A long travel day Thursday has seen Coquitlam take their show on the road for the first time this season. After a very successful home opening weekend they are now challenged to keep that momentum going in the great white north.
It won’t be easy as the Spruce Kings have had an equally solid start to the season. Prince George took down the Surrey Eagles 4-1 on opening night in the Lower Mainland followed by a 3-2 overtime victory against Chilliwack. Led by some familiar returning faces such as Skogen Schrott, Kazumo Sasaki, Owen Goodbrand, and Linden Makow, the Spruce Kings have some solid pieces in place. Combine that with key additions like former Cowichan Capital Brock Cummings and they have the beginnings of a recipe for success this year.
Throw it back to the preseason where the opening game of exhibition saw your Express take on Prince George and that contest was full of hard working players on both sides. It would be an overtime victory for the Spruce Kings at the Poirier. Of course much has changed since the exhibition campaign but it was a sample size of the compete level this divisional opponent brings to the table. Tonight is the first of seven times Coquitlam and Prince George will meet in 2024-2025.
Coquitlam need to come out of the gates level headed and structured tonight. They will need the determination and dedication to playing a hard nosed game from the very opening draw. A comment heard about the opening weekend regarding Coquitlam is they came out and played the perfect road game both nights. What does that mean exactly? You go in, take away the energy your opponent is feeding off of, work hard and take them out of their comfort zone and off their game, and no matter what you dig in and work hard. Defence and discipline can kill an opposing home team but those factors are universal. This Express team has already established quite the defensive identity through opening weekend and don’t expect that to falter. The aforementioned taking away the opponents energy will be massive tonight as the Spruce Kings and their fans head into their home opener and will be excited to defend Kopar Memorial Arena.
Be sure to tune in for all the action on FloHockey with puckdrop scheduled at 7PM PST. If you tune in to the “away” feed you will be able to hear myself as I’ve joined the team for all road games this season!
– Ian Wilson
