The Mountain FM Ashes will be held in...

That is Mountain FM's Drex and myself (in a horribly wrinkled shirt...) holding the new container for The Ashes. What the heck is that you ask? How about we take a closer look.



I know it's not fancy, but that is part of the point. What is important is what is inside of the the pipe bom---er canister. I actually think that having a pipe like that is kind of a fun representation of the blue collar attitude that makes Trail the proud community it is. We'll play with it a bit to make it look a little more regal before the tournament itself. That being said, I like that it isn't just some traditional urn or trophy. You can't argue that it isn't unique.

Who will win the Mountain FM Ashes? Head to the official website and vote in our poll. Check out Overtime tomorrow night for interviews with Kent Lewis of the Powell River Kings and Penticton play by play man Ryan Pinder. Tonight we talk Nelson Leafs training camp and the Grand Forks International.

Ingram discusses the Vernon games

Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram on Mountain FM's Overtime

Click here to download

Exhibition Game 2: Vernon 4 Trail 3

We saw some scoring out of the Smokies prospects tonight as they fell 4-3 against Vernon in Chase. After getting shut out 4-0 on Friday, Dylan Tappe (92 from the Spokane Braves - pictured from camp), Adam Boytink (92 from Grande Prairie AAA Midget) and Chris Derochie (92 from the Beaver Valley Nitehawks) scored for Trail tonight.

This time around it was Matt Larose and Zach Perehudoff in goal for the Smokies. Again reports indicate they both played well in a losing cause. I don't think the decision on the back-up goaltender got that much easier this weekend. All four goaltenders have made a strong case for themselves. What is going to help one of these goalies separate themselves from the pack?

Losing both games isn't really relevant in this case. The main point of this trip again was for the Smokies staff to get a look at how their young guys can stand up to some legit competition. Now I imagine they'll have a lot to consider as they get set for the pre-season tournament this week. Who will still be on the Smokies roster for the Mountain FM Ashes? At that point we'll start to see some of the veterans come back in to the line-up. That means there is only room for so many prospects come Thursday. That will mean some decisions for the coaches coming up soon.

As for the Vipers, I don't know their goal scorers or anything as I wasn't at the game. That said, reports indicate that the young core for this year's Vipers will be very talented as usual. There is a lot of very good talent on that club again this year. The big question mark will be whether or not they can match the historic runs their last two teams have had.

Thanks to Chase for hosting the Smokies for these exhibition games this weekend. Hopefully it was a nice treat for fans in the area after they lost their KIJHL team this spring. They should be getting another franchise next fall.

Exhibition Game 1: Vernon 4 Trail 0

Unfortunately due to work commitments I was unable to attend the two exhibition games in Chase this weekend. As such my access to details of the games has been somewhat limited. The BCHL doesn't require box scores for exhibition either.

I was able to talk to a couple of people and rustled up some very minor details. For one, Matthew Laboucane was again impressive for Trail in the game. You can see him here in a photo from the inter-squad game throwing a huge hit next to the bench. Laboucane is an energy guy with a lot of jam and pretty good touch as well. In the same game as he threw a couple of huge hits I also saw him win a tenacious battle for the puck and make a pass from his knees to set up a scoring chance. This is a player to watch.

He played last season for the Cold Lake Ice in Alberta Junior B. He is sure making a case for himself so far.

Goaltenders Andrew Walton (91 from the Castlegar Rebels) and Mike Vlanich (92 from the Beaver Valley Nitehawks) shared duties last night. I hear they both played well and I would think that will continue to keep things interesting in the battle for the back-up spot. I am under the impression that we'll see two other goaltenders today. That would likely mean Matt Larose (92 from the Nelson Leafs) and Zach Perehudoff (93 from the Okanagan Hockey Academy) in goal tonight.

Again it is worth mentioning that the Smokies left almost all their returning vets at home this weekend. These games are a test to see how the young prospects will do in a competitive environment. It's more about player evaluation than team results. We'll see I think a more game ready Smokies squad at the Mountain FM Ashes tournament starting Thursday.

