What may be a preview of round one of the BCHL Interior Conference playoffs faced off at the Trail Memorial Centre on Wednesday night where the Salmon Arm Silverbacks beat the Trail Smoke Eaters 5-3.
The game winner came 2:20 into the third period when the Smoke Eaters were caught on a line change and Salmon Arm quickly transitioned with Mathieu Cobetta-Roy firing in a rebound off a Nathan Morin shot for a 4-3 lead.
Despite the loss, the Trail Smoke Eaters didn’t look like the seventh seed nor the Silverbacks the number-two seed in the first period as Trail dominated outshooting Salmon Arm 21-9 through 20 minutes.
Yet it was Tucker Hartmann who opened the scoring for Salmon Arm at 4:54.
Zach Michaelis replied for Trail at 6:13 to tie it at one heading into period two, despite many golden opportunities for the Smoke Eaters.
Trail captain Coalson Wolford scored 63 seconds into the middle frame on a setup from Brady Hunter and Michaelis to give Trail a 2-1 lead.
Just over six minutes later, Wolford redirected in his 10th of the season on a shot from Michaelis past Backs goalie Liam Vanderkooi to give Trail a 3-1 lead at 7:21 of the second.
Salmon Arm battled back on goals from Zack Smith and a breakaway tally from Aidan Lindblad to tie it at 11:58, beating Smokies goalie Evan Fradette with a low shot stick side.
The Silverbacks added an empty netter with 1:07 remaining to improve their record to 33-8-3-1 while Trail falls to 17-22-2-2.
Trail outshot Salmon Arm 43-32 and went 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Silverbacks were 1-for-3.
Hartmann earned first star, Smokies Wolford second star and Hunter third star for his three assists. Michaelis also had a strong game with a goal and two assists.
The Smoke Eaters embark on a heavy March schedule playing 12 games in 24 days, with just three remaining matches at home.
This was just their third game against Salmon Arm this season, and will play the ‘Backs two more times as part of the 11 remaining matches.
Trail hosts West Kelowna on Friday with the puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Cominco Arena, and head to Penticton to face off against the Vees on Saturday.
BCHL Notes: Former Midget U18 Kootenay Ice captain Noah Quinn earned third star in the BCHL last week. The Nelson native had a great weekend scoring four goals and eight points in three games to give him 21 goals and 44 points in 42 games this season.
Quinn had a career game against West Kelowna Warriors in a 6-3 Bucks victory. The Bemidji State commit tallied four goals and an assist for a five point night and the game’s first star.