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Coquitlam Express end their season with a game seven playoff loss to Alberni Valley

The Coquitlam Express drops its opening round playoff series to Alberni Valley, four games to three
Mario Bartel
Mario Bartel
0209-express-5w
The Alberni Valley Bulldogs defeated the Coquitlam Express 4-1 Tuesday in Port Alberni to win their best-of-seven BC Hockey League playoff series, four games to three.MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS

Three second period goals powered the Alberni Valley Bulldogs to a 4-1 win over the Coquitlam Express in the decisive seventh game of their BC Hockey League playoff series Tuesday in Port Alberni.

The loss ends Coquitlam’s season while the Bulldogs will go on to the Coastal division semi-finals.

Despite holding a 37-30 edge in shots on goal, the Express struggled all night to generate the kind of scoring opportunities that could elude Alberni Valley goalie Callum Tung, who’s from Port Moody.

After a scoreless first period, Braxton Buckberger finally cracked the goose eggs for the Bulldogs 3:27 into the second period when he walked in from the right face-off circle and ripped a shot past Coquitlam goalie Adam Manji.

Grayson Badger doubled the home team’s advantage to 2-0, firing home a cross-ice pass from Hayden Stavroff with 4:24 left until the break.

Less than a minute later though, Coquitlam’s Nate Crema banked a pass to himself off the right boards then squeezed past a Bulldogs defender and deposited a deke past Tung to get the Express back into the game.

 

 

But an inopportune cross-checking penalty by Coquitlam’s Luke Vardy with less than three minutes left in the period proved costly when Stavroff squeezed a shot between Manji’s arm and chest to restore the Bulldogs' two-goal lead.

The Express pressed early in the third but Tung proved impenetrible.

Alberni Valley all but ensured its victory with a goal by Brady McIsaac after 4:47 had been played as he swept the puck into Coquitlam’s net on the second of two swats he took at a rebound that slid away from Manji. It was only the Bulldogs’ second shot of the frame.

The loss was the final blow to the Express season that started strongly but swooned to just seven wins and 23 losses after the Christmas break, costing head coach Patrick Sexton his job just before the start of the playoffs.