Trail Smoke Eaters

The Trail Smoke Eaters are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Trail, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League.

History

The Smoke Eaters have existed as both junior and senior teams since the 1920s and competed in the 1944 Memorial Cup championship and won two Allan Cup championships—1938 and 1962. The senior team also won two Ice Hockey World Championships playing for Canada in 1939 and 1961; they were the last independent ice hockey club to represent Canada in international competition before the Canada men's national ice hockey team was established in 1963. The Smokies played in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League until 1991, then joined the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League until 1995 when they bought out the rights to the Bellingham Ice Hawks and joined the BCHL.The name started when a player picked up a pipe and started smoking it after a fan threw it on the ice.

Season-by-Season record

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Playoffs

• 1992 Lost Final

Trail Smoke Eaters defeated Kimberley Dynamiters 4-games-to-none

Trail Smoke Eaters defeated Cranbrook Colts 4-games-to-3

Prince George Spruce Kings defeated Trail Smoke Eaters 3-games-to-2

• 1993 Lost Semi-final

Trail Smoke Eaters defeated Creston Valley Thunder 4-games-to-none

Cranbrook Colts defeated Trail Smoke Eaters 4-games-to-2

• 1994 DNQ
• 1995 DNQ

Chilliwack/Ladner/Bellingham Franchise

To secure entry into the BCHL, the Trail Smoke Eaters bought out the franchise rights to the Bellingham Ice Hawks, who previously existed in Ladner and Chilliwack.

Chilliwack Colts 1978-81

Langley Eagles 1981-87

Chilliwack Eagles 1987-89

Ladner Penguins 1989-90

Bellingham Ice Hawks 1990-95

The Eagles played for six seasons in Langley of which 1983-84 was their dream-come-true season. That year, with a record of 40-8-2, placing third in the league, their hope for playoff success, was high. In the Quarter-Finals that year they grounded Abbotsford Flyers, 4–1. They sunk the Nanaimo Clippers in the semi-finals, 4–2 to advance them to the league finals. In that series they jousted with the favoured Penticton Knights, who placed first in the league and won 4–0. The Peace Caribou Junior Hockey League champions, Prince George Spruce Kings, would fare no better as Langley chopped them down, 2–0, for the Mowat Cup. In the BC/Alta Championship, Fort Saskatchewan Traders were out bartered, 4–2. Alas, all good things must come to an end and that is what happened to Langley in the Abbott Cup. The Weyburn Red Wings were having a dream-come-true season of their own, clipping Langleys wings, 4–0, and going on to win the Centennial Cup, emblematic of Junior "A" Hockey supremacy in Canada.

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

See also

• List of ice hockey teams in British Columbia

External links

• Smoke Eaters Website