Smoke Eaters Force Game 7, Winner Faces Vipers In Second Round:

St. Denis pots hat trick to send series to seventh game

Friday, March 4, 2011 - Submitted by BCHL Media

It was do-or-die time in Trail Friday night and the Smoke Eaters responded with a 4-3 win over the Westside Warriors to force Game 7 Saturday night back at Westside.

Travis St. Denis kicked off what would be a big night for him with a much-needed power play goal for the Smokies, who went 0-7 with the man advantage on Thursday. Dylan Tappe followed less than three minutes later to make it 2-0 Trail after one.

In the second, a determined Warriors squad hung tight by killing two straight penalties and later equalized with goals 1:13 apart from Dru Morrison and Tyler French.

St. Denis tallied just 23 seconds into the third period to put Trail up a goal but Westside's Brett Mckinnon had an answer as the period approached the midway point.

The game would only remain knotted for a few minutes as St. Denis completed his hat trick with the game-winning goal at 13:56 of the third. The Trail native took 1st Star honours and now leads the Smokies in playoff goals with five. Sam Mellor took 2nd Star for setting up St. Denis' second and third tallies.

So the series many predicted would go the distance will do just that on Saturday night at Royal Lepage Place in West Kelowna. Puck drop is 7 p.m.