The Coquitlam Express will have a veteran presence at the helm this year, selecting 20-year-old Luca Leone as the team captain.
The 185 lb., 6’1” forward has been a stalwart player for the club for the last three seasons, racking up 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) last season in the 34 games he played.
Leone will be supported by alternate captains Dom Masellis and Keegan Jones when the team wears its away jerseys and Blake Hayward and Alex Ambrosio on the home jerseys. Cam Bertsch will wear the A on both his white and black jersey.
“We are very proud of this leadership group and hope they can lead us towards a successful 2016-’17 BCHL season,” said Express bench boss Barry Wolff in an email.
The season got off to a mixed start for the Express, who defeated the Surrey Eagles 8-7 on Friday before getting buried 8-1 by the Langley Rivermen on Saturday.
The first game of the season started off well for the club, with Jones scoring 41 seconds into the first period, before Leone made it 2-0 for the visitors. But the Eagles powered back with goals from Jeffrey Stewart, Andrew Kemp and Mitchell Williams and the Express were down 3-2 going into the first intermission.
However, Coquitlam bounced back with a three-goal run of their own early in the second, with Bertsch tying the game, Jake Toor re-taking the lead and Blake Hayward adding an insurance marker before Surrey halted the momentum with a goal from Darius Davison.
Ambrosio and Owen Stout both scored in the final five minutes of the middle frame to give a 7-5 lead going into the third.
But Surrey wasn’t ready to go quietly.
Tyler Cooper and Logan Mostat scored for the Eagles to tie the game with ten minutes left. It took a second goal from Stout to break the log jam and secure the first win of the season for Coquitlam.
The Express were not quite as fortunate on Saturday, when they were steamrolled by the Rivermen at the Langley Events Centre.
Max Kaufman scored two goals for the home team while Gavin Payne had a goal and two assists in a match that saw Coquitlam struggle to find their legs.
The Express’ lone goal of the game came late in the second period when Sam Kozlowski buried a pass from Cameron Bertsch, but the marker came too late to do any more than spoil a shutout for Rivermen goalie Bo Didur.
Coquitlam goalie Lawson Fenton was chased in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots in favour of Reid Cooper, who turned away 28 of the 31 shots he faced.
