It’s been a while since Coquitlam Express fans have had a chance to see their team in action.
That changes this weekend.
The BC Hockey League team opens its training camp Friday (Sept. 17) with fitness testing at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex. The first on-ice practice sessions for the 39 players trying to make the roster are scheduled for Saturday morning.
All on-ice activities are open to the public. Vaccine passports, as well as masks, are required for admission.
Express general manager Tali Campbell said players to watch include newcomers Tyler Kopff and Harry Meirowitz.
Kopff is a 6’2” forward from Ridgewood, N.J., who’s already committed to Brown University for the 2022/’23 season. He scored 10 goals and added nine assists in 12 games for the New Jersey Avalanche U18 AAA team last season.
“He has great instincts at both ends of the ice and the ability to finish and make plays off the rush,” Campbell said in a press release. “He has all the tools to be an excellent BCHL player.”
Meirowitz, a defenceman who was Kopff’s teammate in New Jersey, is also destined for Brown. He scored 10 points in 12 games last season.
“He is a mobile, puck moving D man that has the ability to play both ends of the rink,” said Express head coach Brad Shaw.
Among the squad’s returning veterans are Alek Sekuna and Port Moody’s Ryan Tattle.
Tattle was supposed to be heading to the University of Connecticut this season, but over the summer he decided to return to the Express for a final season as a 20 year-old. He scored 16 points in 14 games during the team’s truncated pod season last spring.
After intrasquad games Saturday and Sunday evenings at Poirier, the prospective players get their first taste of playing against an opponent on Monday, when the Express travel to South Surrey Arena for an exhibition game against the Surrey Eagles at 4 p.m.
Fans’ first chance to see the team in game action on home ice since the COVID-19 pandemic caused the BCHL to cancel its 2019/’20 playoffs after the first round comes Wednesday. The Express host the Merritt Centennials at Poirier at 7 p.m.
The Express won six of 20 games it played against the Eagles and the Powell River Kings in Burnaby last spring during the league’s shortened pod season that grouped teams in five regional centres across the province. But fans weren’t allowed because of public health restrictions in place at the time.
Here’s when you can see the Express work out and play at Poirier during training camp:
Saturday, Sept. 18
- 10:30 a.m. Team 1 practice
- 11:30 a.m. Team 2 practice
- 7 p.m. Intrasquad game
Sunday, Sept. 19
- 9:45 a.m. Team 1 practice
- 11 a.m. Team 2 practice
- 7 p.m. Intrasquad game
Thursday, Sept. 23
- 10 a.m. Practice
Exhibition schedule
- Monday, Sept. 20 4 p.m. vs. Surrey Eagles @ South Surrey Arena
- Tuesday, Sept. 21 7:15 p.m. vs Langley Rivermen @ George Preston Rec Centre
- Wednesday, Sept. 22 7 p.m. vs Merritt Centennials @ Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex
- Friday, Sept. 24 7 p.m. vs Surrey Eagles @ Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex
