Friday Hockey Audio

We're just about 20 hours away from puck drop. I don't have to tell you I'm getting pretty excited. Penticton is in tough right now against Westside before coming to Trail tomorrow night. It'll be interesting to check out an almost entirely new Vees squad with only eight returning players. Of course the Smokies only have five players back from last year themselves. I had a chance to talk to Vees voice Ryan Pinder about their new look squad. That's just one of the many interviews we've had on Mountain FM's Overtime this weekn. In case you missed it here's another look:

• Returning Smoke Eater Brian Kang Part 1
• Returning Smoke Eater Brian Kang Part 2
• Smokies Coach Jim Ingram on Kang and the new season Part 1
• Smokies Coach Jim Ingram on Kang and the new season Part 2
• Smokies Coach Jim Ingram on Kang and the new season Part 3
• Smokies Coach Jim Ingram on Kang and the new season Part 4
• Forward Andrew Pickering after exhibition
• Forward CJ Legassic after exhibition
• Goaltender Paul Barclay after exhibition
• President Tom Gawryletz on new initiatives Part 1
• President Tom Gawryletz on new initiatives Part 2
• Penticton's broadcaster Ryan Pinder Part 1
• Penticton's broadcaster Ryan Pinder Part 2

Visit Mountain FM's Audio section for all sorts of Overtime interviews including Nitehawks GM Terry Jones, Nelson Coach Simon Wheeldon, Grand Forks Coach Rob Fitzpatrick, Castlegar Coach Brent Heaven, Rebels Tony Johnston and Brent Lucente, etc. There's a bunch of stuff there and I may put up direct links tomorrow, but I'm confident you can find it!

Tomorrow night the Smokies introduce a couple of new game day features. The Guitar Hero sponsored by Walmart and the Ferraro Foods $25,000 Shoot Out. Also on hand tomorrow will be Fruitvale's Gary Morissette fresh off competing on Canadian Idol. He'll be doing a duet on the anthem as well as participating in Guitar Hero. There's a lot more than just the games planned for the Smoke Eaters this year. Lots of reasons to come out to the rink. Lets back the place tomorrow night! See you there!

Final Roster (Alaskan boys traded)

The Trail Smoke Eaters have made their finals moves to get the roster down to 23 players. After a long and very difficult evaluation, the Smokies decided to keep the remainder of their strong crop of rookie defenceman. As a result they had to move a couple of the veterans. Jim Ingram told me that this was a very tough choice for the whole staff. They liked everyone they had here and none of them did anything wrong. It was simply a numbers game.

The Smokies traded both their Alaska born products today, but to different destinations. 1989 born Braden Kinnebrew is headed to the St. Albert Steel in the AJHL. His friend, 1989 born defenceman Jimmy Geerin is going to the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Ingram says he made a ton of calls around both leagues to see if they could put something more substantive together, but in the end he had to get under the roster limit and settled for future considerations.

Geerin is still several weeks away from action, but will absolutely be a big addition for the Capitals. They have a ton of fire power on that team. However, I hear they could use some help on the back end. Geerin was terrific for Trail in the second half of last season. He joined the team from Penticton in the Nathan Westover deal and proceeded to be their best defenceman for the remainder of the year. His shoulder surgery after the season has kept him out of action to start the year. The Smokies are very happy with what they've seen in camp, so it looks like Geerin's injury made him one of the odd men out. He's going to a great situation in Duncan with former Smoke Eater Brett Corcoran and a lot of talented hockey players.

Kinnebrew got off to a bit of a slow start with Trail last year. That didn't last. He was easily one of the most improved Smoke Eaters in the second half of the season. He played with a ton more confidence and strength. His physical play really picked up, and he could be counted on to stand up for his teammates. Again he's the victim here of the numbers game as the Smokies were really happy with how his game had evolved. There were BCHL options, but Kinnebrew will get a better opportunity to play an important role in St. Albert.

