Spruce Kings 8 Smoke Eaters 0

Jujhar Khaira and Michael Colantone each had two-goal nights as the Spruce Kings shut out the Smokies 8-0 at the Prince George Coliseum Friday.

Colantone opened the scoring 3:30 in on a sharp wrist shot from between the circles that snuck past Trail goaltender Reed Vogt, before BCHL scoring leader Paul DeJersey doubled the Spruce King lead on a 2-on-0 before 20 minutes were out.

Spencer McHaffie and Colantone would make the score 4-0 PG before the halfway mark of the second period, chasing Vogt, but the Spruce Kings would add two more goals in the middle frame, including one by Michael Klonarakis that saw the Prince George forward benefit from a deflected shot that caromed off the face of teammate Scott McHaffie.

Myles Fitzgerald tipped home a point shot to make it 7-0 just over 2 minutes into the third before Khaira's second of the night rounded out the scoring 5 minutes later.

Former Nelson Leaf Marcus Beesley recorded his first BCHL shutout, making 26 saves.

To me, the Smokies looked good off the hop tonight, despite falling behind early, outshooting PG 9-4 through the first ten minutes. As is expected with young teams, though, there were hiccups, particularly in the second period which continues to be a boogeyman of sorts. Trail worked a lot on goal-line possession but had few chances down low thanks to a stingy, and large Prince George D corps (including former Smokie Ben Matthews who recorded 2 assists) that for the most part kept Trail's forwards to the perimeter.

Did You See: New Smoke Eater Garrett McMullen made his Trail debut, recording 2 penalty minutes. The Rochester, NY native played one game for Powell River earlier this season and was signed by Trail today.

Up Next: The Smokies will get another crack at Prince George tomorrow (7:00, PG Coliseum), before returning home next week for a pair of games against Penticton and Vernon.

Local Look-See: Former Smokie, and Trail product Steve Koshey scored twice and added an assist as his Surrey Eagles came back to defeat Alberni Valley 5-3 on home ice tonight.