Coquitlam put forward a fantastic effort on the road this evening in Vernon. They outshot the Vipers 37 to 26 and played a hard forechecking game full of disruptions to the Vernon breakout. At the end of the evening this contest finishes 3-2 in favor of the home side however with the Express dropping to 1-6 on their longest road trip of the season.
Any time you head away from the home barn for an extended period of time there’s bound to be challenges laid and calls to answer. Don’t let the record fool you, while this venture away from the Train Station wasn’t kind to the win loss column, there are plenty of positive takeaways.
Tonight’s game falls under the positive side despite the final score. This was a hard contested game from start to finish. Coquitlam also didn’t hang their heads when they were victim to a horrendous bounce out of the corner to kick off the game. Now there’s been some terrible bounces at the Poirier, but this puck went in the corner on a dump in play and it came out directly into the blue paint where Owen Kim hustled to put it home. Kal Tire Place claimed another victim as Ethan Simcoe was out of the cage to play the puck that rightfully should have made it to behind the net. With the first 11 seconds of the match yielding such a stroke of ill luck, the Express laced up their skates a little tighter and got to work.
Noah Dziver has been a consistent bright spot for the Express in his rookie season. While he doesn’t show up on the scoresheet often, he makes an impact on the ice with his hard physical play and relentless defensive acumen. He flipped the script though in this game by coming away with a goal and assist while earning third star honours.
His first goal came 5:52 into the first where he and Kasper Walther-Sneve collapsed on a Viper player trying to exit the Vernon zone. The puck popped free and Dziver had a mono-e-mono attempt with Colin Reay. The Winnipeg product made no mistake with a quick snapshot in tight to beat the Vernon netminder.
In the closing minutes of the first Dziver would etch his name on the scoresheet again as one of the assists to Joseph Odyniec’s powerplay goal. A great play off the boards towards the goal ended up pinballing to Odyniec who promptly blasted it past Reay for the go-ahead goal.
40 seconds later the Vipers got a powerplay of their own and Owen Kim came calling a second time. His 11th was assisted by hometown boy Erik Pastro who swept him a bouncing puck after the original shot from the point was knocked down. A heartbreaker for the Express as the goal went in with nine seconds left to go in the period.
The second period was well contested on both sides but the only goal to speak of went to the Vipers. Lukas McCloskey broke down the right wing and fed a pass to Hank Cleaves who waited out the Express defence that was trying to get square with him. A toe drag move ended in a wrist shot that beat Simcoe cleanly.
Simcoe would get his revenge at the end of the second as the Vipers tried to make it 4-2 with less than 10 seconds to go. Adam Csabi spun from the right wall on a partial break and whipped a pass to Patrik Kral streaking in from the far side. The one timer was denied by the pride of Lac du Bonnet in a solid sliding stop to keep the game within reach.
Vernon put the clamps on in the third period. Try and try as Coquitlam did, they couldn’t put another one past Colin Reay. The Vipers goaltender seems to have the Express’ number this season as he held Coquitlam to one goal in their prior meeting back in October. 37 shots made it to Reay’s doorstep tonight and the Express are left scratching their heads on how they could have gotten more to light the red lamp.
The extra attacker magic couldn’t get past the defence of the Vipers either in this one with Simcoe taking a seat with 1:08 remaining in the third and Coquitlam hitting the gas until the final whistle went.
Coquitlam now gets to appreciate a break from action following the long roadtrip thanks to the BCHL All-Star weekend in Penticton. With the Express still banged up from a few injuries, it will be a welcome respite as they take time to mull over the good and the bad since their dominant home win against Alberni back before the winter break.
Jake Manfre and Cole Melady will head to Penticton to represent the Express at the yearly festivities. Manfre was the initial entrant for Coquitlam and then thanks to the fans, Melady was voted to join him after having an impressive start to the season.
It’s been quite the first half of the season for Coquitlam. Plenty of highs and lows have accumulated but the All-Star break comes at a critical time to assess the current situation after the roadtrip doesn’t yield the results they hoped for.
FORTIS BC ENERGY PLAYER – Lukas McCloskey
MARINER BREWING 3 STARS
3rd – COQ – Noah Dziver – 1G 1A
2nd – VER – Hank Cleaves – 1G 1A
1st – VER – Owen Kim – 2G
– Ian Wilson