Trail at Westside Game Day

The Smoke Eaters losing streak is now at 6 games with 2 of them against this Westside team. In one of those games Trail has three leads but couldn't put the Warriors away. In the other, some major blunders allowed Westside get ahead 4-0 and Trail's third period come back was too little too late. The Smokies played well for most of each of those games. However, when you make the kind of mistakes Trail has been making they are going to end up in your net nine times out of ten. They're the kind of mistakes that players should not be making at this level and I think the guys know it. Confidence is obviously so shaky and Trail needs to get theirs back. There are only four games left before playoffs.

More bad news for the Smokies heading into tonight's game. Add Adam Gummer's name to the list of players (Legassic and Raimondon as well) who are likely done for the rest of the season. Gummer has been working hard in rounding out his game and I think has been coming along very well. He's got a wicked shot, just needed a few to go in and he'd have been rolling. Unfortunately it looks like that won't happen. Paul Mailey is also out with an injury although in his case they are saying he should be back for the playoffs. When it rains... that's five regulars all out with injuries and three of them likely done for the season. One or two players can make a big impact. Five players? It's painful.

2009 has sent these teams in opposite directions. Since the clock struck 12 on New Year's Even the Smoke Eaters are 3-13-0-1 while Westside is 10-5-1-1.

Here's how the season series breaks down...

Sept 13: Westside 4 at Trail 2
Oct 25: Trail 3 at Westside 5
Nov 22: Westside 4 at Trail 6
Nov 23: Westside 3 at Trail 2
Dec 14: Trail 4 at Westside 5
Feb 5: Trail 3 at Westside 4
Feb 14: Westside 4 at Trail 2

The Warriors have a 6-1 record against Trail and have outscored the Smokies 29-22 in those games. Every game has ended up being tight as the Warriors have never won by more than two goals. That being said, Trail's confidence could really get a boost heading into a potential playoff series by showing Westside that they can beat them in their own building.

TOP SCORERS

1. F Ron Kelly (WES) 4-6-10
2. D Cory Pritz (WES) 3-6-9
3. F Trevor Bailey (WES) 5-3-8
4. F Jordan Gagne (WES) 5-2-7
4. D Danny DeKeyser (TRA) 3-4-7
4. F Chad Gehon (TRA/WES) 2-5-7
4. F Ryan Bulach (TRA) 1-6-7
8. F Kyle Singleton (WES) 3-3-6
9. D Brad Pumton (WES) 1-4-5
9. F JF Boisvert (TRA) 3-2-5

GOALTENDERS

(I don't have the original numbers for the rest of the games in front of me or the time to do the math, so here are the goaltender statistics as of the first six games of the series with stats for game 7 included separately)

1. Devon Murtagh (WES) 2-0, 2.50GAA, 0.898%
2. Marco Raimondo (TRA) 1-2, 3.82GAA, 0.882%
3. Paul Barclay (TRA) 0-3, 3.95GAA, 0.887% (Feb 14: 0-1, 4.05GAA, 0.879%)
4. Kevin Jebson (WES) 2-1, 4.38GAA, 0.838% (Feb 14: 1-0, 2.00GAA, 0.92%)

LINE UP

TRAIL

Brown-St.Denis-Boisvert
Sandor-Bulach-Martin
Zmurchyk-Loyst-Porterfield
Nugent-Jacklin-Corcoran

Koshey-Strukoff
DeKeyser-Rizzardo (AP)
Reardon-Raley

Barclay
Wall (AP)

Scratches: Mailey, Clark, Gummer, Legassic, Raimondo (all injured)

WESTSIDE

Gagne-Bailey-Mihalek
Watson-Kelly-Eisenhut
Grieve-Gidaro-Gould
Singleton-Reid-Gehon

Woznikoski-Quinn
Pritz-Ellis
Schultz-Miller

Jebson
Murtagh

Scratches: Plumton, Krause, Downing

BROADCAST

You can hear the broadcast on Mountain FM with AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey at 6:45pm. We're available on FM at 104.1 in Trail, 99.3 in Castlegar, 103.5 in Nelson and 96.7 in Grand Forks. The game is also available on BCHL PPV with the Westside broadcast and in the BCHL Fanzone with both home and road feeds. You should be able to hear all my interviews now.

These boys need some confidence, lets hope they find it tonight.