Trail at Westside Game Day

Stealing a feature that Ryan's been using over at the Vees blog, I decided to break down the Smokies/Warriors season series before tonight's 7 o'clock game. The results have thus far been in Westside's favour.

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

The Warriors have a 4-1 record against Trail and have outscored the Smokies 21-17 in those games. That's only a four goal difference in what really hasn't been a lopsided series despite Westside earning 8 of the 10 points available. The teams play a similar hardworking style that leans on depth and heart more so than one or two lines of skill. Now was we look at the top scorers I'll note that one of those top scorers (Chad Gehon) actually put up all his points in the season series as a member of the Smokies. He's now a Warrior so that skews things a little bit on this list.

TOP SCORERS

1. F Ron Kelly (WES) 3-5-8
2. D Cory Pritz (WES) 3-4-7
3. F Kyle Singleton (WES) 3-3-6
3. F Chad Gehon (TRA/WES) 2-4-6
5. F Ryan Bulach (TRA) 1-4-5
5. D Brad Pumton (WES) 1-4-5
7. D Brandon Clark (TRA) 2-2-4
7. F Paul Mailey (TRA) 2-2-4
7. F JF Boisvert (TRA) 2-2-4
7. D Danny DeKeyser (TRA) 2-2-4
7. F Travis St. Denis (TRA) 2-2-4
7. D Justin Schultz (WES) 2-2-4
7. F Alex Grieve (WES) 2-2-4
7. D Patrick Raley (TRA) 0-4-4
7. D Garrett Watson (WES) 0-4-4

Fifteen players scored four or more points in the five games between the two teams. These are teams that depend on their scoring depth. Westside has the top four scorers in the season series thus far, but one of them earned those points while playing for Trail. Gehon has two points in three games for Westside so far.

GOALTENDERS

1. Devon Murtagh (WES) 2-0, 2.50GAA, 89.8%
2. Marco Raimondo (TRA) 1-2, 3.82GAA, 88.17%
3. Paul Barclay (TRA) 0-2, 3.90GAA, 89.04%
4. Kevin Jebson (WES) 1-1, 5.08GAA, 80.00%

I didn't include Garrett Beckwith (now of the KIJHL's Nelson Leafs) in these statitics. However, for some reason the Warriors have had a lot more success against Trail with their back-up in goal. Jebson got lit up in Trail while Murtagh has played two strong games against the Smoke Eaters. I wouldn't be surprised to see the rookie get the start tonight. Although the line-up I have appears to give Jebson the nod. If Trail has a strong game against him tonight they could perhaps get into his head a little bit.

LINE UP

Here are the lines I have in my package. These are certainly subject to change...

TRAIL

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

Koshey-Strukoff
DeKeyser-Clark
Reardon-Raley

Barclay
Ross

Scratches: Legassic, Raimondo, Porterfield (all injured)

WESTSIDE

Gagne-Bailey-Mihalek
Watson-Kelly-Krause
Singleton-Downing-Gould
Gehon-Gidaro-Reid

Woznikoski-Quinn
Prtiz-Ellis
Schultz-Miller

Jebson
Murtagh

Scratches: Plumton (injured)

BROADCAST

You can hear the game with AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey on Mountain FM at 104.1 in Trail, 99.3 in Castlegar, 103.5 in Nelson and 96.7 in Grand Forks. It is also available on BCHL PPV with the Westside broadcast and in the BCHL Fanzone with both home and road feeds. The pre-game show starts at 6:45pm with the puck drop just after 7.