By the way if you want some more pictures from training camp check out the Trail Smoke Eaters Facebook page and click on photos. I want to see that page get over 200 "likes" before the start of the regular season!

Also I just wanted to mention I was reading reports from the Spokane Chiefs camp full of praise and admiration for the courage and toughness of Josh "Mad Dog" McEwan. They don't know the half of it yet! It wouldn't surprise anyone here to know that Josh isn't backing down from anyone at camp and won't stop throwing punches until he is physicall pulled away from the battle. That's the McEwan we know and will miss if he makes Spokane.

Prospect Weekend in Chase

This picture is of 16 year old Dallas Calvin trying to catch up with veteran Travis St. Denis. That's what this weekend in Chase is all about. Prospects trying to show they belong with the vets.

From quickly communicating with a couple of people this week it was obvious that the games tonight and tomorrow against Vernon are all about evaluating prospects. Both the Vipers and Smoke Eaters are leaving most of their veterans at home while they take a close look at which young guys might be ready to make the jump.

So this weekend will be the BCHL version of an NHL prospect tournament. It will be an opportunity for the young guys to shine when going head to head with one another. Only the truly hungry players will survive and make the impression they need to make.

For the Smokies the focus remains primarily on filling out their forward unit. It'll be harder for any rookies to break through on the back end (that's not a given mind you), but there is room for between 5 and 7 rookie forwards depending on how things shape up. Some guys may think they're locks or sure things, but if you get out played in these games by the other hungry prospects suddenly you can find yourself on the outside looking in. As much as the games don't mean anything for the standings they mean a whole heck of a lot in determining the look of both clubs.

While Trail does have a large returning core, Vernon has had a big turnover after back to back national championships. The Smokies will get a first hand perspective on the future core of the always powerful Vipers. It will be good to see how their young prospects will match up with the Vernon recruits.

Can one of the 16 year olds break through this weekend? Will a defenceman show enough that Coach Ingram has to reconsider keeping all his veterans? With Kiefer Smiley staying at home for the Chase trip which goaltender will emerge as the favourite for the back-up spot this season?

There are a lot of questions to answer. I'm not in Chase due to work commitments but I'll do my best to let you know what went down tonight and tomorrow. I think we'll see a much trimmer and more veteran heavy roster when it comes time for the Mountain FM Ashes pre-season tournament next weekend. Should be fun.

The Mountain FM Ashes (Exhibition Tournament)

TRAIL, BC – The Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey Club is proud to announce that Mountain FM has come on board as the title sponsor for the Smokies annual exhibition tournament. The event is now known as the Mountain FM Ashes and takes place from September 2nd-4th.

The concept is based on a cricket series between England and Australia dating back to 1882. The winner of the series is awarded an urn carrying ashes of some form of burned cricket equipment. Mountain FM and the Smoke Eaters are now bringing a form of that tradition to the BCHL pre-season event.

During the tournament there will be a symbolic burning to create the ashes that will be awarded to the tournament winner. Since it is only a round robin event the winner will be decided by team records and a list of tie breakers.

“The team at Mountain FM is super excited about presenting the first annual Mountain FM Ashes,” says station program director and morning show host Drex. “It's a great concept for the Smokies and their pre-season tournament.”

“We hope the Smokies can bring it home.”

In addition to sponsoring the tournament, Mountain FM is also entering their 6th season as the radio home of the Smoke Eaters. The station broadcasts every Smokies road game at 104.1 FM in Trail and covers the team extensively on their nightly sports show “Overtime.”

Last year's event was the first of it's kind in Trail and drew over a dozen NCAA schools.

The tournament will include the Smoke Eaters, Penticton Vees, Powell River Kings and Brooks Bandits.

Powell River is the two-time defending BCHL Coastal Conference Champion. They were one game away from representing the BCHL in the 2010 Royal Bank Cup.

