| Coquitlam Express | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Coquitlam,British Columbia |
| League | BCHL |
| Division | Coastal |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Home arena | Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex |
| Colours | Black, gold, white |
| General manager | Tali Campbell |
| Head coach | Jeff Wagner - Asst (Brett Sonne & Kyle Johnson) |
| Website | Official Website – Tickets availablehere |
| Franchise history | |
| 2001–2005 | Coquitlam Express |
| 2005–2010 | Burnaby Express |
| 2010–present | Coquitlam Express |
TheCoquitlam Express are aJunior ice hockey team based inCoquitlam,British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Coastal Conference of theBritish Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They play their home games at thePoirier Sport & Leisure Complex.
Although the team had played in the neighbouring city ofBurnaby 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 the2010–11 season.[1][2][3]
The Coquitlam Express began play as a new franchise in theBCHL for the 2001–02 hockey season, and played in the city for four seasons at theCoquitlam Sports Centre. Due to unsatisfactory conditions at the Sports Centre, specifically a reduction of parking due to the construction of a newaquatic complex next door, the team relocated to Burnaby for the 2005–06 season.
Burnaby originally had ajunior "A" team by the name of theBurnaby Bulldogs, which played in that city for four seasons (1998–2001). That team relocated to the city ofPort Alberni, onVancouver Island for the start of the 2002–03 season and was renamed theAlberni Valley Bulldogs.
The 2005–06 season saw the Express win the league championship (Fred Page Cup) and theMowat Cup by defeating the Langley Hornets in four games, theChilliwack Chiefs in 5 games, the Victoria Salsa in 5 games, and thePenticton Vees in six games. The team then defeated theFort McMurray Oil Barons in six games for theDoyle Cup and entered the National Championship as Pacific Region winners.
The Express won theRoyal 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 theCanadian Junior Hockey League,[by whom?] with players likeKyle Turris and Tyler McNeely. In the first round of the BCHL playoffs, the team beat the Langley Chiefs in seven games before losing to the eventual BCHL league championsNanaimo Clippers in seven games during the second round.
The 2007 off-season saw a coaching change from Rick Lanz, a scout for theColorado Avalanche, to Dave McLellan. The team was not very well-supported since the move from Coquitlam and struggled in attendance for the third straight year.
By 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 was 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 managerDarcy Rota took over during the interim, with Bill Zaharia and Tyler Kuntz named as assistants for the remainder of the 2009–10 season.[6] On 13 April 2010, the Express named Jon Calvano as their next head coach.[7]
The2010–11 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 theSurrey Eagles 4–2. Coquitlam made the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, 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 thePowell River Kings in six games. Following the 2011–12 season, the Express named Jon Calvano as general manager on top of his existing coaching duties.
The2012–13 season saw a great start for the Express until the team lost players to multiple injuries within a short period, includingNew Jersey Devils drafteeAlexander Kerfoot. The team struggled for most of the latter half of the season and failed to reach the postseason for the third time in five years. Calvano was fired at the end of the season.[8]
Barry Wolff became the team's next head coach on 22 April 2013[9] and in the following season led the Express to their second Fred Page Cup championship, and their first and only appearance in theWestern Canada Cup, where they finished fourth following a 5–3 loss in the semifinal to theAJHL'sSpruce Grove Saints. Wolff was named the 2014 coach of the year by the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame and the team earned team of the year honours.[10]
The team achieved mixed success for the next couple of seasons, finishing fourth in the mainland division and eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. The2016–17 season again had the Express sustain many player injuries, resulting in a franchise worst 11–44–2–1 (25 points) record and finishing last in nearly every statistic. The following season continued the trend and after recording only three wins and eight points in the first half of the season, Wolff was fired and replaced with formerOJHL'sToronto Patriots head coach Jason Fortier.[11] The team turned around under Fortier until the 2019–20 season where the Express posted a franchise-best 47–9–1–1 (96 points) and won the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy for the first time as regular season champions. Their performance over the regular season was enough to earn Fortier Coach of the Year honors for the 2019–20 season. Unfortunately, after winning their first round matchup with theLangley Rivermen,Hockey Canada cancelled the remainder of the Junior A season nationally due to the globalCOVID-19 pandemic, ending their run for a third league title.[12]
Fortier would leave the team in the off-season, with Dan Cioffi, coach of theBCMML'sValley West Giants, named as his replacement.[13] He, however, would resign after the league's extended pre-season was paused by the Provincial Health Officer.[14] Adam Nugent-Hopkins, older brother ofEdmonton OilerRyan Nugent-Hopkins, took his place for the rest of the season alongside new GM Tali Campbell.[15] He would coach the team to a 6-11-3 record in a 20 game pod season played against the Surrey Eagles and Powell River Kings.