Another thing playing against Geerin and Kinnebrew was their age. All of the rookies the Smokies kept were either 90s or 91s. Technically they will likely be available to Trail longer than either of the Alaskan boys could have been. That had to have been a factor. Good luck to both guys and I'm sorry to see them go.

With that the roster is set. You can take a look at it on the BCHL website. Some of the changes aren't yet reflected on the site but they will be. The nice thing for me now is that I can start memorizing numbers!

Some things that stand out for me on this year's roster include the bigger local contingent this season. Paul Mailey, Patrik Martin, Justin Brown, Travis St. Denis and Steve Koshey are all from the Rossland-Trail region. Two of them are alternate captains while the three rookies are set to play a big part on the team for years to come. Hopefully that makes the local fans happy. St. Denis was a big surprise at this year's camp. As talented as he is, a small 16 year old rarely makes the jump right to the BCHL. He clearly impressed the coaches and earned his spot. Lets hope he can make the kind of impact his brother Kyle did in the BCHL.

There's also a ton of rookies. I count thirteen in all. While the team looked good in exhibition play, I have to believe it's going to take them some time to gel. The departures of Geerin and Kinnebrew mean that now only five players are back from last year's team. Brown and Koshey played some games as APs, but really only Mailey, Martin, Ryan Bulach, Patrick Raley and Paul Barclay were permanent parts of last year's Smoke Eaters. Lots of new guys to get to know!

If you don't recognize one of the names on the roster from training camp or exhibition it's Sean Nugent. He was busy playing lacrosse at the Minto Cup. Nugent played for Coach Ingram on Vancouver Island. He's a 6'2, 205lbs bruiser who is going to keep the other teams honest. With guys like Nugent, Reardon, Loyst, Martin, Legassic and others we can expect some toughness and grit.

Forwards

18 JF Boisvert (89) rookie, import
21 Justin Brown (91) rookie
11 Ryan Bulach (88) CAPTAIN
26 Chad Gehon (88)
14 Brian Kang (88)
17 James Kellington (91) rookie
19 CJ Legassic (90) rookie
12 Riley Loyst (89)
25 Paul Mailey (90) ALTERNATE
27 Patrik Martin (88) ALTERNATE
20 Sean Nugent (89) rookie
10 Andrew Pickering (89) rookie
9 Travis St. Denis (92) rookie

Defencemen

4 Brandon Clark (88)
8 Danny DeKeyser (90) rookie, import
7 Steve Koshey (91) rookie
3 Patrick Raley (89)
5 Jayson Reardon (90) rookie
24 Skyle Smutek (90) rookie, import
2 Graeme Strukoff (91) rookie
22 Jeff Zmurchyk (90) rookie

Goaltenders

1 Paul Barclay (89)
35 Marco Raimondo (88)

Expect a ton of audio tomorrow afternoon. I've got interviews with Kang, Ingram and a bunch of the guys after the recent exhibition games. See you on Saturday night at Cominco Arena when Penticton is in town. Should be a blast.

Kang Returns

The Trail Smoke Eaters have made use of their defensive depth to upgrade their forwards.  To do that they've hooked up with their regular trade partner in Merritt.  Defenceman Shane Oatway is returning to Merritt in a deal for former Smoke Eater forward Brian Kang.  This has got to feel a bit strange for Oatway who just got dealt to Trail this summer along with Chad Gehon for Cam Brodie and Brad Davis.  Oatway missed the first few days of camp with an injury.  He returned and fit in very well in the exhibition season.  However, the Smokies found themselves with tremendous defensive depth at camp.  Assistant Coach Brian Youngson told me on Saturday they have 11 BCHL defencemen on the roster.  As a result they looked to make a move with that depth to acquire some additional scoring punch.  Now Oatway will find himself right back in Merritt where he started.  He might even get a chance to line up beside Brodie, one of the players he was traded for. 

