Trail 3 at Salmon Arm 5

The Smoke Eaters have unfortunately been bit hard by the injury bug this week. With forward Riley Loyst out before this week, they have now also lost forward Justin Brown and goaltender Marco Raimondo for extended periods of time. Raimondo's injury could put him out for anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. It's a big blow to the Smokies who have been running with the best goaltending duo in the BCHL in my view. Thankfully they have veteran Paul Barclay ready to step in and assume the #1 duties all to himself while Marco is recovering. Barclay has shown he is more than up to the task.

The Smokies also brought a couple of AP players with them this weekend. Local goaltender Alex Ross will be backing up Barclay tonight against Salmon Arm and tomorrow in Vernon. Ross will also have to head into Kelowna tomorrow afternoon for his Kootenay Ice Major Midget midget game at 3pm. Talk about a busy weekend. The Raimondo injury happened late in the week and didn't leave a lot of room for planning. There are lots of options for Trail in the area when they have more time to get things set up.

Forward Jacob Perich will also be in the line-up for the Smokies during the two game trip here. He had a very strong showing in Trail's camp this year and has a couple of goals in his first six games playing for Simon Wheeldon's Nelson Leafs in the KIJHL. Perich will be our player profile tonight in the Re/Max All Pro Realty first intermission. I'll let him tell you more about what he brings to the table.

Sean Nugent is suspended for tonight's game. With him, Loyst and Brown out (and Perich in) that leaves the Smokies with 11 forwards. There will be 7 D in the line-up, but one of them may jump up to the forward lines depending on how things are going.

Game time is 7:30pm tonight, with the City of Trail pre-game show at 7:15pm. Should be a fun game tonight. Tune in on Mountain FM.

(Update - Click here for the boxscore: http://www.bchl.bc.ca/leagues/hockey_boxScores.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&gameID=573428)