The Coquitlam Express are back in Chilliwack this morning for their second BCHL Showcase game! This time, they’ll be going head-to-head with the Nanaimo Clippers. It’s an early one and puck drop is at 10:00am.
The Express are coming off a 5-2 loss to the defensively stingy Salmon Arm Silverbacks in their first Showcase game and will look to secure a better outcome against another very strong hockey team in the Clippers. The Express were in this hockey game for the first period – the loss really boiled down to a lack of execution with their offensive looks. The Silverbacks are arguably the best defensive club in the league and they just locked this game down once they held the lead.
This morning, they’re taking on the 4-1 Nanaimo Clippers who are another strong defensive team – they’re tied for the league’s fewest goals against (10) with the aforementioned Silverbacks. On the flip side of that coin, they’ve also scored the third-most goals in the BCHL with 22. Pulling on that same thread, this Clippers team also has the third-best powerplay, which is operating at an impressive 33.3% thus far. Something that the Express could potentially exploit is the Clipper’s league-worst lack of discipline – the Clippers have been shorthanded 28 times, averaging 5.6 times shorthanded per game.
The Express have switched up their lineup a little bit ahead of this morning’s outing as the very productive top line of Arlo Merritt, Ryan Tattle, and Ray Hamlin have been split up, at least to start. Hamlin has been slid down to a new-looking second line consisting of Jayden Sison and Carter Cochrane. Jaeger Murdock has been inserted in Hamlin’s spot with Merritt and Tattle on the first line. One has to assume that this is to spread the wealth amongst the lineup and create more depth scoring because the Merritt, Tattle, Hamlin connection has been one of the best lines in the league so far in this 2021-22 campaign.
Connor MacKenzie gets the nod for the Express this morning and he’ll look to get to 3-1 on the season with another ‘W’.
#AllAboard | #WeAreAllExpress
