The Victoria Grizzlies and Coquitlam Express are on a collision course tonight at the Train Station. For the first time this campaign the two will meet in what should be an exceptional matchup.
Both teams were some of the last squads to find their first loss of the year at the beginning of this BCHL season. Hot starts have since cooled off but that doesn’t mean the quality of play hasn’t been there. It’s been a dogfight at the top of the Coastal Conference standings for quite some time now and tonight will have the same implications as yesterday. Only one point separates Coquitlam and Victoria, with the Grizzlies hungry to vault Coquitlam and the Bulldogs who are tied at 25.
There are a staggering amount of similarities heading into the game tonight at the Poirier. These teams are similar in points, goals scored, goals allowed, penalty minutes, and evenly matched in OT wins… You name it, the Express and Grizzlies have had eerily reminiscent paths to success in the opening half of the campaign. It will be a clash of teams that like to grind their opponent down defensively and turn that into offence out the other way. Overall offensive production is also very close from a player to player perspective, with the slight edge going to Victoria, as Chase Pirtle leads the way with 11 goals and 23 points including the OT winner last night in Surrey. Victoria have a second player with beyond 20 points this season in Drew Hockley, with Coquitlam’s top scorers being James Shannon at 20 with Joseph Odyniec not far behind at 17.
Goaltending wise the Grizzlies are backstopped by a Coquitlam local in Oliver Auyeung-Ashton who is having yet another fantastic season. Coming into tonight he is undefeated in games he has appeared in, as well as sporting a 0.938SV% and 1.92 GAA. They had Tyler Hodges in the crease as well before releasing him to make way for Kyle Kesley to sign with the team recently.
The key for Coquitlam tonight will be to build an early lead and hold on to it. They tasted a 3-1 hold on the game last night but let it slip through their grasp. They have shown at various parts of the season that they can command a game and not just win via overtime or a comeback. Finding a way to see a game like last night after forty minutes through to its conclusion so soon after having one slip away would do wonders for the confidence of this group going forward. One major way they can affect that change is to button things up defending the transition. Lately Coquitlam have given up far too many goals where someone gets lost by their defender and ends up in prime scoring position. Offensively it’s business as usual with Coquitlam not hurting in the goalscoring department. They just have to keep engineering timely goals.
Join us for Minor Hockey Madness as several local groups will be in attendance raising the decibel level. If you can’t make it out then the FloHockey broadcast as always will have you covered.
– Ian Wilson
