The Express are back at the Dawg Pound tonight and ready to wrestle control of their opening round series. If there were ever a game to win on the road, this would be the one 10 times out of 10. If Coquitlam keep their momentum rolling from Wednesday night, they take a 3-2 series back to the Train Station with the chance to move on in front of their home crowd.
The Alberni Valley Multiplex is a loud barn on any given night, so if kerosene is poured onto that fire in the form of Game 5 of a 2-2 series, best bring your ear plugs. The Bulldogs thrive off the energy Hockey Valley gives them. You can see the extra swagger in their stride when the fans are giving it to the away team and just going nuts. One of the Express’ greatest strengths in Game 2 on the road was taking the crowd out of the contest. Poise in front of big, hostile away barn isn’t something easily earned. Part of finding that for Coquitlam is likely due to the four games a season spent playing at the Chilliwack Coliseum.
The playoffs are the time to bring your heavy hitters to bear. A few of the Express’ biggest weapons had been silent on the scoresheet through the end of the regular season but in Game 4 they both lit the red lamp.
Jake Manfre officially has a goal streak going as he scored to kick off the third period in both Game 3 and 4. The Princeton Tiger commit was so close to throwing the monkey from his back against Victoria near the end of the season with multiple post strikes. That primate is long gone now. His strong shot earned him the goal on Tuesday, and then he followed it up with a drive-by tip play on Wednesday.
Then there’s Jacob Bonkowski. The Richmond product hasn’t fully rekindled the goal scoring rate he achieved while with the Surrey Eagles but he is looking stronger every single game. On Wednesday he helped drive the flow of play and generated chances for his teammates as well as himself. He eventually broke through by finding the rebound off a Cole Melady shot that snuck through Callum Tung and sat on the goal line.
The Express will certainly be a happy crew if the top guys keep hot going into tonight but depth scoring may just win the day. Both top-sixes in this series have lived up to expectation and chipped in well offensively. Whichever team’s heart and soul, grinder type players can break this one open in Hockey Valley will be the difference maker.
Standing in the way of those hopeful offensive contributors though, the defence for both teams may just have another shutdown expo in store for us. Game 2 and 3 saw low scoring and a true buy-in on backchecking and neutral zone ferocity. The edge in practically every game has been the winning team carving out a major foothold in the neutral zone. Coquitlam felt the pressure all night long from the Bulldogs Tuesday and then bounced back in a major way to adjust the breakout and lock down between the bluelines.
Both teams once again will need a big night from their netminders. Callum Tung gave the Bulldogs every chance to battle back into Game 4 but the offence just couldn’t quite get enough rolling. As for Adam Manji, the Burnaby Brick Wall had a tidy game on Wednesday with 25 saves on 26 shots but his best game of the series was without a doubt the last outing in the Dawg Pound. 38 saves on 40 shots from Alberni and several were timely to stop the momentum of the Bulldogs.
If you can’t get across the strait to Hockey Valley then tune in for the broadcast on FloHockey for the 7pm opening faceoff. Evan Hammond has the Home call while my voice will tell the story on the Away feed.
– Ian Wilson