Penticton was the third place team in the final CJHL regular season national rankings. 18 Vees on last season's roster earned commitments from NCAA schools.

Brooks brings representation from the AJHL. They finished fifth in the South Division and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2009-10.

Here is the schedule for the event:

Thursday, September 2nd
4:30pm Penticton vs Powell River
7:30pm Brooks vs Trail

Friday, September 3rd
4:30pm Brooks vs Penticton
7:30pm Powell River vs Trail

Saturday, September 4th
10:30am Powell River vs Brooks
1pm Penticton vs Trail

Tickets are available at the door or you can purchase a 6 game pack for $20 at Remax All Pro-Realty in Trail.

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For more information on the 2010 Mountain FM Ashes Trail Smoke Eaters exhibition tournament, visit http://www.trailsmokeeaters.com/ or http://www.mountainfm.net/

Gelley, Smokies Camp, Tournament Schedule, KIJHL roster news

Here's a picture of Cole Gelley defending Graeme Strukoff last season at the Cominco Arena. Thanks to Randy Emery for that. As noted in Guy Bertrand's Trail Times article, Gelley and Strukoff were drafted one spot away from each other in the WHL Bantam draft several years back. Now they'll find themselves playing together. Here is the press release I wrote up for the Smokies website:

TRAIL, BC - Trail Smoke Eaters Coach and GM Jim Ingram announced today that the Smokies have acquired defenceman Cole Gelley and future considerations from the Surrey Eagles in exchange for defenceman Wade Bennett and forward Robert Lindores.

"Cole is a real good skating, puck moving defenceman that can quarterback a power play," said Ingram. "I think that's something we wanted to make sure we had (enough of) in the line-up."

Gelly, 19, recorded one goal, 19 assists (1-19-20) and 26 penalty minutes in 58 games with the Eagles last season. Gelley made his BCHL debut as an AP in 2007-08 and has played 101 career regular season games with the Eagles. Prior to that he played 75 games in Major Midget, recording 27 points (6-19-27) and 66 penalty minutes for the Vancouver North West Giants.

"It's a good opportunity and I'm excited to come up there," said Gelley. "I don't think my point totals really represent how much of an offensive player I am."

"I feel I have way more in the tank than that."

The move was partly necessitated by the number of returning 20 year old players on Trail's roster.

"There's no secret that we were top heavy with 1990 birth years," said Ingram.

This deal combined with the recent trade of Garrett Beckwith to Drumheller in the AJHL and the departure of Tom Rizzardo to Bizmark of the NAHL, trims Trail's number of 1990 born players from 10 to 7 before training camp. BCHL teams can only carry 6 of them once the puck drops for the regular season.

Bennett, 20, scored 3 goals and 19 assists (3-19-22) as a forward and defenceman with the Smoke Eaters last season. Lindores, 19, has scored 6 goals and 9 assists (6-9-15) over 89 career games with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. He became Trail property as the future considerations in the Tye Lewis for Curtis Tonello trade.

As noted in the press release, the 20 year old log jam was reduced further as Tom Rizzardo has opted to play for Bizmark in the North American Hockey League. Tommy is a classy young man who has a lot of offensive talent. He proved that with Nelson during their KIJHL championship run in 2009. I hope he is able to translate that to the Junior A level with Bizmark.

That leaves Trail with seven 1990 born players in training camp. There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition among veterans to make sure these guys aren't taking their spots for granted. We know camp is always competitive among rookies trying to make the club. This situation should make sure the vets are fighting for their jobs too.

The addition of Gelley ensures that barring any other moves the Smokies are going to have a veteran defensive unit this season. Gelley, Steve Koshey, Graeme Strukoff and Curtis Tonello are entering their third BCHL seasons while it will be the second for Eric Walker and Ben Matthews. There is room for one or two rookies to make the roster and learn with that group. However, that is a big step up from last September when the club was throwing 4 or 5 rookies over the boards every night. I'm sure goaltender Kiefer Smiley is thanking his lucky stars there will be some veteran help early on this year.

