The Frank Crane Curse has been lifted as the Coquitlam Express come out of Nanaimo with a crucial two points. It was a back-and-forth affair of all gas and no brakes to the very end with Coquitlam holding on to the lead despite a great end of period push by the Clippers.
The opening frame saw goals by Joel Plante for Nanaimo and Jackson Krill for the Express. Plante broke down the ice chasing down Tanner Attew with the puck rolling into Coquitlam territory. Attew tried to chip the puck towards his defensive partner but instead put the puck directly to Plante who quickly snapped it past Simcoe to open the score. Jackson Krill, Port Moody’s very own, has had a knack for big goals this season and boy was his eighth of the season part of that category. A toe-drag wrister around the defence from distance handcuffed Tyler Hodges to kill the Clippers’ momentum and restore the tie game.
The second period began with Coquitlam on the Powerplay thanks to a Noah Alvarez interference penalty at the end of the first. Jake Manfre, the Princeton Tiger commit, ever poised with the puck went for a walk from the left blueline to the top of the left circle before letting a wrist shot go to beat a screened Tyler Hodges. Manfre now has 16 goals in a comeback season of incredible note so far while the Powerplay for Coquitlam gets another much-needed confidence boost.
Following this up was another moment the blueline will want to forget as Sam Frandina tried to throw a stretch pass up ice after a quick turn, which was stolen away by three Clippers for a 3-0 against Simcoe. A valiant effort for the Lac Du Bonnet netminder but it stood a 2-2 tie. Former Express player Emmet McHardy would be the one to ripple the twine.
Drew Garzone and Kasper Walther-Sneve were next on the Express goalscoring agenda with both coming away with similar goals. Drew Garzone ended up with the puck in front after his tip in bid was stopped by Hodges, to which he then slid the rebound past the sprawling goaltender. Walther-Sneve then cleaned up the mess after another net front tip in bid from down low was valiantly stopped. The Express couldn’t escape the second with all the momentum unfortunately with Nanaimo scoring off a broken play courtesy of Luke Buss with 1:17 to go.
Enter the third period and a one goal game is being enjoyed by all with the Express and Clippers providing another Coastal Conference classic. The pendulum finally swung the direction of Coquitlam once again due to Matthew Frost. A former first overall pick to the USHL, Frost has been making an impact already in his short tenure with the Express and now he has his first BCHL goal. Frost buried a rebound following an odd man rush by Coquitlam ended with a shot ripped off the post by Michael Rubin. Connor DeTurris made things interesting with just under two minutes to go in the frame after a seemingly harmless cross body shot eluded Simcoe and it became a one goal game again. Big credit to Simcoe for an exceptional revenge performance, stopping 28 of 32, after his return to the lineup was given a rude welcome by the Clippers back in December.
The fans at Frank Crane got their dollar’s worth in this one with the final moments featuring a furious push from Nanaimo. Coquitlam held the line with a flurry of blocked shots and solid defensive zone coverage to keep the Clippers at bay. The four-game home win streak for Nanaimo came to an abrupt end, but with the way they have been playing as of late, expect another to begin soon.
Coquitlam’s tank looked far from empty in last night’s affair. A very good sign heading into the final game of the three-in-three against the Eagles this afternoon.
FORTIS BC ENERGY PLAYER – Samuel Boisvert
MARINER BREWING 3 STARS
3rd – NAN – Joel Plante – 1G 1A
2nd – COQ – Michael Rubin – 2A
1st – COQ – Jake Manfre – 1G
– Ian Wilson
