All good things must eventually come to an end. The Express had an exceptional start to the season but hit their first roadblock Friday night. Adversity can either build up or break down a team, so with the rematch against the Chiefs just a day away, Coquitlam have a shot at showing the 4-0 start was no fluke.
Chilliwack were riding a significant amount of momentum coming into their shot at redemption. Coquitlam took the season opener against the Chiefs 3-1 on home ice but Chilliwack looked like a different team tonight. The road team came in swinging and moved well on the ice, getting to the areas required for consistent offence. If Chilliwack gets rolling early they can be a tough team to stop and the inertia was too much for the Express to overcome.
The boys from the East Valley struck first on the scoresheet with a weird one as a centering feed from below the goal line deflected off Cooper Wilson’s skate and towards the goal. Eric Young got his stick there in time to stop the weird redirection but couldn’t deny Caleb Malhotra who jammed the puck home at the near post. The youngster from Toronto would net his first career BCHL goal with his father in attendance. Yes that is indeed the son of Manny Malhotra, former Vancouver Canuck and now Head Coach of the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL. The response from Coquitlam came off another first career goal, this time for Adam Konowalchuk. The Express rattled off a tic-tac-toe passing play on the rush that resulted in a one-timer from the slot for the Maple Ridge product. Bresson was beat five hole and the game was tied with just under seven to go in the opening frame.
Period two was all Chilliwack in the goal scoring department as Hunter McInnes snapped one home short side to cap off a 3-on-1 rush for the Chiefs. Following that was a beautiful aerial pace by Olivier Beaulieu that sprung Dakota MacIntosh on a partial break down the left wing. The veteran winger ripped a cross body shot home in stride and pushed the margin to 3-1.
Despite the pushback and decent puck movement from the Express, they just couldn’t buy a goal tonight. Several times they got the puck to a high danger area but the finish was just a bit off. Nick Wellenreiter had a great chance in the third period to put one home and change the momentum but he shot the puck off the side of the goal as Owen Bresson slid across. Nate Crema had a few chances roll off the blade of the stick, including one chance in the second where a Chiefs player got a last second well timed poke check right as he was given an open net to shoot at.
The final nail in the coffin came from Caleb Elfering who potted his first of the season on a nice feed from Enzo Lottin. Twice in a row the Express gave up a cross ice feed to the slot where a wide open Lottin had time and space to work with. They recovered quickly enough to deter the first chance but when the second pass made it over to Lottin, he threaded a great feed to the back post for the Elfering tap in.
Sometimes it just isn’t your night offensively. Pucks went high or wide on most attempts on goal by Coquitlam and the ones that did make their way on target were smothered by Owen Bresson. Now the challenge for the Express is to take this game and bounce back tomorrow. If there is ever a time to be handed your first loss it’s when you have the chance to wipe the slate clean with a rematch against the same team the following day. This will be a very playoff like scenario in the early season as once the hunt for the Fred Page begins in April, all bets are off. If you lose a tough one on home ice, you better be ready to shake it off and get back to work against that same opponent the following day.
Head on down to the Coliseum in Chilliwack for the 6PM PST game Saturday night or be sure to tune in on the “Away” feed on FloHockey to catch all the action!
FORTIS BC ENERGY PLAYER – David Brandes
MARINER BREWING THREE STARS
3rd – COQ – Adam Konowalchuk – First Career Goal
2nd – CHWK – Caleb Malhotra – First Career Goal
1st – CHWK – Dakota MacIntosh – 1 G 1A
– Ian Wilson