Training camp gets started on August 23rd with registration at 8:30am. The camp will run for three days and then the Smokies have a couple of exhibition games in Chase against Vernon.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The second annual Smokies pre-season tournament will run from Thursday, September 2nd to Saturday, September 4th. Here is the schedule:

Thursday, September 2nd
4:30pm Penticton vs Powell River
7:30pm Brooks vs Trail

Friday, September 3rd
4:30pm Brooks vs Penticton
7:30pm Powell River vs Trail

Saturday, September 4th
10:30am Powell River vs Brooks
1pm Penticton vs Trail

I'll do my best to get the arena as much as possible for the games. You can also likely count on some live coverage of the games on Ryan Pinder's Vees Blog. He did some live blogging from it lats year.

KIJHL ROSTER MOVES

A couple of moves in the KIJHL last week. First a trade that saw Grand Forks send PIM king Jacob Halderman to Columbia Valley for defencemen Zack MacLellan and Jordan Groenheyde. MacLellan was Columbia Valley's All-Star game rep. Both teams finished last in their division last season and are hoping for bounce back seasons. Can't hurt the Border Bruins to get a couple of young d-men with experience in the league. They finished well last year and I'm really hoping to see them continue to push forward. The community will really get behind them if they continue making progress. Check out the Off the Wahl blog for more.

New Nelson Leafs Coach and GM Chris Shaw announced this week that they've received a commitment from four of last year's veterans to return in September. F Gavin Currie, F Cody Abbey, D Tyler Parfeniuk and D Taylor O'Neil will all be back in Nelson. O'Neil and Currie both played as APs for Trail last season. Taylor is the Leafs Captain while Currie was their top forward in 2009-10. They should form a very strong core for Shaw to build around.

New Castlegar Coach and GM Steve Junker also announced that they'll be getting a couple of veteran talents back this season. Tough forward Taylor Anderson and top defenceman Darren Tarasoff have committed to return to the Rebels. Anderson was third in the KIJHL in penalty minutes while Tarasoff spent most of last season with Williams Lake in the BCHL. They should both be leaders on Junker's first squad.

Both the Leafs and Rebels will likely get more of last year's players back, but as with all KIJHL teams it is a waiting game until BCHL camps are complete. I've yet to hear much about who is or isn't expected back in Beaver Valley, but I do know they're excited about a lot of the young local talent that will be a part of their club this season.

Mountain FM is the official media partner of the KIJHL and we will continue to be the primary source for KIJHL coverage in the Kootenay-Boundary. If anything our coverage will expand and evolve this season. I'm looking forward to it.

More to come on the blog this week including and interview with former Smokies Coach Tim Kehler on taking over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks this season.

Smokes Announce Exhibition Tournament

Trail, BC -- The Trail Smoke Eaters announced today plans for a second annual exhibition tournament at the Cominco Arena. The event will take place from Thursday, September 2nd through Saturday, September 4th.

Once again a trio of British Columbia Hockey League teams will be joined by an Alberta opponent. The tournament will include the Smoke Eaters, Penticton Vees, Powell River Kings and Brooks Bandits.

Last year's event was the first of it's kind in Trail and drew over a dozen NCAA schools.

"We want to see that number increase this year," says Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram. "We think we have a great young talent base with the three teams that are coming in here."

One change this year saw the tournament moved from the final weekend in August to the first in September.

"A lot cuts will have been made and that gives the schools a chance to see what the teams will actually look like."

Ingram doesn't just see it as a chance to showcase players to scouts.

"It's a great opportunity for us to showcase Trail," he says. "The teams last year absolutely loved it so we're happy to do it again."

Ingram notes there has been interest from other teams willing to participate in the tournament. For now the Smokies will keep it to four clubs, but the possibility is open for expanding the event in the future.