Kang returns to Trail after one year in Merritt.  The twenty year old from North Vancouver is entering his fifth BCHL season.  He started his career in Cowichan Valley with a 7 point season.  He boosted his production to 18 points the next year.  He nearly doubled that to 35 points when moving to the Smoke Eaters in 06-07.  That year's team finished third in the Interior and made a strong run to the second round of the playoffs.  After the season Kang got shipped to Merritt for a defenceman that chose to play in the USHL instead of in Trail.  His production dipped slightly to 31 points but in fewer games.  Kang will now return to the city where he had his greatest success.  I can imagine he'll be looking to top his career high of 19 goals now that he's going to be counted on to provide scoring and veteran leadership on a young Smokies team.

Kang gives Trail some interesting flexibility up front.  Do they slot him in with Gehon and Bulach?  He should have chemistry with both guys as he's played with them both in the BCHL at one point.  That line would unite the team's 20 year old proven scorers.  They could also put Kang with some young scorers to mentor them and provide a veteran presence.

Oatway's experience in the league and intelligent play would have made him a valuable member of the Smoke Eaters.  However, the reality of Trail's situation is that they were going to have to cut someone they considered BCHL ready whether they moved Oatway or not.  This way they turned what could have been a loss with no return into one that may provide some of the offensive depth they've been searching for.

Kang does also fill up a 20 year old slot.  That will make it difficult for those players that were trying out to take up Trail's last 1988 spot.  It's hard to imagine any of the veterans will be supplanted before the season.

This marks another of several deals Jim Ingram has made with Merritt since taking over as Trail's Coach and GM.  Off the top of my head they acquired Paul Levarsky, traded Dylan Herold for Kevin Koopman, dealt Brodie and Davis for Oatway and Gehon, and now trading Oatway back to Merritt for Kang.  Clearly the two management teams have a strong professional relationship.  It should make for some interesting games between them.

Welcome back Brian!  Hopefully this year he'll be able to take his game to the next level, add some veteran stability to a young team, and find himself a Division 1 home for next fall.  Now the job of filling out the roster for the blue line gets a little easier.  There are still some tough decisions to make before Saturday's home opener against Penticton.  I'll keep you up to date here or on Mountain FM whenever something breaks.  Don't be surprised if there are more deals before the puck drops

Exhibition Game 4: Smokies 4 Merritt 1

(Paul Mailey's line with CJ Legassic and Andrew Pickering made a big impact on the game. Photo by Randy Emery.)

SCORING

First Period

No Scoring

Second Period

1. (PP) Merritt - #22 Devin Hobbs from #8 Todd Fletcher and #14 Brian Kang (1:42)

2. Trail - #4 Steven Koshey from #25 Paul Mailey and #22 Justin Brown (14:31)

3. (PP) Trail - #27 Patrick Martin from #18 James Kellington and #23 Travis St. Denis (15:25)

Third Period

4. Trail - #19 C.J. Legassic from #16 Andrew Pickering (5:41)
(Long shot from along the left wing boards handcuffs Nielson)

5. Trail - #16 Andrew Pickering from C.J. Legassic (13:56)
(Legassic's point shot bounces off the boards back into the crease for Pickering to knock it in)


PENALTIES

First Period

1. Merritt - #2 Matt Mazzarolo 2 minutes for high sticking (1:23)

2. Merritt - #7 Jake Baker 2 minutes for high sticking (3:10)

3. Trail - #20 Jadon Porterfield 2 minutes for hooking (7:37)

4. Trail - #2 Graeme Strukoff 2 minutes for checking from behind and a game misconduct (10:36)

5. Merritt - #6 Steve MacDonald 2 minutes for hooking (15:08)

6. Trail - #3 Patrick Raley 2 minutes for interference (19:58)

Second Period

7. Merritt - #7 Jake Baker 2 minutes for tripping (2:06)

8/9. Co-incidental minors for roughing... didn't catch the names (14:09)

