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Game Day! Coquitlam Express vs Alberni Valley Bulldogs (3/18/22)

The Coquitlam Express are set to host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in what is their final home game of the 2021-22 season! Puck drop is at 7:00pm.

The Statistics

The Express are coming off of a pivotal three-game road trip in which they played three games in three days against the two clubs who were chasing them for a playoff position. On this road trip, they won all three games and really separated themselves from the Powell River Kings and the Cowichan Valley Capitals, both literally and figuratively. This is a team ready to compete in the Fred Page Cup Playoffs.

The Express and the Bulldogs both enter tonight’s contest among the hottest teams in the BCHL as they’ve both gone 4-1 in their last five outings.

In that aforementioned five-game stretch, the Express generated a lot of offence on the powerplay as they executed on 5/18 (27.7%) opportunities. In fact, they own the second-best powerplay in the Coastal Conference, converting on 24.3% of their chances this season. On home ice, they lead the Coastal with 27.2% efficiency.

Tonight marks these two clubs’ fourth and final meeting of this campaign. The Bulldogs have won 2/3 games so far, the Express won their most recent clash back on February 27th.

Keys to Victory

The keys to victory are much of the same for the Express, who have been on an absolute tear since mid-February when they really cemented their lineup and systems.

Jumping out to an early lead does wonders for this group, who execute a very strong neutral zone trap that is particularly strong at the narrow-iced Train Station.

Utilizing their offensive speed needs to remain a focal point for the Express. They’re terrific at stretching out the ice and getting behind their opponent’s defenders. Once there, they are able to maintain offensive zone time and cycle the other team into an exhausted stance where they are more likely to take penalties.

Once those powerplay opportunities do arise, the Express need to continue to generate chances with a shoot-first mentality that has garnered them an abundance of success in the past two months of play.

A major contributor to this has been the recent surge in offence from the blue line. Matthew Campbell, Ian Devlin, Luke Vardy, and Brenden Pentecost have all been chipping in points lately and it has opened up a whole new avenue of threat for the Express.

The Lineup

Carter Cochrane and Jayden Sison both remain out with injury.

Carter Woodside gets the start tonight in net – he is 12-8-1 on the season with a 3.37 GAA and a .891 SV%.

 

We’ll see you at the Train Station!

#AllAboard | #WeAreAllExpress