It’s ‘Score for Cancer’ night at the Train Station as the Coquitlam Express host the visiting Victoria Grizzlies! Puck drop is at 7:00pm.
On top of some great hockey, the Train Station will be host to some fantastic events all with a percentage of proceeds going towards Ryan Tattle’s ‘Score for Cancer’ fundraising campaign.
In these two clubs’ last meeting at the Train Station, back on February 4th, the Express secured a 3-1 victory as they put on a defensive clinic against the Coastal Conference’s most potent offence. The Express did a wonderful job of clogging up the neutral zone and eliminating the Grizzlies’ time and space as they tried to move up the ice. They also killed off all five of the Grizzlies’ powerplay opportunities.
To illustrate the Grizzlies’ offensive prowess, they have scored the second-most goals in the BCHL (173). Additionally, they have four of the top-10 scorers in the BCHL, including the top-two – Ellis Rickwood has 52 assists and 68 points in 41 games while Matthew Wood, the highly-touted rookie has 40 goals and 73 points in just 36 games.
Shutting down this duo is imperative tonight for the Express. In that aforementioned previous tilt, the Express played them very physically and it did wonders in terms of taking away their time to make decisions and make plays.
The Grizzlies come into this one 3-2 in their last five while averaging 4.8 goals per game and capitalizing on 5/18 (27.7%) of powerplay opportunities. The Express enter tonight 2-2-1 in their previous five outings where they averaged 3.2 goals per game and executed on 3/15 (20%) of their own powerplay looks.
Beyond playing a very defensively sound hockey game, the Express need to maintain their own offensive production.
Matthew Campbell has been terrific at driving play and creating offence for his team all season and the scoresheet is really starting to reflect that – in his last four games, he’s chalked up two goals and two helpers.
Tattle and Tyler Kopff have also been hot as of late, generating the majority of the Express’ offence and combining for five goals and seven assists in four games.
Carter Woodside will get the net for the Express tonight and he’ll look to improve on his 8-8-1 record, 3.40 GAA, and .890 SV%.
We’ll see you at the Train Station!
Click HERE for Game Day Program
#AllAboard | #WeAreAllExpress
