The Trail Smoke Eaters hosted their pre-season tournament at Cominco Arena Aug. 28-30 with great hockey but less than expected turnout over the weekend.

The Smokies brought some talented teams to town and looked like they have a strong team early on this season.

“It went real well for us, it was good to see how the young guys played and how everyone has been working over the summer,” said Jim Ingram, head coach of the Trail Smoke Eaters.

“We got some good feedback from the other teams and it was a good early opportunity to see what our team’s going to look like.”

The Smokies took their first game in easy fashion against the Brooks Bandits 7-1. As soon as the first few goals went in the floodgates opened against the Bandits and their defence broke down.

In Game 2, the Smokies went up against the Powell River Kings on Saturday and played a close game to a 4-4 tie.

The game saw some great hitting and a few highlight-reel goals.

In the final game of the tournament, the Smokies faced the Penticton Vee’s who had gone undefeated in the first two games.

The Smokies got down two goals early on and couldn’t catch the Vee’s lead. The game ended 4-2, but was still a good game to watch including a heavyweight fight near the end of the third between 6’7 255 lbs Matt Malenstyn from the Smokies and 6’5 250 lbs Luke Curadi from the Vee’s.

The pre-season tournament was a success as far as the hockey went and organizers are planning for next year but would like to see more people come out and support the organization.

“We have talked to all the teams and they all really enjoyed it and said they would like to come out next year,” said Smoke Eaters president Tom Gawryletz.

“We had 10-12 NCAA scouts show up and considering it’s still summer it was good.”

Gawryletz said next year they are considering inviting six teams and starting on the Thursday but need more attendance to make it a success.

Tournament Results:

Game one: Powell River 3 – Penticton - 7

Game two: Brooks 1 – Trail 7

Game three: Penticton 5 – Brooks 2

Game four: Powell River 4 – Trail 4

Game five: Brooks 4 – Powell River 3

Game six: Penticton 4 – Trail 2