Preview – Smoke Eaters Look To Hit Back In Merritt

The Smoke Eaters will look to bounce back from their opening night loss to the Vees as they head over the Okanagan Connector into Merritt to take on the Centennials.

Season series against Merritt

Sep. 24 Trail at Merritt 7:00 pm PDT
Oct. 28 Merritt at Trail 7:00 pm PDT
Nov. 19 Merritt at Trail 7:00 pm PST
Dec. 9 Trail at Merritt 7:00 pm PST
Dec. 16 Merritt at Trail 7:00 pm PST

The Smoke Eaters will look to go into Merritt and pick up their first two points of the new campaign. The Smoke Eaters had success against the Centennials last season with a 4-1-0 record. But Nicola Valley has been a tough building to play in with the Smoke Eaters 4-5-0 in Merritt over the last few season’s Pod season excluded. The Smoke Eaters will look to build off the positives of Friday night and that was parts of the first and third. To be fair, there was also parts of the penalty kill the Smoke Eaters will like, despite allowing three goals. But when you get a 7 minute major penalty assessed against what is going to be one of the best offences in the league in Penticton, one is surely bound to end up in the net. After the opening night nerves the Smoke Eaters will look play more of their game tonight in Merritt.

Smoke Eaters leading scorers:

Parsons (1-0-1)
Bushy (0-1-1)

The Centennials are also coming off an opening night loss, as they hosted the Cranbrook Bucks on Friday night. Cranbrook jumped out to a early lead on the road quickly putting three up on the Centennials. Merritt will have some familiar faces in their lineup that Smoke Eaters fans will recognize, with Walker Erickson, Jackson Krill and Christian Lowe all members of the Centennials this season. The Cents will look to be more like the team of the second half from last year, hard to play against. As they turn the page on their 50th anniversary season Head Coach Curtis Toneff will be looking to get his side back in playoff contention. 

Centennials leading scorers:

Farren (1-0-1)
Johnson (1-0-1)
Erickson (0-1-1)
Murray (0-1-1)
Patella (0-1-1)

Puck drop from Nicola Valley Memorial Arena is 7pm as the Smoke Eaters and Centennials both look for their first win of the season. Catch all the action on HockeyTV or listen on the Smoke Eaters Mixlr, with the pregame show starting at 6:50pm with Smoke Eaters broadcaster Ben Phillips.