The Coquitlam Express will have a lot to show off at the BC Hockey League’s annual Showcase Festival that is being played on Wednesday and Thursday in Chilliwack before it shifts to Penticton on Friday and Saturday.
The Express capped a successful five-game homestand with 4-2 win over Alberni Valley on Sunday and a 3-2 overtime victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday. Coquitlam won all five games at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex to take a stranglehold on first place in the league’s Mainland Division, six points ahead of the Chilliwack Chiefs.
Coquitlam will play the Chiefs Thursday at 7 p.m. to close out the Chilliwack leg of the festival, that brings all the league’s teams together for games in one location for ready evaluation by scouts. On Saturday the Express play the Silverbacks in Penticton.
Against Alberni Valley on Sunday, Joseph Borthwick scored the winning goal 14:13 into the second period after the Bulldogs had battled back from a 2-0 deficit earlier in the frame. Tyler Schleppe scored his fifth goal of the season to give the Express a two-goal cushion in the third period.
Clay Stevenson stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced in Coquitlam’s net to register his sixth victory in as many starts.
Saturday, it was Cooper Connell who provided the game-winning heroics 29 seconds into overtime when he lifted a shot over Silverbacks’ goalie Dylan Kruss. It was Connell’s second goal of the season.
Noah De La Durantyne and Bradley Ong were the other scorers for the Express.
Coquitlam heads to Chilliwack the 14th ranked Junior A team in the country. The top ranking belongs to the Penticton Vees, who’ve yet to lose in eight games while the Express have seven wins and a loss.
