Smokies eye three straight at home.

The Trail Smoke Eaters welcome the Vernon Vipers Friday night in hopes of winning their third straight game at Cominco Arena.

The Smokies were perfect at home last weekend earning wins over Nanaimo and Salmon Arm.

However, the orange and black's record in the Silver City so far this season is still nothing to brag about.

They come into this weekend 3-9-2-0 under their own roof but it feel's that the double overtime win last Saturday was the turning of a page.

When it was all said and done, the hometown crowd were on their feet and the Smokies gave a salute at center ice for the second night in a row.

"It was a great feeling obviously. The crowd seemed like they were into the whole game and for us to win in double overtime, it was awesome," said Captain Adam Wheeldon.

There are a lot of positives for this Trail club right now.

They are coming off back to back wins on home ice for the first time this season.

They are over .500 with Nick Deschenes behind the bench.

Also, Cody Bardock is coming off a BCHL Player of the Week Performance that saw him send two blistering point shots into the top corner of the opponent's net, both goals being game winners.

Wheeldon says with Friday being their only outing of the weekend, it makes it even more important to get the two points.

"One game sets the tone for [all of] next week pretty much. We have no time to redeem ourselves so its a pretty big game and pretty much we [have] to win."

Goaltender Dustin Nikkel agrees with his Captain.

"[Friday's] a huge one. It sets the tone, like Wheels said, for the week and for next weekend too. But I'd say it is also a build off of last week too."

Nikkel has probably the best seat in the house to see how his team is performance night after night, so I asked him what he thinks the biggest difference between the Smokies now to the team three weeks ago.

"I think we are start to trust each other and learn where everyone is one the ice. Before, I think everyone was just kind of confused and new to each other. I think we are just starting to learn our systems a bit more and trust each other to do our jobs."

Even though they are divisional rivals, the Vipes and Smokies have met just once so far this season with a 6-3 decision going in favor of Vernon on their home ice.

It is the second of five consecutive games against Interior foes for Trail, all of which are against either Vernon or Salmon Arm.

The Smoke Eaters will kick off next weekend with a home and home against the Silverbacks that starts in the Silver City.

The series moves to S.A Saturday before the Vipers and Smokies meet in Vernon Sunday.

"Every divisional game is really important because you look at our division and every [other] team in there is neck to neck, so every game is huge," proclaims the Captain.

Friday's game goes at 7:30 at Cominco Arena. If you can't join us watch at www.fasthockey.com or listen for free at www.mixlr.com/smokeeaters. Pre-game starts ten minutes before puck drop.