Anderson Caps Off Smoke Eaters Overtime Victory vs. Centennials
By Trevor Miller
The Trail Smoke Eaters used a 33-save performance from Adam Marcoux and an overtime winning goal off the stick of Bryce Anderson to help them to their 3rd straight win on home ice, picking up a 2-1 overtime victory over the Merritt Centennials at the Trail Memorial Centre on Friday night.
Carter Jones opened the scoring for Trail while Adam Marcoux took the game from there, making some impressive stops to keep his team in the lead before Bradley Cocca’s 3rd period marker tied the game and forced overtime. Bryce Anderson would be crowned the hero, scoring 3:03 into the extra frame and helping Trail to their third straight home ice win.
The Smoke Eaters came out with an energetic start and jumped on the scoreboard first with an opening goal at the 5:51 mark of the 1st frame. Trevor Zins sent a pass to the right face-off circle for Chase Stevenson, who zipped a pass across to the left wing where Carter Jones teed up a one-timer with Centennials netminder Vincent Duplessis having the puck go off of his glove and past him for Jones’ 9th of the season and a 1-0 Smoke Eaters lead on the power play.
The scoreboard showed nothing in the 2nd period as the Smoke Eaters continued to hold their lead of 1-0 through 40 minutes of regulation. Adam Marcoux continued his strong play in the Trail goal, making stops on all 17 shots he faced through two periods while Vincent Duplessis stopped each of the 7 shots he faced in the middle frame and 12 of the 13 he saw through two periods of action.
Bradley Cocca knotted the game up at 1-1 early into the 3rd period at the 3:28 mark of the final regulation frame. Cocca worked his way over the blue line and let a shot go from the top of the right face-off circle that eluded the glove side of Marcoux and past him to tie the game.
Merritt had the stronghold in shots in the final 20 minutes of the contests but Marcoux continued to keep his team in the game, turning aside 15 of the 16 shots he faced in the 3rd period while Vincent Duplessis stopped all 6 shots thrown his way to force overtime.
Bryce Anderson sped down the left wing and cut his way to the net on his backhand before lifting the puck to Duplessis, who made the stop but saw him momentum carry him past the goal line and result in a good goal for the Smoke Eaters and their 11th win of the season with Anderson collecting his 5th goal of the season.
Adam Marcoux stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced in the game as his outstanding effort was rewarded with his 9th win of the season while Vincent Duplessis turned aside 22 of the 24 shots he saw in his 5th defeat of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 Smoke Eaters (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 34-21 Centennials
SMOKE EATERS PP: 1/3
SMOKE EATERS PK: 4/4
3 STARS:
1) Bryce Anderson (1-0-1)
2) Vincent Duplessis (22 saves on 24 shots)
3) Bradley Cocca (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Adam Marcoux (33 saves on 34 shots)
ATTENDANCE: 1,978
The Smoke Eaters (11-12-4-2) head back out on the road for their final trip of the season to Kal Tire Place as they take on the Vernon Vipers (9-9-6-3) on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM with the broadcast available on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com beginning at 5:50 PM with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
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