The Express take a rare interior trip to Cranbrook to kick off their second last road weekend of the regular season. Travel is already well underway with blue skies to treat them as they head through the BC backcountry.
Cranbrook find themselves in the bottom half of the interior standings and come into this weekend with a similar record to your Coquitlam Express. Their goalscoring struggles have mirrored the Express recently but the Bucks have been stingier defensively overall to compensate.
Regardless of who you play on any given day, the fact remains the same that you must bring your A game and Coquitlam intends to do just that with some frustrating games fueling their resolve. Letting bygones be bygones at this stage of the season is important so long as you work to improving the pieces of your game required.
The Bucks netminders come into tonight with a combined .917SV% and a 2.87 GAA, so defence has thoroughly been on the mind in Cranbrook. This is a great challenge to spur the Express on as getting the puck across the goal line is the final missing piece of the puzzle for this team.
Obviously we’ve talked at length about scoring and its importance but don’t get the notion twisted, the Express are working their tails off for their scoring chances. They only managed one goal last week against Surrey and Langley but in both games the opposing netminders played some of the best hockey they’ve had this season. So many pucks would be dead to rights only to be snatched away by an errant glove or a stretched pad. A little bounce here, a little deflection there and the result is the Express on an all time streak of bad puck luck.
Coquitlam held their opponents to two goals or less for a lion’s share of February and with some of the competition they faced, that’s an impressive figure. Coming into March that defensive acumen has eased a bit and will certainly need to be brought back into focus heading to the postseason. If the goalscoring doesn’t materialise then the defence is the best medicine until the floodgates reopen.
The boys are so far east they’re in another timezone! Puckdrop is 6pm PST so be sure not to miss the first period. Wylie Henderson and Chris Keck will have the call on FloHockey.
– Ian Wilson
