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Trail U15 Jr. Smokies earn silver at provincials

Trail Jr. Smokies took home silver after a late comeback came up just short vs New Westminster
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Trail U15 Jr. Smokies win silver medal at BC U15 Tier 3 hockey championships in Osoyoos.

Greater Trail U15 Jr. Smokies wrapped up the BC Hockey U15 Tier 3 provincial hockey championship on Saturday with a second place finish in Osoyoos.

The Trail U15 team took home the silver medal after falling 4-3 in a close, hard-fought final against the New Westminster U15s.

Trail went 3-1-1 in the tournament, and earned a berth in the playoff with a 6-3 victory over Prince George on Thursday.

The Jr. Smokies battled back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Smithers, the undefeated top-seed from Pool B, 5-3 in the semifinal on Friday.

Trail`s Tate Robinson and Joffre Fraser scored in the second period to tie it at 2-2. Raiden Dobie then tallied a shorthanded goal 1:02 into the third period for a 3-2 lead, and Blaine Nelson scored on a power play to make it 4-2 at 10:11.

Smithers cut the lead to one with 7:18 remaining but Smokies forward Dayton Graf netted an insurance marker at 6:07 for the 5-3 final.

The Jr. Smokies then faced a New Westminster team that had already dealt Trail their only loss, a 10-0 drubbing in the preliminary round.

Trail jumped out to a 1-0 lead 63 seconds into the match on a goal from Benjamin Guthrie. However, New West soon recovered and led 2-1 after one.

A goal late in the second and another with 4:30 left to play in the final frame made it 4-1. But Trail stormed back with a goal from Nelson at 2:08 and another tally from Nolan Smyth to cut the lead to 4-3 with 1:26 left in regulation.

The Trail team came close in the end but could not find the equalizer, settling for a well-earned silver medal.

Greater Trail minor hockey also saw the U13 Jr. Smokies win bronze in Trail, and the GTMHA U18 team come close but just miss the podium in a 4-3 loss to Hollyburn in the semifinal and a 3-2 loss to Kelowna in the bronze medal match.

The Zone team, West Kootenay Crusaders, also won silver at the Tier 1 BC hockey championships.

Read: Trail U13 Jr. Smokies capture bronze at B.C. championship.



Jim Bailey

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