RECAP: Smoke Eaters Fall In Overtime To Wild
By Trevor Miller
The Trail Smoke Eaters battled their way from behind but eventually fell in overtime to the Wenatchee Wild by a 5-4 score on Wednesday night at the Town Toyota Center.
Owen Ozar collected a pair of goals and three points in his BCHL debut but it would not be enough as Trail battled back from a two-goal 1st period deficit with Lucas Sowder scoring the overtime winning goal and helping Wenatchee to a 5-4 victory in extra time.
Wenatchee opened the scoring with the only goal in the first period of play, one that was very even between the two teams. Matt Gosiewski drove down the right wing and dropped a pass for Lucas Sowder in the left-wing face-off circle and passed backdoor for Matt Dorsey as he tapped the puck past Smoke Eaters goaltender Adam Marcoux for a 1-0 lead at the 7:03 mark of the opening period.
The game would open up a bit in the second period as the Wild would build a 2-0 lead, stemming off of a big save from Austin Park, stonewalling Bryce Anderson in front of the goal in his attempt to tie the game.
Christophe Fillion worked his way around the perimeter of the zone and had his pass to the slot area blocked in front before the puck came behind the goal and banked in off a leg from Cristophe Tellier and past Marcoux at the 4:58 mark of the middle stanza to double the Wenatchee advantage.
The Smoke Eaters began to chip away at the lead and came in the way of a forward who waited 16 games to get into the action. Carter Jones started the play, making a nice deke around a defender at the right goal line and set up a pass for Braeden Tuck in the circle before he zipped the puck to the blocker side and spotted Owen Ozar at the side of the night for his first career BCHL goal and cut the deficit to one goal at the 10:49 mark of the 2nd period.
Only 2:06 later, Ozar and Tuck facilitated the play that helped tie the game. Ozar pushed the puck ahead on the right side for Tuck, who spotted Trevor Zins inside the blue lien on the left wing as he one-timed a shot past the blocker side of Park for his 5th goal of the season and tied the game at the 12:53 mark.
The Wild got their lead back before the period was out at the 16:09 mark of the frame after the Trail defence did a good job to force PJ Fletcher to the outside but the puck found it’s way to the slot for Nathan Iannone, who chopped it by the blocker side of Marcoux to restore the Wenatchee lead and make it a 3-2 game.
The impressive BCHL debut for Ozar continued in the opening moments of the 3rd period and tied the game at the 3:26 mark of the final regulation frame. Tuck left the puck for Ozar to skate onto in the left circle as he broke past the defence and beat Park on the glove side for his second goal of the game and knotted the contest up at 3-3.
The Smoke Eaters got their first lead of the game at the 12:44 mark of the 3rd period and it came courtesy of the power play. Levi Glasman centred a puck from the right face-off circle that Hayden Rowan caught a piece of and tipped the puck past Park for his 7th goal of the season and gave Trail a 4-3 lead.
The advantage was short-lived for Trail as Wenatchee came down and tied the game. Dorsey protected the puck as he raced his way into the zone and made a nice move to get past the glove side of Marcoux for his second goal of the game and knotted things up at 4-4 before overtime.
Lucas Sowder ended the game 2:11 into the extra frame as he blazed down the left wing and cut to the net, going from his backhand to his forehand to give the Wild their first overtime win of the season.
Adam Marcoux stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced in the game, suffering his 7th loss of the season while Austin Park made 19 saves on 23 shots in picking up his 6th win of the year.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Wild (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 32-23 Wild
SMOKE EATERS PP: 1/3
SMOKE EATERS PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Matt Dorsey (2-0-2)
2) Lucas Sowder (1-1-2)
3) Owen Ozar (2-1–3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Blake Bargar (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,643
The Smoke Eaters (7-6-3-1) return back to the Trail Memorial Centre as they host the Mainland Division’s Prince George Spruce Kings (10-5-0-1) on Friday night. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. with tickets available for purchase at the Smoke Eaters Main Office.