10. Merritt - #11 Casey Fratkin 2 minutes for high sticking (14:56)

Third Period

11. Trail - #16 Andrew Pickering 2 minutes for high sticking (2:29)

12. Merritt - #8 Todd Fletcher 2 minutes for tripping (5:55)

13. Merritt - #18 Dustin Johnson 2 minutes for slashing (15:11)


POWER PLAYS

Trail: 1 for 7
Merritt: 1 for 4


GOALTENDING

Trail: Paul Barclay stopped 26 of 27 shots

Merritt: Kyle Nielsen stopped 40 of 44 shots


TRAIL LINES
(No particular order)

Justin Brown (91) - Kyle St. Denis (92) - Patrick Martin (88)
Jacob Perich (91) - Tyler Tusonian (90) - James Kellington (91)
CJ Legassic (90) - Andrew Pickering (89) - Paul Mailey (90)
Taylor Quinn (88) - Riley Loyst (89) - Jadon Porterfield (88)

Pairings I'm not sure of because Strukoff got kicked out of the game early. These are just the guys that played but I'm not sure who the set pairings were supposed to be.

Shane Oatway (90) - Patrick Raley (89)
Dan DeKeyser (90) - Braden Kinnebrew (89)
Steven Koshey (90) - Graeme Strukoff (91)

Last night's top line of Bulach, Gehon and Boisvert all had the night off. We didn't see any of the former Smoke Eaters in either game. (EDIT: Brian Kang did play both games and is a former Smoke Eater. Thanks to the comment for reminding me. None of last year's Smokies got into the line-up though) Brad Davis didn't make the trip from Merritt while Cam Brodie and Dylan Herold were in the stands lats night and this afternoon. I had a chance to talk to them though and they both sound very enthusiastic about the opportunities they'll have in Merritt. I'd love to see Herold put up a ton of points and Brodie establish himself as a clear cut #1 in this league. There's no reason they can't do that with the ice time they should be able to earn. Both have the right attitude and will be missed here.


THREE STARS

I'm just going to pick guys from Trail for the exhibition games here. In the future I would gladly include players from the other team, but I've been heavily focusing on the Smokies players throughout these games so I can get a sense of what they bring to the table.

1. Andrew Pickering (1G, 1A) - Drove the net hard, had great chemistry with Legassic and Mailey, back checked hard, hits, digs for pucks in the corner and made some nice offensive playes. Looks like Trail has found their second line. Legassic and Mailey both easily could have been stars in the game.

2. Paul Barclay (26 saves on 27 shots) - Absolutely rock solid in his two game so far. He's playing with a new level of poise and confidence. While more pucks are hitting him instead of him having to reach for them, he continues to display his athletic ability and flexibility. Both Barclay and Raimondo are very athletic goalies. In talking to him I get the sense that Paul has a renewed passion for the game and is ready to take his play to the next level. This veteran pair in Trail's net is going to make life a lot easier on the young team.

3. Travis St. Denis (1A) - While others may have produced more, St. Denis made something happen whenever he was on the ice. His line with Justin Brown (who is significantly stronger and faster than he was last year) and Patrick Martin (who has some underrated offensive chops) gave Merritt fits all night. I'm not the only one who noticed that whenever St. Denis was on the ice he made something happen. His speed, creativity and hockey sense are going to make it very difficult for Trail to send him to Junior B. He may be small and only 16 years old, but Travis looks like a player who can make an impact in the BCHL right now. Will he get hit? Sure, but if today is any indication he'll also get right back up. If he, Koshey, Brown and Quinn all end up staying in Trail that's quite a chunk of last year's excellent Beaver Valley team making the leap to the Smokies. It would also mean that St. Denis never ends up playing for them. That's how diffcult life can be recruiting for Junior B teams. It's the same for Nelson who carded Strukoff and now he's almost a sure thing to play in Trail. KIJHL squads never know if the guys they recruit are going to end up making the leap. As for St. Denis, he's clearly showing that his family's hockey talent didn't skip him.