The Smoke Eaters will be showing off a large crop of returning players including three who were at a point per game scoring pace in the 2009-10 season. While players like Travis St. Denis (Quinnipiac), Sam Mellor (Alaksa-Anchorage) and Eric Walker (Northern Michigan) are already committed to NCAA schools; there are several other current Smokies and recruits who will attract attention from scouts.

The Powell River Kings are the two-time defending BCHL Coastal Conference Champions. They were one game away from representing the BCHL in the 2010 Royal Bank Cup.

Penticton was the third place team in the final CJHL regular season national rankings. 18 Vees on last season's roster earned commitments from NCAA schools.

Brooks brings representation from the AJHL. They finished fifth in the South Division and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2009-10.

For more information on the 2010 Trail Smoke Eaters exhibition tournament, visit www.trailsmokeeaters.com or www.bchl.ca.

Exhibition Game 3

Trail native Thomas Abenante (22) celebrates his second period goal which temporarily tied the game at 1 -1.

Penticton Vees 4

Trail Smoke Eaters 2

Game Summary

Period 1
14:54 Penticton - Holka (D. Johnson)

Period 2
3:46 Trail - Abenante (Koshey, Cici)
13:05 Penticton - Paltridge (Bennett)
14:38 Penticton - Slemp (Bennett, Laleggia)

Period 3
9:19 Trail - Sandor (Mailey, Strukoff) PPG
19:59 Penticton - Holka (unassisted) SHG/ENG

Power Plays
Penticton 0 - 7
Trail 1 - 7

Goaltender Saves
Faust (Penticton) 23
Beckwith (Trail) 26

Trail vs Penticton Live Blog

Ryan Pinder is live blogging Trail's final game of the exhibition tournament over at his Vees Blog. Click here to get live details of today's action between the Vees and the Smoke Eaters. Come back to visit this blog later to get Randy Emery's summary of the action. Thanks again to Randy for the great updates. I'll be back on Tuesday but Randy is still free to post his thoughts, stats or pictures on this blog whenever he would like.

NOTE: Click here for the announcement that former Smoke Eater Dylan Herold is Burnaby's new Captain. Great guy and gutsy player.

Exhibition Game 2

Matt Malenstyn (23) scores his first goal of the exhibition season as Powell River goaltender Michael Garteig looks backs helplessly while the puck rolls in over his right shoulder.

Trail Smoke Eaters 4
Powell River Kings 4

Scoring Summary

Period 1
6:40 Powell River - Schmidt (Pettit) SHG

Period 2
0:36 Trail - Lidster (Loyst, Jacklin) PPG
5:09 Trail - Malenstyn (Mathews) PPG
9:07 Trail - Loyst (Dyck, Malenstyn)
10:26 Trail - Majkowski (Lewis, Jacklin)
14:56 Powell River - Formosa (Forbes, McDougall)

Period 3
2:41 Powell River - Formosa (Pettit, Forbes)
14:27 Powell River - Rainaldi (Hogan)

Overtime
no scoring

Power Plays
Powell River : 0 - 6
Trail : 2 - 7

Goaltender Saves
Garteig (Powell River) 18
Murtagh (Trail) 37

Exhibition Game 1

Rookie Sam Mellor scores on a breakaway giving Trail a 2-0 first period lead

Trail Smoke Eaters 7

Brooks Bandits 1

Scoring Summary

Period 1
5:41 Trail Lidster (Walker, Dyck) PPG
6:57 Trail Mellor (Piccard)

Period 2
8:48 Trail Sandor (Mellor, Jacklin)
13:16 Brooks Penner (unassisted)
19:56 Trail Loyst (Lidster, Lewis)

Period 3
4:14 Trail Fridella (Dyck, Nugent)
4:24 Trail Loyst (Lewis, Lidster)
7:25 Trail Cici (Dyck, Piccard)

Power Plays Brooks 1 - 3
Trail 1 - 6

Goaltender Saves
Katunar (Trail) 16
Gunderson (Brooks) 29