The Cranbrook Bucks will put some streaks on the line this weekend when they face a familiar foe in a pair of games against the Trail Smoke Eaters.
Cranbrook’s 10-game head-to-head win-streak against it’s West Kootenay rival will be tested on Friday night at the historic Cominco Arena in downtown Trail.
The scene will then shift to Western Financial Place on Saturday night as the Bucks host the Smoke Eaters in the final meeting of the regular season.
The Bucks have won all five matchups with the Smoke Eaters so far this season, including sweeping two previous weekend home-and-home sets.
Cranbrook’s 10-game win-streak against its arch rival dates back to Dec. 17, 2021, when the Bucks defeated Trail in the first of four straight meetings on either end of the Christmas break.
The Smoke Eaters last win against Cranbrook came on Dec. 1, 2021.
Cranbrook will also put a six-game point-streak overall on the line, going 5-0-1 since it’s last regulation loss on Jan. 7 in Chilliwack.
The Bucks currently sit second-place in the Interior Conference standings and third overall in the BCHL with a 27-10-2 record and 56 points.
They have scored the fifth-most goals in the league with 142 and surrendered the second-fewest at 92 for a second-ranked goal-differential of plus-50.
Cranbrook also owns the league’s second-best penalty-kill percentage at 84.7%, while it’s power-play ranks 17th at 15.5% heading into the weekend.
Both Trail’s power-play and penalty-kill units rank seventh in the league, as it has a 21.1% success rate with the man-advantage and has killed penalties 80% of the time.
The Smoke Eaters are 12th in the BCHL with 121 goals-for and 15th with 153 goals-against for the league’s 14th ranked goal-differential of minus-32.
Trail currently occupies eighth-place in the Interior with a 16-18-5 record and 37 points.
The Smoke Eaters are 11-8-2 on home ice and 5-10-3 on the road this season.
Cranbrook is 16-2-1 in games played at Western Financial Place in 2022-23, including a 12-0-1 run in 13 contests since its last regulation loss on home ice on Nov. 19. The Bucks are 11-7-1 in road games on the season.
While this weekend’s set concludes the regular season series between Cranbrook and Trail, the two teams could be on a collision course for their first-ever playoff matchup come April.
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