When Barry Wolff assesses the Coquitlam Express’ preseason, he doesn’t see the zero in the team’s win column.
He sees a core of veterans who’ve taken the next step in their commitment to learn and improve, surrounded by eager youngsters keen to follow their lead.
It hasn’t been easy to get there.
Coming off a season in which the Express won only 11 games and finished dead last in the British Columbia Hockey League standings, Wolff knows the only road his team can take is up.
To help steer the train in that direction, the coach had his eyes on about 120 players in training camp. Most of them were kids coming in for the experience, perhaps laying the foundation for their ascent up the hockey ladder.
Wolff said he wanted to give those youngsters every chance to test themselves, so they got a lot of ice time in the preseason. And the team got a lot of losses.
“We hate to lose, but those games are important for us in other ways,” said Wolff, who took the controls of the Express in 2014.
Since then the team has yet to play a winning season and it was swept from the first round in its only playoff appearance, in 2016.
As Wolff prepares to whittle his roster to 25 players in advance of the Express’ first regular season game on Sunday, against the Surrey Eagles at South Surrey Arena, he said he’s comfortable with the progress the team is making.
“We’ve added some speed on offence, we’ve got some veterans in the mix,” Wolff said. “We like where we are now.”
Part of that optimism comes from the confidence Wolff has in the development of goalie Reid Cooper, who had a 5.11 goals against average in his rookie season last year.
“You always build your team from the goaltender out,” Wolff said. “They’ve got to make that first save.”
Up front, Wolff said the team will rely heavily on veterans like Alex Ambrosio and Sam Kozlowski, who scored a promising 22 points in his rookie season and is already committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology in the NCAA’s first division when his BCHL career is completed.
But Wolff said he’s looking for more than just goals and assists on the scoresheet; he wants character, players who won’t quit when the going gets tough.
He’ll have plenty of opportunity to evaluate those qualities as the Express start their season with six straight road games. In fact, the team won’t play in front of home fans until Sept. 30 because the main arena at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex had to be kept free in case the Coquitlam Adanacs needed the floor to host the Mann Cup senior lacrosse national championship.
Of course that didn’t happen, but Wolff sees the bus rides to places like Port Alberni, Victoria and Salmon Arm as a chance for his squad to bond.
“You become a family in a hurry,” Wolff said.
• The Express will be hosting its annual Friends of the Express fundraising dinner on Wed., Oct. 18 at the Vancouver Golf Club. Cocktails are served at 6 p.m. and the dinner begins at 7 p.m. The event includes a reverse draw for prizes as well as silent and live auctions and a 50-50 draw. Tickets are $100 and includes an Express six game Flex Pak of tickets for the 2017-18 season.
