Shawn Mullin's Trail Smoke Eaters Blog: Northern Road Trip Recap

Don't forget KIJHL fans that you can see Grand Forks take on Beaver Valley tonight in Fruitvale. 7pm puck drop. Wish I could see the game but work calls.

Here's some audio from the weekend off of the Mountain FM website. You can hear stuff like this weeknights on Overtime from 6pm to Midnight. Also feel free to call in at 1-877-560-1010, I'd love to hear from Smokies fans or any other BCHL fans that want to talk some hockey. You can talk about whatever you want.

Again you can hear first run material like that on Overtime weeknights. Let me know if you find this stuff useful.

Thanks to those who passed on the kind words about the blog. I haven't posted a whole lot that would lead to discussion here on the blog. I wonder if there are enough people reading so that we could have a good discussion about stuff in the comments section? I guess we'll see if anything worth debate comes up!

Did anyone listen to the game on Saturday night? How did you feel about the sound quality we got? We tried using a computer broadcast system as opposed to the typical phone system. Did you notice the difference? If so, was it a positive or negative difference in your mind? Let me know here or by e-mail at shawnsamsmullin@hotmail.com

Quite a trip for the Smokies. It was bumpy as hell from day one. We were supposed to leave at 9am on Wednesday and ended up actually leaving at 11pm that night thanks to mechanical problems. We left Prince George after the game on Saturday night and ended up stuck in Vernon for 4-5 hours in the wee hours of the morning. That's what happens on the bus sometimes! It sure made for a tired, road weary group piling off that bus on Sunday afternoon. We won't have a full weekend road trip again until the new year.

The team also saw a new side of Coach Jim Ingram this weekend. After 5-1 and 6-2 losses to start the trip, Ingram really let the boys have it before and during Saturday's game. They responded well with a terrific effort on Saturday night. Prince George is a good team with some great young talent. They're going to challenge everyone in this league. They're also going to be incredible fun to watch as those young players develop. Three out of the four games between the Smokies and Spruce Kings have gone to overtime. They've been the most exciting games of the year. When PG is back in Trail later this year you don't want to miss those games.

We also saw the Smokies show a physical side they haven't shown all year. They were the least penalized team in the league coming into the weekend before fighting 5 times in the third period of the Quesnel game and getting involved in a mini-brawl at the end of the first Prince George game.

Despite a disappointing 1-2 record, I think this group did a lot of team building on the trip. Lots of soul searching, refocusing and bonding. Now they're suffering for those two losses as Coach Ingram puts them to work this week. 6am workouts, three workouts a day, heavy practice... as he told me on the weekend, "It's time to go to work." How will the boys respond to a more hands on and intense leadership approach from the Coach?

We'll see where that takes them now that the Jones boys and the Vernon Vipers come into town for the first of a home and home on Friday.

I'll have a post up later discussing Kevin Limbert's all-star team selection. Congrats to one of the hardest working players in the league for a well deserved honour!