The Trail Smoke Eaters struggles continued with losses to West Kelowna and Penticton on the weekend.
The Penticton Vees rolled over the Smoke Eaters 8-2 on Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre for their seventh straight win.
Penalties definitely played a part in the rout, as the tilted ice saw Penticton score four times on nine power play opportunities, compared to just two power plays for the Smoke Eaters.
Ethan Mann and Braden Doyle put the Vees up 2-0 in the first, and Grayson Arnott and Luc Wilson scored in the second for a 4-0 lead. Trail was called on five straight minor penalties in the middle frame, as the Vees outsthot the Smoke Eaters 26-6 in the middle frame.
Smoke Eaters forward Ridge Dawson was a welcome return to the line up this week with a shorthanded goal to get Trail on the board. The Kelowna product beat the Penticton defender in a race to the puck, then fired it by Vees goalie Carter Seryhanko for his fifth of the season.
Wilson notched his second of the night and 25th of the season to make it 5-1, and three straight power play goals in a four minute span put the game out of reach.
Frustration came to a head in the last three minutes when Smokies defenceman Joel Barton and Vees Owen Simpson went toe-to-toe and were ejected for fighting.
Trail forward Adam Parsons completed the scoring with a burst of speed down the left wing with 1:22 to play for the 8-2 final.
Penticton outshot Trail 57-19.
On Friday, the Smoke Eaters hosted the Warriors, but again succumbed 5-2 to their Interior Conference rival.
Trail received some good and bad news prior to the match, as leading scorer Brady Hunter and Josh Schenk were out of the line up with injury, but Ethan Willoughby and Dawson returned to the ice.
The Warriors went up 1-0 early in the first, but a wrap around goal from Quinn Disher tied it heading into period two.
John Evans and Christophe Farmer put West K up 3-1, before Teddy Lagerback’s 21st of the season cut the lead to one 8:56 into the middle frame.
However, goals from Nicholas Ardanaz and John Evans put the game out of reach.
The Warriors outshot Trail 41-30, and were 3-for-6 on the power play while the Smoke Eaters went 0-for-7.
With the losses, the Smoke Eaters fall to 17-24-2-2 and into eighth place in the Interior, a point behind the Wenatchee Wild. Penticton at 39-7-0-2 increase their lead atop the Interior Conference to seven points ahead of second place Salmon Arm.
Trail travels to Wenatchee on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Smoke Eaters defeated the Wild in their last meeting 6-3 on Feb. 27.
Trail then travels to Salmon Arm Friday for a tilt against the Silverbacks before returning home to host Merritt Centennials on Saturday, Mar. 12 with the puck drop at 7 p.m.