Brandon Shaw, previously assistant coach of theAlberni Valley Bulldogs, would be named head coach for the team's first full season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.[16]After a rough start, he would rally the team to a 22-26-6 record to bring the team back up to 7th in the Coastal Conference. The Express would be eliminated by the Chiefs in the first round but not without taking the series to a full seven games. Shaw would move up to become an assistant coach with theOHL'sNiagara Icedogs, leaving the team to find their fourth head coach in three seasons. Not only was it announced that Vees assistant coachPatrick Sexton would become the new bench boss for the 2022-23 season,[17] but on 17 August 2022 it was announced that a newly-retired Kyle Turris would be returning to the Express as a special advisor to GM Campbell and as a player development coach.[18] Sexton would remain as head coach through to the end of the 2023-24 regular season, where he was replaced with Jeff Wagner for the duration of the team's playoff run following a poor record in the second half of the season.[19] The team would bounce back but would lose in the first round to Alberni Valley in a closely fought seven-game series.
During a game against theLangley Rivermen on 2 November 2022, the Express set a new all-time attendance record of 2209 fans at thePoirier Sport & Leisure Complex.[20][21]
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, PTS = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 60 | 20 | 32 | — | 8 | 230 | 305 | 48 | 4th, Mainland | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 1–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2002–03 | 60 | 24 | 29 | 1 | 6 | 228 | 270 | 55 | 4th, Mainland | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2003–04 | 60 | 32 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 254 | 212 | 66 | 3rd, Mainland | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2004–05 | 60 | 25 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 211 | 258 | 54 | 3rd, Mainland | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Chiefs) |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, PTS = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | 60 | 34 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 231 | 202 | 74 | 2nd, Mainland | Fred Page Cup Champions Doyle Cup Champions Royal Bank Cup Champions |
| 2006–07 | 60 | 34 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 260 | 198 | 69 | 4th, Coastal | Lost Conf. Semifinals, 3–4 (Clippers) |
| 2007–08 | 60 | 33 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 218 | 219 | 69 | 4th, Coastal | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 2–3 (Grizzlies) |
| 2008–09 | 60 | 18 | 35 | 1 | 6 | 170 | 245 | 43 | 4th, Mainland | did not qualify |
| 2009–10 | 60 | 18 | 36 | 0 | 6 | 175 | 256 | 42 | 8th, Coastal | did not qualify |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, PTS = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | 60 | 22 | 28 | 1 | 9 | 218 | 253 | 54 | 7th, Coastal | Lost Conf. Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Eagles) |
| 2011–12 | 60 | 36 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 245 | 204 | 77 | 4th, Coastal | Lost Conf. Semifinals, 2–4 (Kings) |
| 2012–13 | 56 | 24 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 161 | 210 | 49 | 5th, Mainland | did not qualify |
| 2013–14 | 58 | 27 | 26 | 2 | 3 | 226 | 226 | 59 | 3rd, Mainland | Fred Page Cup Champions 4th inWestern Canada Cup |
| 2014–15 | 58 | 25 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 218 | 238 | 55 | 4th, Mainland | Lost Div. Semifinals, 1–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2015–16 | 58 | 22 | 29 | 1 | 6 | 185 | 247 | 51 | 4th, Mainland 14th, BCHL | Lost Div. Semifinals, 0–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2016–17 | 58 | 11 | 44 | 2 | 1 | 121 | 305 | 25 | 6th, Mainland 17th, BCHL | did not qualify |
| 2017–18 | 58 | 15 | 38 | 4 | 1 | 138 | 210 | 34 | 5th of 5, Mainland 16th of 17, BCHL | Lost Div. Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Vees)[a] |
| 2018–19 | 58 | 28 | 24 | — | 6 | 209 | 198 | 62 | 3rd of 5, Mainland 9th of 17, BCHL | Lost First Round, 1–4 (Spruce Kings) |
| 2019–20 | 58 | 47 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 227 | 127 | 96 | 1st of 5, Mainland 1st of 17, BCHL | Won First Round, 4–0 (Rivermen) Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2020–21 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 64 | 93 | 15 | 3rd of 3, Coquitlam 14th of 16, BCHL | Not contested |
| 2021–22 | 54 | 22 | 26 | — | 6 | 177 | 221 | 50 | 7th of 9, Coastal 14th of 18, BCHL | Lost First Round, 3–4 (Chiefs) |
| 2022–23 | 54 | 28 | 19 | — | 7 | 191 | 186 | 63 | 4th of 9, Coastal 6th of 18, BCHL | Lost first round, 1-4 (Chiefs) |
| 2023–24 | 54 | 21 | 29 | — | 4 | 146 | 196 | 46 | 6th of 9, Coastal 12th of 17, BCHL | Lost first round, 3-4 (Bulldogs) |
| 2024–25 | 54 | 28 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 183 | 192 | 63 | 5th of 10, Coastal 10th of 21, BCHL | Lost Div Quarterfinals 2-4 (Grizzlies) |
Cliff McNabb Memorial Trophy
Coastal Conference Champions
Mainland Division Champions
Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy
Regular Season Champions
Bob Fenton Trophy
Most Sportsmanlike (Coastal)
Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy
Rookie Of The Year (Coastal)
Brett Hull Trophy
Top Scorer
Vern Dye Memorial Trophy
Most Valuable Player (Coastal)
Michael Garteig Trophy
Top Goaltender
Wally Forslund Trophy
Top Goaltending Duo
Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy
Coach of the Year
| Preceded by | Royal Bank Cup Champions 2006 | Succeeded by |
