The Express continue the home stand with another special awareness night at the Train Station. This time it will be their Dyslexia awareness game. From the dyslexia Canada website: “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading. Kids with dyslexia have trouble reading accurately and fluently. They may also have trouble with reading comprehension, spelling and writing.” It’s and issue close to home as it affects individuals both in Associate Head Coach Brandon Cox’ and GM Tali Campbell’s families.
Coquitlam welcome a familiar Coastal Conference foe to the Train Station for tonight’s game in the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The Caps have had their struggles in recent memory, including suffering multiple 10-plus goal defeats. In their last five they have seemingly turned the ship around in the right direction. 3-2 for their recent stretch including a gutsy overtime win in West Kelowna has given Cowichan plenty of reasons to hold their heads up.
Even more exciting for tonight’s contest is the return of former Express Gavin Giesbrecht to the Poirier. Giesbrecht had a solid rookie season in the BCHL last year but had a slow start to his encore season. The Abbotsford local would be dealt to the Capitals in exchange for resident All-Star Cole Melady. Giesbrecht was a tough loss for the team with the coaching staff noting his tough gritty style of game and his ability to light fires under people in the locker room. Expect a big jump out the gate for him in his return to the place he called home last season.
Much the same goes for Cole Melady. The Seaforth, Ontario product spent 60 games with the Capitals over parts of two seasons before coming to Coquitlam. It will be his first competition against his old team. The fastest skater in the BCHL already plays his heart out every single game, but the game tonight may just mean that much more.
Last time out between these sides was October 6th of 2023 where Coquitlam picked up a decisive 7-4 road win. Ironically enough both Giesbrecht and Melady contributed to the scoresheet, Gavin with a goal, and Cole with an assist, just for the opposite teams they now reside upon. There was also a decent amount of rough and tumble after the whistles with both players receiving misconducts deep into the third. Will that fire between the two reignite tonight?
Coquitlam were left continuing the soul-search after Wednesday afternoon’s game versus Chilliwack as they dropped a 4-1 decision in front of the School Day crowd. The Express had a great start to the tilt, but game management and pace provided by the Chiefs would take over as the afternoon went along. Sebastian Bradshaw managed to only goal for Coquitlam after he banged home a rebound from the top of the crease. The Express will need more hard-nosed efforts like that should they hope to bump the slump at home this evening.
Grab your tickets and come on down to the Train Station or tune in on FloHockey with myself and the Starlide Productions crew!
– Ian Wilson
