Post Game: Langley 8 Trail 5

I had one fan e-mail me to ask if I was just as annoyed with the amount of penalties in today's game as I was for yesterday's even though this time Trail had the majority of the power play chances.

It did annoy me sure and I said as much on the broadcast. It wasn't quite the same thing because the man advantages weren't all concentrated basically in one period. However, I will say I find that when there are so many calls like that it really takes the flow out of the game. It's just not interesting for me to see teams on the power play that often. Maybe that's just me as others seem to want the games called really tightly. I prefer more even strength play as I think it's usually pretty wide open 5 on 5 in this league. Here's the recap from this afternoon:

Langley, BC - Trail's offense finally woke up, but it was too little too late. After only generating 5 goals in their last 8 periods, the Smokies scored 3 in the third against Langley to start what would have been an improbable come back.

Goals by Steve Koshey, Scott Jacklin and Steve Oursov cut Langley's 7-2 lead to 7-5 with lots of time left. However, a Matt Wilkins penalty and the resulting power play goal by Brandon Thompson put it out of reach.

The Smokies certainly had their chances as they went 1 for 9 on the man advantage. Langley won the special teams war by scoring twice on their 3 power plays and adding a shorthanded goal by Trevor Gerling when the game was still close.

Brad McBride scored a hat trick for the Chiefs to pick up first star honours. Langley handed Trail their third straight loss to close out a road trip that started with a promising overtime win in Powell River. The Smoke Eaters will get another shot at the Chiefs on Thursday in Trail.

Mike Betz and Sam Mellor had the other Smoke Eater goals. Koshey added an assist to his goal for a 2 point night. Nick Sandor picked up 2 assists.

The next action for Trail is a visit from Powell River at the Cominco Arena on Tuesday night.

ON THE TRAIL: The injuries are piling up for the Smoke Eaters. Both Curtis Tonello and Sam Mellor left the game against Langley banged up. The extent of their injuries is not known at this point. Add them to an injured list that includes Travis St. Denis, Justin Brown, Thomas Abenante, Graeme Strukoff and Mitch Kaufmann. Trail is now down to 10 healthy forwards and 5 defencemen ... Smokies Coach Jim Ingram yanked his goaltender for the second straight game. In Port Alberni he sent Garrett Beckwith in relief of Kiefer Smiley while in Langley the roles were reversed. It wasn't a great night for any of the 3 goaltenders as the teams combined for 13 goals on 67 shots. The shots were quite even as the Chiefs had 34 to 33 for Trail ... The end of this four game road swing leaves Trail with only 3 games left away from the Cominco Arena. The Smokies will play 7 straight games at home over the next few weeks with an opportunity to solidify their playoff position.