(Kellington can't quite put the puck in during the play of the game. Photo by Randy Emery.)

PLAY OF THE GAME

Defenceman Dan DeKeyser set up behind his own net and launched the puck in the air up the middle of the ice right on to the tape of James Kellington's stick at the Merritt blue line. It was a picture perfect passing play. Kellington couldn't put the puck in behind Nielsen, but the play was a thing of beauty.


NOTES

That does it for the exhibition season. The Smokies have a lot of stuff planned for the home opener and for entertainment at the game all season long. When we get more official details I'll pass them on. Lets try and fill Cominco Arena next Saturday night when the defending BCHL champions from Penticton come to town. The boys are doing their part in creating enthusiasm with a 3-1 record in exhibition play. My own questions about goal scoring got put on hold this weekend when they put up 8 goals in two games, doubling their out put from the Powell River contests. The locker room seems positive, enthusiastic and united. There's a ton of young talent that may take some time to gel, but it's going to be exciting to watch.

I'll have some more thoughts from the two exhibition games, post game audio and season preview material coming up in the next few days on the blog and on Mountain FM's Overtime from 6pm to Midnight weekdays at 104.1 FM in Trail. If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to send me an e-mail at shawnsamsmullin@hotmail.com or mullin@mountainfm.net

In the mean time, enjoy Beaver Valley at Nelson tonight at 7, Nelson at Beaver Valley tomorrow at 1pm and the money round of the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament tomorrow and Monday. I know I'll be doing my best to get all around the Kootenay Boundary for the rest of this busy long weekend.

Exhibition Game 3: Smokies 4 Merritt 2

(Ryan Bulach putting in a gorgeous pass from Gehon. Picture by Randy Emery.)

I'm in a rush so I'll talk more about what I liked sometime tomorrow. For now I'll leave you with basics.

First Period

1. Merritt Goal: McDonald from Devin Hobbs

2. Merritt Goal: Brian Kang from Devin Hobbs (PP)

Second Period

3. Trail Goal: Ryan Bulach from Chad Gehon
(beautiful cross crease pass from Gehon for a tap in by Bulach)

Third Period

Jadon Porterfield and Tyler Barr fight right off the draw. Porterfield gets some shots in but loses his balance and Barr feeds him a couple of time son the way down. Both get kicked out.

4. Trail Goal: Paul Mailey from CJ Legassic and Andrew Pickering
(terrific moves by Legassic down his off wing into a cross crease pass that Mailey tapped in)

5. Trail Goal: JF Boisvert from Graeme Strukoff (PP)
(Smokies get caught in their own zone until Strukoff makes an outstanding outlet pass to Boisvert at the Merritt blue line for a breakaway that Boisvert wrists in on his forehand)

CJ Legassic and Zalba get into it and have a pretty good tilt. Legassic gets free of the wrestling and throws a few nice shots in. Again both players get ejected.

6. Trail Goal: Andrew Pickering from Jayson Reardon
(Reardon fires a good low point shot that Pickering knocks in on the rebound)

Goaltenders

Trail's Marco Raimondo stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win

Merritt's Graeme Gordon stopped 30 of 34

(CJ Legassic in action, once again from Randy Emery.)

Exhibition Game 2: Powell River 4 Smokies 2

Trail's goals were scored by Riley Loyst and Andrew Pickering. Local defenceman Steven Koshey got the assist on both of them. I've liked what I've seen from both Loyst and Pickering in camp. They seem to have a nose for the net. When I noticed them it was usually somewhere around that crease area. The Smokies need that. So there were four different goal scorers in the Princeton games. Splitting two games with a tough Powell River team certainly isn't a bad result. Lets see how they do against a physically imposing Merritt squad.

I talked to Coach Jim Ingram after the game tonight. He says the Smokies really didn't wake up until the final 15 minutes of the game. It's possible we'll see some efforts like this as the very young team adjusts to each other and the BCHL. That being said, the coaches also tell me that this group is showing the kind of passion, work effort and desire they were hoping for. Assistant Brian Youngson told me before the game that the players are doing little things even now that they couldn't get last year's team to do.

