The Coquitlam Express battled back from a two-goal deficit only to fall victim to Jonah Renouf's overtime magic Sunday night. The Surrey Eagles' leading scorer found the back of the net in double-overtime to hand the visiting Express a 5-4 loss.
"[Renouf] made a nice play and delayed and kind of decked our guy out and put it in. It was a great play by them," Express coach Barry Wolff said of the overtime winner.
Surrey jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Cameron Marks scored on the power play to bring the Express even at the end of the first. The Eagles scored twice early in the middle frame before Jackson Cressey brought the Express within one. Corey Mackin notched Coquitlam's league-leading 12th shorthanded goal to notch things at 3-3. Mackin scored again to give the Express their first lead of the game but Nicolas Pierog brought Surrey even again just 37 seconds later.
The Express had a number of chances in a scoreless third period, capped off when Eagles net minder Devon Fordyce stoned Adam Rockwood in the final 35 seconds and then turned away the rebound attempt by Ryan Rosenthal.
"We had chances to score, their goalie came up big at the right time," said Wolff. "We had a few chances late but we just couldn't get it by the guy."
The Eagles outshot Coquitlam 40-33 with Gordie Defiel turning aside 35 shots in the Express net. Rockwood and Rosenthal each notched a pair of assists to remain in the top 10 of BCHL scoring.
The Express surrendered three first-period goals to the visiting Nanaimo Clippers who cruised to a 6-3 win Friday night.
"We came out and didn't play well at all in the first period but then we recovered. We probably lost the game in the first period for whatever reason," said Wolff, adding the Express continue to have problems turning in a consistent 60-minute effort.
"We've been battling that all year and we're trying to figure it out. It's all a maturity thing and sooner or later hopefully we can figure it out."
Bo Pieper had two goals and one assist while Canon Pieper notched a goal and a helper. Defiel made 27 saves for the Express who outshot Nanaimo 34-31 after falling behind 16-7 in the first period.
The Express were also hurt by the loss of Marc Biega who missed the weekend games with the flu.
The Express will play their final game before the Christmas break Friday, when the Powell River Kings come to town.
