The lone game in the BCHL this Wednesday night belongs to your Express and the visiting Vernon Vipers. It should be a busy night at the Poirier as we host our annual Centennial Spirit night in partnership with the incredible Centennial Secondary just up the road. The school has been a great partner of the Coquitlam Express for a long time and we are grateful to the Gamar Foundation for helping this night come to life!
Vernon have had an unusually slow start to the season through their first 20 games as the Vipers have historically been a strong program. Bear in mind the Interior Conference has always been strong, and the last time this season Coquitlam tangoed with a below .500 team from out east, it was the 6-2 loss to the Okotoks Oilers. That was a wild week for Coquitlam coming off the BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack so this time they will be much better rested. The issue at hand with tonight’s game will be Coquitlam again being short a key player. Joseph Odyniec is still recovering from injuries sustained during the Cowichan Capitals game last Friday night. The good news is that Cooper Wilson is back and ready to slot into the lineup.
Coquitlam as such have brought in reinforcements as tonight we get the BCHL debut of forward Tyler Magdalinski. The Pitt Meadows product has been called up from our JPHL 18U squad where he has 8 goals and 19 assists for 27 points in 16 games this season. Magdalinski is already signed for next season with the team so this will be a sneak preview of the young man’s game.
Andrew Ness is also expected to make his Express debut in between the pipes. The former Penticton Vee and Wally Forslund trophy winner was acquired for future considerations recently with the departure of Ethan Simcoe. Ness’ statline so far in his BCHL career is a 2.22 GAA and .915 SV%.
There’s a lot to play for tonight for the Express. For starters the Centennial crowd is expected to be booming and any time you have a great group like that in attendance, the extra energy the players can feed off is palpable. As well, Coquitlam will be motivated by rallying around their new goaltender and the BCHL debut of a young 16 year old. Whenever new players make their first strides in your home barn, there’s a pride in that of which team will work hard around. Furthermore, this is a chance to get back on the right foot after a tough couple of losses on the road last weekend. There were positives to take away despite the final results, now it’s a matter of rolling those into a big game on home ice.
For the Vipers, tonight is a pitstop on their way to the island as they will be spending Friday night in Nanaimo followed by a Saturday affair against Powell River. 4-3-3 in their last 10, they have been scratching their way to points and staying afloat as the ninth seed. Only four points back of the sixth spot, a win tonight would be a huge momentum boost heading into the island swing. It’s hard to point a finger at any specific metric to say why the Vipers have dropped to their current position. They have been middle of the road in just about everything this season and their differential goals wise sits at a -6. Close games just haven’t been going their way. Five times this season they have gone beyond 60 minutes in a contest and prevailed only once.
If you can’t make it out to show your spirit for Express Hockey, then be sure to tune in to the FloHockey broadcast. Tonight a special guest colour commentator, Tino Fera, joins the show!
– Ian Wilson