Ingram says Rusty Abbott played a nice game in net for Trail. The young goaltender's story is an interesting one. He impressed everyone at the spring camp despite being at his linebacker weight after the football season. The coaches asked him to drop the weight and Abbott was able to knock off 40 pounds before reporting to Trail. He has been very good in camp. Rusty had a shut out during the scrimmages, he let in the fewest goals during the inter squad game, and he's impressing people with his commitment. Paul Barclay's return and strong performance makes it hard to imagine that Abbott would make the team, but he is certainly making an impression. If he doesn't make the team I could certainly imagine him playing for a local KIJHL with the Smokies keeping a very close eye on him.

While the forward group on the ice tonight was largely the same as last night, it was a very different group on the back end. 92 forward Travis St. Denis made his exhibition debut tonight, but that was the only change up front. However, only Eric Gethers played both games on the blue line. That must mean they've giving the former Beaver Valley Nitehawk (who played some Junior A hockey in Ontario) a long look. I guess Tuesday night's group had a better time out there. In talking to the coaching staff and others close to the team it's obvious the Smokies are facing some seriously tough choices with their defencemen. You would think the injuries to Jimmy Geerin and Shane Oatway would make it tough for the Smoke Eaters to fill their defensive depth chart. Instead they are still having a hard time cutting enough guy to fit under the roster rules. A couple of guys who end up cut by Trail will still be Junior A level players. It's a tough situation but a great problem to have.

It's also interesting to note that Wade Waters got the win for Powell River. He had a very strong showing at the Smokies camp last year. I'm glad to see him catching on with the Kings. Waters had an excellent year for Creston in the KIJHL and he deserves the chance.

Goal scoring is still a concern for Trail. Four goals in two games is not a disaster, but it would be nice to see a little more of an offensive output for the Smokies on Friday and Saturday against Merritt. That being said, championships are built from the net out. Strong veteran goaltending and a deep, creative and poised blue line is something any team in this league would love to have. The Smokies just need to put the right guys in the right situations to get that production they need from their forwards.

After a couple more cuts tomorrow Trail will be much closer to their opening day roster when they play Merritt this weekend. Welcome your new Smoke Eaters to Trail this Friday and Saturday. Welcome Cam Brodie, Brad Davis and Dylan Herold back to Trail this weekend. Welcome hockey back to our lives! I know I can't wait. Remember the start times are 7pm on Friday and 2pm on Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Tomorrow I should have some audio up from Brian Youngson and Jim Ingram sometime in the early evening. I like what I'm hearing from the coach so far this year. I sense optimism in his voice. This will be an exciting, hard working, passionate, young hockey team. Bring your Orange and Black this Friday. Lets drop that puck.

Exhibition Game 1: Smokies 2 Powell River 1

I just got a report from Coach Jim Ingram that the Trail Smoke Eaters beat Powell River 2-1 in the first exhibition game of the season for the Smokies. The two teams are playing a two game set in Princeton. Paul Barclay played the whole game in net for the Smoke Eaters. He stopped 24 of 25 shots for the win. Welcome back, Paul! Captain Ryan Bulach and rookie defenceman Graeme Strukoff had Trail's goals. They'll play again tomorrow night at 7pm. I don't know much about the game, but a win to start the season is certainly at least a good omen.

Just for the record, AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey broadcasts don't start on Mountain FM until the first road game of the regular season. We will be live at all home games with updates but not full play by play coverage.

The Smokies will be back at Cominco Arena for two games with Merritt this weekend. Friday's game time is 7pm. Saturday's is a rare 2pm start. Hope to see you all out there.

Tomorrow is also the start of the Grand Forks International Baseball tournament. Mountain FM will be on top of the event all week. Listen to Overtime from 6pm to Midnight for all the latest.