because of the cost of battle playing in this division,” said Smoke Eaters coach and GM Jeff Tambellini.

Discipline and a strong power play has been the difference makers for Trail in the early going. The Smokies are the second least penalized team in the league, ceding just two goals and scoring two on 11 shorthanded situations, while improving their power play to 9-for-16 on the season for a league-leading 56 per cent success rate.

“When I played in the league in Chilliwack, that’s one thing you had to do. You have to be able to capitalize when teams take penalties against you. That’s one thing with our group, we have so many dynamic players, we want to make teams pay for taking penalties against us.”

Smoke Eaters’ goalie Adam Marcoux stopped 37 of 38 Viper shots to backstop Trail to its first win at Kal Tire Place in seven games, while Levi Glasman scored the winner on a power-play goal midway through the middle frame.

Marcoux, a Montreal native, has won three in a row, improving his save percentage to .910 and his goals-against-average to 2.97, after an opening night 4-3 overtime loss to West Kelowna, Sept. 7.

“Adam played extremely well, and he’s definitely finding his rhythm now,” said Tambellini. “He’s played in the last four games, he’s a veteran guy, he’s going to have to carry a big load. We just thought getting him into back-to-back weekend when he’s handling all the minutes, it’s going to set him up for a really strong season.”

Vernon took a 1-0 lead in the first period on an Alex Swetlikoff goal with 2:27 to play, but penalty trouble in the second period proved the Vipers undoing as Trail erupted for three goals in just over four minutes to take a 3-1 lead.

Veteran Vipers Jagger Williamson was called for charging at 6:56, then Jesse Lansdell was sent to the dressing room with a game misconduct and a five-minute major for a hit-from-behind just 20 seconds later.

On the ensuing 5-on-3, Trail d-man Jeremy Smith tied the game, on a setup from Diarmad Dimurro and Carter Jones, with a one-timer from the top of the circle at 7:53. A half-minute later, Levi Glasman tallied his third of the season, converting another no-look back-pass from Kent Johnson as he circled behind the net to put Trail up 2-1.

The Vipers returned to even strength, but minutes later Tyler Ghirardosi blew by the defender, corralled Smith’s long flip-pass down the ice, and chipped it over the shoulder of Vipers’ goalie Aidan Porter from an impossible angle for the 3-1 lead. Ghirardosi missed most of Friday’s Salmon Arm game after getting cut in the face in the first period, and because there was no doctor at the rink, the Montrose native was sent to the hospital where he waited several hours for stitches.

“It’s tough to lose your top winger for five stitches for the whole evening.”

Vernon held a 38-27 shots advantage, with Trail’s power play going 2-for-4. Vernon was 0-for-1. Trail’s Smith was the games first star (1G, 1A), Vernon forward Swetlikoff second star, and Ghirardosi third star.

On Friday at the Cominco Arena, Glasman scored twice, d-man Dimurro had a three-point night, and Marcoux stopped 27 shots as Trail doubled up Salmon Arm 6-3.

Kyle Budvardson set up the winning goal with a heads-up breakaway pass from his own end to a streaking Sean Donaldson, who stepped over the blue line and fed Mack Byers on the right wing. The Long Lake, Minn. native waited then fired it over the tender’s glove for a 4-2 lead with a minute to play in the middle frame for his second goal of the season.

After Hayden Rowan opened the scoring at 3:12 on the power play, Salmon Arm took a 2-1 lead on goals from Tyson Gayfer and Hudson Schandor. Glasman scored his first of the season on a slick back-hand pass from Johnson from behind the Silverbacks net to tie it.

Carter Jones wired his first of the campaign on a quick give-and-go with Braeden Tuck, and Byers sniped the winner to make it 4-2 with just 60 seconds to play in the second.

Trevor Adams brought the ‘Backs to within one on the power play, but a breakaway goal from Glasman sealed it, and Trevor Zins finished a 2-on-1 with Donaldson for the 6-3 victory.

Glasman, with two goals, was the games first star, Carter Jones (1G, 1A) earned second star and Zins (1G, 1A) was the third star. Dimurro, with three helpers, was the Energy Player of the Game, as Trail outshot Salmon Arm 30-28 and went 3-for-9 on the power play, while Salmon Arm was 1-for-7.

In spite of the early success, Trail is already facing adversity with injuries. Trail’s roster suffered a big loss on Friday with an injury to top forward Rowan. The Yale University commit is considered day-to-day, joining Spencer McLean and Owen Ozar on the injury list.

“Right now we’ve lost a full line out of our roster, with McLean, Ozar, and Rowan, so it’s a real next-man up situation each night,” added Tambellini. “Like I said, our depth was something that was going to be a major asset for our team, and we’re testing it right now. We have a lot of young players looking to make an impact on our roster so when given the opportunity everyone has done a great job so far.”

The Smoke Eaters will look to keep rolling at the 2018 Bauer BCHL Showcase this weekend at Prospera Place in Chilliwack. Trail has two games on tap starting Thursday at 1 p.m. versus Langley, then face the Powell River Kings at 10 a.m. Friday.

13573138_web1_180917-TDT-Sidoni
Smoke Eaters forward Blake Sidoni comes oh so close as the Trail native rings this shot off the post in a 6-3 win over Salmon Arm Friday at the Cominco Arena, Friday. Jim Bailey photo.


Jim Bailey

About the Author: Jim Bailey

Read more