Gameday: Saturday Notes, KIJHL Update

Smokies forward Riley Loyst is the first victim of the injury bug this season for Trail. He'll be out 2 to 3 weeks with a fractured jaw. As a result, the Smokies are down to 12 forwards on the roster. No one will get a night off in the immediate future. The injury all but secures that Jadon Porterfield will make his BCHL debut tonight for Trail against the Quesnel Millionaires. You can hear the game as always with AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters hockey on Mountain FM.

After a great performance by Marco Raimondo last night in Trails 2-2 tie with Prince George, the game of can you top this continues. Paul Barclay gets his turn tonight against the Millionaires. Quesnel really had Trail's number last year, and they're an older and more experienced team this season. The Smokies have to have a complete 60 minute effort out there tonight against the Mills. Barclay will likely be going head to head with Jeff Malcom who has been one of the top netminders in the BCHL to start this season. Should be a good battle.

Brandon Clark is really making the most of his opportunities with the Smoke Eaters. The big defencemen didn't get much of a chance to contribute offensively in Cowichan Valley last year. Well now this season he's delivered 5 points in 4 games for Trail. That's how you take advantage of more ice time.

I'll have more when we get to the rink.

UPDATE

Forward lines for tonight are as follows:

Gehon - Pickering - Sandor
Boisvert - Bulach - Mailey
Nugent - St. Denis - Legassic
Brown - Martin - Porterfield

Koshey - Clark
Strukoff - Reardon
Raley - Smutek

Barclay
Raimondo

(Scratched: Zmurchyk, DeKeyser, Loyst [jaw])

The injury to Loyst moves Patrik Martin to centre on the fourth line. It's not a role he has played a lot with Trail, but it's one he can play. Justin Brown can also take some draws there as he's played centre before as well. Sandor had a good first game getting an assist on Clark's goal. The strong play elevates him to a role with Pickering and Gehon who were shut out last night after a strong few games before that.

The Millionaires are a tough opponent who has played a bunch of close, low scoring games to start the season. They were right with Penticton last night and Vees broadcaster Ryan Pinder told me they are a tough opponent who doesn't give you much room to breathe. He also said Malcom was fantastic in net for the Mills. He burned Trail a few times last year and has apparently taken his game to the next level. It won't be easy to score tonight.

Pre-game show is 7:15 with the puck drop at 7:30 for AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters hockey on Mountain FM. 104.1 FM in Trail, 99.3 FM in Castlegar, 103.5 FM in Nelson.

Last night's game was a beauty. As close a tie game as you're likely to see in this league. Both teams deserved a point. However, the extra 10 minutes and travel could be tough on the Smokies as we hit tonight's game and tomorrow afternoon in Merritt. We'll see how they respond. In this case it's good to have young legs.

Jadon Porterfield makes his BCHL debut tonight, and he's excited. We could see a couple of tilts as Porterfield will want to make an impression and Sean Nugent hasn't let a game go by without a fight. Nobody is going to push around this year's Smokies.

We talked to Jadon in the intermission last night, tonight we'll talk to new Smoke Eater Nick Sandor.

LIFE ON THE ROAD

I'm getting more and more comfortable with life on the road. It takes a while to adjust I think. How do you act around the team? As a member of the media, can you really be that friendly? This year I'm feeling a lot more at ease. The guys tried to shake me up a little this morning though when I didn't get up for breakfast. A pile of them stormed into my room to jump me and threw our trainer's (Kevin McCallum) mattress on me. Little did they know such things will never keep me from my precious sleep. I just rolled over and took in four more hours of shut eye. Friends and family wouldn't be surprised that Kevin later walked in and found me sound asleep with the mattress still piled on top of me.

KIJHL

If you're heading down to Castlegar tonight to watch the Nitehawks/Rebels game just bring your walkman and tune us in at 99.3 to keep track of the Smokies game. Incidentally, BV won 4-1 last night in Fruitvale. Kelowna Rockets draft pick Dylan Tait had terrific numbers in his first game with the Nitehawks. He was a late cut from the Rockets roster and is someone they absolutely have plans for. He could be a huge upgrade for Beaver Valley in the competitive Neil Murdoch conference. Tomas Abanante (who attended Trail's camp) had a goal and an assist. Brett Corcoran's brother Sam racked up 15 minutes in the sin bin.

Nelson got a 5-4 win yesterday against Kimberly with former Smokies and guys who attended Trail's camp playing big roles. Former Smoke Eater Brock Monroe was the first star with the winning goal and an assist. Smokies camp stand out Dylan Walchuk put up a goal and an assist for the second star, and Liam Gorges (who also had a strong showing at Trail's camp) scored one from the blue line for the third star. On top of that, Brady Berisoff got the win in nets (also played at Trail's camp) and former Smokies Miles Houston and Scott Jago are prominent members of the team.

Grand Forks is still looking for their first win after a loss in Creston. Former Spruce King and Merritt goaltender Shane Mainprize has come in to try and stabilize things in net there. It's been a rough start for the young Border Bruins who are trying to compete in a difficult division. Spokane is looking tough this year, Skyler Smutek and Brandon Clark's former team hammered Sicamous 7-3 yesterday.

Tonight it's BV at Castlegar, Sicamous at Nelson, Spokane at Grand Forks.

We'll try to keep you updated on those games during our Smokies broadcast.