Express on the rise ahead of facing Vees
One of the worst teams in the BCHL the past two seasons, the Coquitlam Express have been a pleasant surprise thus far in 2018-19.
As they prepare for their first and only visit to the South Okanagan Events Centre to face the Penticton Vees on Wednesday at 7 p.m., the Express (11-5-1) earned an honourable mention in the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings released Monday.
After going a combined 26-82-2 the last two seasons, the Express haven’t even had a sniff of the weekly rankings.
But under new head coach Jason Fortier, who took over midway through last season, the Express are suddenly relevant again.
The Express take on a Penticton team that dismantled them in four straight games in the first round of the 2017-18 playoffs.
“They’re off to a great start, and the coach has done a fabulous job transforming that club,” said Vees president, GM/head coach. “They’re probably looking at this as a real validation game against a team like us that has had so much success in recent years. They’ll want to show they’re for real.”
Coquitlam has the second fewest points in the league with 23, second only to division rivals Chilliwack Chiefs at 26.
Despite their 5-2 loss to the Vees on Saturday, Chilliwack is the only other BCHL team in the rankings. In fact, they moved up one spot to 14th this week.
The Brooks Bandits (Alberta league) and Brockville Braves (Central Canada league) are both riding 13-game winning streaks to sit No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Thunder Bay North Stars (Superior International league) are unbeaten in regulation (8-0-1) and sit at No. 3.
Oakville Blades (Ontario) and Hawksbury Hawks (Central) round out the top five.
ICE CHIPS: The Vees (8-5-1) are in a four-way tie for second place in the Interior Division with Salmon Arm, West Kelowna and Trail, all with 17 points. Wenatchee and Vernon are tied for last — but just a point back of the pack with 16 points. Merritt leads the way with 22 points, but have played four more games than the Vees, who have played the fewest games in the division . . . . The Vees visit Merritt on Friday and host West Kelowna on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the SOEC . . . . The Vees power play is 17.1 per cent (13-for-76) to put them 12th in the BCHL, while the penalty kill is 81.5 per cent (10 goals allowed on 54 chances) for 10th out of the 17 teams. West Kelowna has the best power play at 30 per cent and Chilliwack the best PK at 86.6 per cent . . . . The Vees figure to be short-staffed again on Wednesday, though F Luke Loheit and captain/C Massimo Rizzo are probable to return from the injured list on the weekend. D Kenny Johnson will serve the last two games of his suspension before returning on Saturday for the West Kelowna game.