Oct 4th- The Express were looking to start off the month of October on the right foot with a win at home versus their division rivals from Chilliwack. The Chiefs enjoyed success against Coquitlam last year but with a new season comes a clean slate. The fans were given their money's worth in entertainment after witnessing a game that had just about everything.
The Chiefs opened the scoring early but their lead was short lived. At the 7:01 mark of the First Period, Coquitlam forward Bo Pieper took a pass from brother Cannon in the slot and one-timed one top shelf on opposing goaltender Lyndon Stanwood. Just 49 seconds later BCHL points and assists leader Adam Rockwood was up to his old tricks, feeding a sensational saucer pass to Corey Mackin, who tipped it in for his sixth of the year. The two have become a dangerous combo for opposing teams to contain early on this season. Late in the period, Coquiltam goalie Gordie Defiel had the crowd in "oh's and ah's" after sprawling out with the glove to rob a chiefs player on the goal line.
Coquitlam went right back to work in the Second Period, putting in two more goals to increase their lead to 4-1. The first came 6:51 in the first period when a Ryan Rosenthal shot handcuffed Stanwood and trickled into the net. Three minutes later Rosenthal was on the giving end of a pass to Corey Mackin who roofed home his second of the night. The Express were under much pressure for the rest of the period but were bailed out by Defiel who made four key saves on two consecutive penalty kills. The Chief's Carter Cochrane and Express's Ryan Rosenthal exchanged goals in the Third Period to finish the result at 5-2.
The game featured a lot of emotion play, including a Second Period fight between Coquitlam's John Saunders and Jaret Babych of the Chiefs. Later in the game Joey Santucci was assesed a game misconduct after a hit.
Coquitlam goaltender Gordie Defiel was stopped 42 shots for his fourth win of the year. After the game Defiel explained the importance of putting behind goals against early in the game , "when they get a quick one, or I guess any goal at all, you gotta put it behind you because you can't change it". Chilliwack's game was certainly to crash the net and knock Defeil off his game late when they struggled to score. This was a tactic the Express contained pretty well according to Defiel, "they would throw it from the outside and try to get some rebound goals but my D' did a good job keeping those big guys out of there"
The Express are now 4-2-2 after tonight's win and just three points back of Prince George for the division lead while holding two games in hand on the Spruce Kings. The teams meet up again tomorrow night at the Prospera Centre in Chilliwack.
