The Coquitlam Express are heading to the BCHL finals after a 4-3 overtime win over the Victoria Grizzlies Thursday night.
The Coquitlam club needed the win to get out of the round-robin series and will now play the Vernon Vipers in the finals, set to begin next Friday.
Thursday's game started slow for the visiting Coquitlam team in front of 1,051 people at the Q Centre.
Victoria took a 2-1 lead in the opening period, with goals from Myles and Gerry Fitzgerald, while the Express' Marc Biega managed to net a one midway through the first.
Canon Pieper tied the game up in the second period before Victoria took the lead once against early in the third.
That set the stage for Coquitalm captain Ryan Rosenthal's late-game heroics, scoring the tying goal to force overtime.
It did not take long for Biega to pot the game winner in extra time, leading the club to a win and a trip to the finals.
Despite the win, none of the Express players were named stars of the game. Those honours went to the Fitzgerald brothers -Leo, Myles and Gerry.
POSTED WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2
The Coquitlam Express bounced back from a disappointing start to their third round BCHL playoff series with a victory over Victoria on Tuesday night.
After being dealt a disappointing defeat by the Vernon Vipers in Game 1 of the round-robin series, Coquitlam showed this week that they are not ready to call it quits on the 2013/14 hockey season.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first three minutes of the game in front of 975 fans at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex, team captain Ryan Rosenthal got his club on the board with a power play marker with 14 minutes left in the opening frame
Both teams exchanged goals in the second period - Leo Fitzgerald scored on the power play from Victoria while Rosenthal grabbed his second of the game - before the Express offence exploded.
In the third period, the Express managed four unanswered goals to take a 6-2 lead in the game, with two of the markers coming from Bo Pieper, assisted by older brother Canon.
Corey Mackin managed to score on the power play and Zach Hodder rounded out Coquitlam's scoring with an insurance marker late in the third.
A late-game goal from Victoria's Gerry Fitzgerald on the power play was not enough to spark a comeback for the Grizzlies, who were down 6-3 when the final buzzer sounded.
