RECAP: Smoke Eaters sweep the weekend, trounce Warriors 8-2

The Trail Smoke Eaters continue their hot run of play as they put on a show in front 2300 fans on Saturday night.

The Smoke Eaters came out of the gate with a purpose and put three past the Warriors in the opening twenty minutes, much to the delight of the hometown crowd. At 11:17 Kent Johnson won the draw in the right circle of the Warriors zone, won it forward to himself in a play we’ve seen before, as he fed Mike Colella to open the scoring. Just 6s later Colella would break in a have his shot stopped by Brock Baier but the rebound was put home by Corey Clifton, who grabbed his first goal of the year. Clifton would get another before the period was out on the power play as he took the slap pass from Powell Connor at the back post.

Kent Johnson, who already had two assists on the night, added two in the second period. His first and absolute snipe went top corner on Baier as he held the puck on a 3-on-2 for the Smokies. The second one, well when your hot you get lucky, as Johnson had the puck poked to him at the blueline, where he blindly threw it at the net and it went through an unsuspecting Baier. Smoke Eaters headed to the break up 5-0 and in complete control.

In the third the Smokies put a wrap on this one, as just 51s in Clifton would complete the hat-trick and a passing play from Johnson and Colella, as all three players finished with five points each. The Warriors would score two in the third to make it 6-2 but a hit from behind on DiMurro had the Smoke Eaters fired up and not willing to let the game end peacefully. They would add two more courtesy of Owen Ozar and Walker Erickson, who got his first BCHL goal, to make it 8-2 and send the Smokies faithful home happy.

Johnson who continues to lead the league now sits at 37 points on the year and finishes off a 9 point week.

The Smoke Eaters will continue this run against interior teams Wednesday night when they host the Wenatchee Wild at 7pm.