Coquitlam Express

Coquitlam Express
City	Coquitlam, British Columbia
League	British Columbia Hockey League
Division	Mainland
Founded	2001
Home arena	Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex
Colours	Black, gold, white
General manager	Jason Fortier
Head coach	Jason Fortier
Captain	Troy Robillard
Website	www.coquitlamexpress.ca
Franchise history
2001–2005	Coquitlam Express
2005–2010	Burnaby Express
2010–present	Coquitlam Express

Coquitlam Express hockey at the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex

The Coquitlam Express are a Junior "A" ice hockey team based in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Mainland Division of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They play their home games at the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex.

Although the team had played in the neighbouring city of Burnaby for the previous five years, on 14 January 2010 it was announced that the BCHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the relocation of the franchise back to Coquitlam for the 2010/11 season.^[1][2][3]

The team's Ownership Group has been in place for 10 yrs and operate as a 4 person board. The Express President is Mark Pettie, a longtime fan and local businessman. Pettie has been a long serving member of the Tri-City chamber of commerce as well. Previous management featured some ex-NHLer's in Darcy Rota, Kirk McLean, Dave Lowry and Bill Ranford. Other past executives include Robert Clough, Pat Delasalle, Tim Delasalle, Brian Hannigan, Ian Mansfield and Rob Lambie.

History

The Coquitlam Express began play as a new franchise in the BCHL for the 2001–02 hockey season, and played in the city for four seasons at the Coquitlam Sports Centre. Due to unsatisfactory conditions at the Sports Centre (specifically a reduction of parking due to the construction of a new aquatic complex next door), the team relocated to Burnaby for the 2005–06 season.

Burnaby originally had a junior "A" team by the name of the Burnaby Bulldogs, which played in that city for 4 seasons (1998–2001). That team relocated to the city of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island for the start of the 2002 season, and was renamed the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.

The 2005–06 season saw the Express win the league championship (Fred Page Cup) and the Mowat Cup by defeating the Langley Hornets in four games, the Chilliwack Chiefs in 5 games, the Victoria Salsa in 5 games, and the Penticton Vees in six games. The team then defeated the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in six games for the Doyle Cup and entered the National Championship as Pacific Region winners.

The Express won the Royal Bank Cup 2006 (National Championship) by defeating the Yorkton Terries by a score of 8–2. In the Semi-Final against the Fort William Northstars, they scored the tying goal with 12 seconds left in the third period then went on to win 3–2 in overtime. During the round-robin they had a record of 3–1, which seeded them 2nd in the Tournament, behind the hometown hosts Streetsville Derbys.

In 2006–07 the Express were highly touted as a top team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, with the likes of Kyle Turris and Tyler McNeely. They set out to repeat as Royal Bank Cup champions again, but fell short. In the first round of playoffs the team beat the Langley Chiefs in 7 games and in the second round lost to the eventual BCHL league champions Nanaimo Clippers in 7 games.

2007–08 saw a coaching change from Rick Lanz (Colorado Avalanche Western Scout) to Dave McLellan. The team was not very well-supported since the move from Coquitlam, and struggled in attendance for the 3rd straight year. Although the team enjoyed a little success in the regular season it was the Victoria Grizzlies that ended the careers of Carlo Finucci, Kevin Tipper, Todd Bowman, Brad Hunt, and Mike Rempel.

As of 17 October 2009, the Burnaby Express were averaging just 548 fans per game, which was the second lowest attendance of the 17 teams in the BCHL at the time. This is half the attendance the team averaged in their final season in Coquitlam (1,091 fans per game).^[4][5]

With the team in last place in the Coastal Conference, on 16 January 2010 the Express announced the firing of coach Dave McLellan. General Manager Darcy Rota took over the interim coaching duties, with Bill Zaharia and Tyler Kuntz named as Assistant Coaches for the remainder of the 2009–10 season.^[6] On 13 April 2010, the Express named Jon Calvano as their new head coach.^[7]

The 2010-11 season marked the Express' return to Coquitlam. They played their first game back at the newly renovated and renamed Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex on 24 September 2010, where they defeated the Surrey Eagles 4-2. Coquitlam would make the playoffs for the first time in 3 years, losing in the first round to the Eagles in four games. The following year they would again be eliminated in the first round, this time to the Powell River Kings in six games. Following the 2011-12 season, the Express would name Jon Calvano as General Manager on top of his existing coaching duties.

The 2012-13 season saw a great start for the Express until they were hit with multiple injuries within a short period of time, which included recent New Jersey Devils draftee Alexander Kerfoot. This resulted in them struggling for most of the latter half of the season and failing to reach the postseason for the third time in five years. Calvano would be fired at the end of the season.^[8]

Barry Wolff was announced as the team's new head coach on 22 April 2013,^[9] and in his first year was able to lead the Express to their second Fred Page Cup championship, and their first appearance in the Western Canada Cup, where they finished fourth following a 5-3 loss in the semifinal to the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints. Wolff would eventually be named the 2014 coach of the year by the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame, and the team would also earn team of the year honours.^[10]

The team would achieve mixed success for the next couple of seasons, finishing 4th in the mainland division before eventually bowing out of the playoffs in the first round in two consecutive seasons. The 2016-17 season would see the Express marred by an absurd number of injuries, resulting in a franchise worst 11-44-2-1 (25 points) record and finishing dead last in nearly every statistic. These woes would continue into the next season, and after recording only three wins and eight points in the first three months of the 2017-18 season, Wolff was fired and replaced with former OJHL's Toronto Patriots head coach Jason Fortier.^[11] The coaching change saw an immediate turn around for the club which finished with 12 wins - 16 Losses - 3 Ties under the new staff.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

** - crossover to Interior Playoff

Notable alumni

Original Coquitlam Express logo

• Mathew Barzal^[12]
• Mark Dekanich
• Brad Hunt
• David Jones
• Alexander Kerfoot
• Andrew Ladd
• Milan Lucic
• Wyatt Russell
• Kyle Turris
• Patrick Wiercioch
• Brandon Yip

Awards and trophies

See also

• List of ice hockey teams in British Columbia

References

External links

• Official website