“Frustrating” loss for Bucks as Trail scores twice in final two minutes

The Cranbrook Bucks lost a nail-biter 3-2 to the Trail Smoke Eaters at Western Financial Place on Tuesday (Nov. 10).

Smoke Eaters forward Maddox Gandha opened the scoring 5:29 into the first period.

The Bucks tied it on the power play at 17:00 of the first, when Jack McMinn found Matthew Gilmore with a pass.

Brayden Gourley put Cranbrook ahead with a short-handed goal at 16:46 of the second period.

Trail’s Dysen Drake tied it at 18:27 of the third, with the Smoke Eaters’ goalie pulled for an extra attacker.

Twelve seconds later, Gandha scored his second of the game to seal the win for Trail.

Cranbrook goalie Jason Tremblay stopped 32 of 35 shots, while Smoke Eaters netminder Marek Schlenker made 38 saves on 40 shots.

Cranbrook Bucks vs Trail Smoke Eaters at Western Financial Place on November 10, 2026. (Photo Credit: Simone Joseph/Pattison Media)

Bucks head coach Roshen Jaswal called it a “frustrating” game after the team played well for 58 minutes.

“They get the goal six on five and then we miss the puck on the icing and then we miss a coverage off the face off and next thing you know you go from we’re being up to one and being down three two pretty quick,” he added.

“I think it’s frustrating on a lot of levels because I think we did a lot of good things tonight I thought we deserved a better result, but that’s hockey.”

Jaswal emphasized the need to understand the details.

“We got to understand that the details of the game are really important and especially in the last couple minutes of the game like we missed two coverages and they end up in our net,” he said.

“You got to finish all games, and you got to play a full 60 minutes.”

Cranbrook Bucks vs Trail Smoke Eaters at Western Financial Place on November 10, 2026. (Photo Credit: Simone Joseph/Pattison Media)

Jaswal pointed to positives, including strong games from Gilmore and Ty Ross and solid play from the defence.

“I mean I thought Matt Gilmore had one of his best games of the year. Ty Ross was awesome, you know, our decor did a good job. So there was a lot of good things that we did and our D zone was a lot better,” he said.

“It’s frustrating. I mean you get 40, 45 shots or whatever as well and you only score one goal – same thing that happened in Surrey.”

This season, Jaswal’s message has been “process over results,” and that remains clear.

“So, something we got addresses is our goal scoring for sure, but we’re doing a lot of good things. So, if we talk a lot about process over results, and I think that’s what we’ll keep preaching.”

Next up, the Bucks host the Vernon Vipers on Friday (Nov. 13) at Western Financial Place.