Going 1-for-3 might not be bad for a hitter in baseball. In the BC Hockey League, it helps you halt a seven-game losing streak and clinch a spot in the playoffs.
That’s what the Coquitlam Express did Saturday night at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex, when they beat the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings, 3-1.
The victory — only the Express’ second in the month of February — was sandwiched by a 5-1 setback Friday on home ice to the league-leading Penticton Vees, and a 3-1 loss to the Langley Rivermen at George Preston Arena on Sunday. But it was enough to put them out of reach of the Cowichan Valley Capitals for the final wild card spot in the BCHL post-season that begins March 2.
The Express will enter those playoffs as the eighth seed in the seven-team Interior division. They will likely play the Vees, who lead the second-place Vernon Vipers by two points and have one more game to play in the regular season’s final week.
Against the Spruce Kings, the Express showed they can play with some of the league’s best teams, as they avenged a pair of losses they suffered the week before to the leaders of the Mainland division.
Coquitlam’s Joshua Wildauer opened the scoring late in the first period when he beat Prince George goalie Bradley Cooper as he fought off a defender. It was his 10th goal of the season.
Haydn Delorme doubled the Express’ lead just 2:40 into the second period, but Kyle Johnson got the Spruce Kings back to within a goal 14:08 into the third period.
Prince George pressed for the equalizer and pulled Cooper for an extra attacker. But Coquitlam clinched their first win in two years over the Spruce Kings when Christian Sanda scored unassisted into the empty net with 56 seconds left on the clock.
Brock Hamm stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced in the Express’ net and earned the game’s third star.
The win was a nice bounce back after they suffered their second loss in three nights to the Vees on Friday, following a 7-1 setback in Penticton last Wednesday.
The Vees did all their scoring in the first and second periods, while Coquitlam wasn’t able to reply until less than two minutes remained in the game when Jack MacNab finally got a puck past Vees’ keeper Adam Scheel. But it’s not like they’d made him work particularly hard, as the Express managed only 17 shots in the game, while Penticton directed 35 at Brock Hamm and Clay Stevenson.
Sunday in Langley, the Express managed to fire 37 shots but again, they weren’t able to score until the game’s waning moments and after the host Rivermen had already built a 3-0 lead in the first two periods.
Langley’s Brendan Budy opened the scorgin 1:11 into the first period and the Rivermen cushioned their advantage with a pair of goals less than a minute apart early in the second period.
Colby Pederson was the only Express to solve Langley goalie Braedon Fleming, who made numerous big saves through the game to be named its first star.
The Express wrap up their regular season at home on Friday, against those very same Rivermen.
