The offseason often feels far too long and this summer has been no exception. We could not be more excited for the 2024-2025 season to begin. With opening puck drop scheduled for 7pm tonight, it’s finally here.
Welcome to another season of Express Hockey.
To kick things off we host the Chilliwack Chiefs at the Train Station in a rematch of the 2022 and 2023 Fred Page Cup opening round. It hasn’t been nearly that long though as your Express and the Chiefs tangoed just last Saturday out at the Coliseum. 3-1 went the final score in a tooth and nail type affair. Big saves on both ends and defence locking in made scoring chances hard to come by.
Coquitlam comes into this season led by some key returning players alongside a new wave of talent with a penchant for working hard. The squad has already had a chance to gel fairly well during the preseason but nothing truly prepares you for when the rubber hits the road to kick off the season.
Leading the charge for the returning core is the newly minted leadership group. Captain James Shannon and his alternates Cooper Wilson, Jackson Krill and Sam Frandina will set the standard for this team to follow. The combination of skill, work ethic and enthusiasm on display will be a great standard at that.
The returnees also include Grady Lenton, Joseph Odyniec, Cale Colwell, Sebastian Bradshaw, Nate Crema, David Brandes, Ethan Simcoe and Eric Young.
As for the Chilliwack side, they are a very veteran heavy group that is poised to make some noise this season. Upfront they have a myriad of familiar faces such as Mateo Mrsic and Brady Milburn. Then on the backend five blueliners are back from 2023-2024. Owen Bresson has already shown he is ready to step into the spotlight with an impressive performance against the Express last week. All around this will be a great early season test for Coquitlam.
Tonight it will be key for the Express to try and establish their structure early. In exhibition against Chilliwack, they were hot out of the gate and generated multiple key scoring chances but they couldn’t beat Bresson. As well, too many times in that game did Coquitlam cough up the puck in their own zone. The opening goal was a direct result of a turnover up the middle of the ice and throughout the game the Chiefs capitalized on prolonged stays in the offensive end due to not enough care for the puck being taken.
Stop me if I am a broken record but another key to playing against Chilliwack is to not be goaded into altercations and penalties. The newcomers got a taste of this discipline test during the exhibition game but now with two points on the line, it’s an entirely different beast to navigate.
Considering there may very well be some fireworks in tonight’s scrums, there are some new rules regarding fighting in the BCHL this season! Instead of an automatic five-minute penalty and a game misconduct for a fight that results from a scrum, it will be a five-minute penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Therefore, players who fight, barring some particular situations, will stay in the game. After a player’s fourth fight of the season onwards they will start to earn progressively harsher punishments from the league such as suspension and fines.
Grab your tickets online here or stop by the box office pregame and take in the dawn of a new season live from the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex. The Coquitlam Junior Adanacs will be in the building to perform the ceremonial puckdrop in honour of their Minto Cup Championship this past August!
If you can’t make it out, the FloHockey broadcast as brought to you by Trickshot will be on the air at about 6:50PM PST.
– Ian Wilson
