It won't be clear whether or not the Trail Smoke Eaters receive a confidence boost from Friday's 7-1 win over Salmon Arm until they tackle the Merritt Centennials on Saturday, but there's little question that a decisive victory over a traditional Interior Conference powerhouse could be the key to an early season turnaround.
It was Trail's power play that fueled the team's offence, as the home side scored five times with the man advantage — including twice in the game's opening five minutes.
Tye Lewis, Darnell Dyck and Nick Sandor each tallied a pair of goals in the win and Garrett Beckwith made 38 saves as the Smokies tied a season-high for goals scored with seven. Lewis and Scott Jacklin each picked up three points on the evening.
Beckwith, meanwhile, was stellar in goal, particularly during a second period where he turned aside 16 shots to give his team a chance to expand on the 2-0 lead it held after 20 minutes.
Greg Noyes scored the lone Salmon Arm goal early in the third period on a set-up from David Killip and Travis Statchuk.
Trail now heads on the road to face Merritt on Saturday, while Salmon Arm returns home to take on that same Centennials squad on Tuesday.
