The Trail Smoke Eaters have added three Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) alumni for the 2021/22 British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) season.
Edge School defenseman Chris Kobelka will join Okanagan Hockey Academy (OHA) teammates Joel Barton and Ridge Dawson with the Smoke Eaters next season.
Barton has spent the last two years in the CSSHL playing for the OHA U18 Prep team. In 45 games the Kelowna, BC defenseman scored 4 goals and 17 assists.
Another Kelowna, BC native, Dawson joined OHA at the U15 Prep division in 2018/19. That season the forward would score 14 goals to go along with 15 assists in 29 games. Following his point per game campaign the Spokane Chiefs would select him in the 12th round, 257th overall in the 2019 Western Hockey League (WHL) Bantam Draft. He would team up with Barton the next two seasons, recording 32 points in 37 U18 Prep games.
Kobelka played five seasons in the CSSHL, originally joining Edge School in 2016/17, suiting up for their U15 team. He would return to their U15 team the following year, before joining their U16 Prep team in 2018/19. He would spend the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns with the Edge U18 Prep team, playing one game at the Junior A level for the Canmore Eagles of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). In 131 games the Calgary, AB native tallied 73 points.