The evening kicked off with introductions of 22 Vancouver Canucks Alumni & personalities who were on hand to show support for the British Columbia Hockey League and the Terry Fox Foundation. When the puck dropped between the Express and Cowichan Valley Capitals, it was clear that both teams were in for a battle. The high-powered Express offence applied pressure on the Capitals back end, outshooting Cowichan 19-8 through the 1st Period.
Cowichan found a way to open up the scoring shorthanded, when Jarrett Brown separated from an Express defender and beat Gordie Defiel five-hole. The Express powerplay regrouped quickly and answered 38 seconds later, when Joey Santucci scored his 18th of the season. Less than 1 minute later, Express Captain, Ryan Rosenthal, gave his team the lead with his 22nd of the year.
Mason Malkowich would ensure that the game would be tied 2-2 going into the intermission. A broken play in front of the Express net would allow him to tuck home a loose puck in the crease. Both teams headed to their respective dressing rooms looking to regroup for the final 40 minutes of regulation.
Early in the 2nd, Malkowich would give the Capitals the lead with his 2nd of the night. He was able to create space and snap a quick wrist shot past the glove hand of the Express netminder. That was followed 2:10 later when Matthew Berry-Lamontagna, the former Express defender, pinched on a goal mouth scramble to extend the Cowichan lead to 4-2.
Down by 2, Barry Wolff lit a fire under his troops to try and rally infront of the buzzing crowd. Newcomer, Brendan Lamont set up Jace Hennig with just under 6 minutes to go to cut the lead in half.
As he’s done all season, Captain Rosenthal stepped up when his team needed. Canon Pieper set Ryan up for his 2nd of the night, tying the game at 4-4.
Both goaltenders would shine the rest of the way, neither giving up any ground to make some great saves down the stretch and through the 1st Overtime. The best chance to end the game came in the 3-on-3 Overtime, when the Capitals were called for too many men on the ice. Adam Rockwood was selected to take the penalty shot and was stymied by the glove hand of Robin Gusse.
It was a great night all around as the over $4,000 in community fundraising was accomplished with the help of the Vancouver Canucks Alumni.
The Express are on the road this weekend for games in Kelowna and Vernon. Next Express home game is Wednesday, January 15th against the Surrey Eagles.
