The Trail Smoke Eaters started out their pre-season tournament with a tough 5-0 loss to the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League at Cominco Arena on Sept. 1. The game was the Smokies' first outing and the team showed a fair amount of rust. Despite having the definite size advantage the home team struggled to get an edge in the hitting department. In addition, despite having some good scoring chances the Smoke Eaters couldn't get any pucks past solid Bandit netminder Jan Obernesser.