A pair of losses to the Prince George Spruce Kings over the weekend proved to be the last needle in Barry Wolff’s career as coach of the Coquitlam Express.
The BC Hockey League team relieved Wolff of his position on Monday. He’ll be replaced by Jason Fortier, who spent the last two seasons coaching in the Canadian Hockey League after an extensive tenure as a coach for top-level AAA midget and Junior A teams in Ontario.
The Express’ two losses in Prince George — 4-2 on Friday, and 7-1 on Saturday — were the team’s 20th and 21st of the season against only three wins. They have one tie, suffered one loss in overtime, and they’re 22 points behind their nearest rivals in the Mainland division, the Chiliwack Chiefs.
Since helming the Express to a 2013-14 Fred Page Cup championship in his first full season with the team , Wolff struggled to get Coquitlam back to any level of post-season success. They won one playoff game in the 2014-15 season and were swept from the divisional semi-finals by the Chilliwack Chiefs the following season. Last season they finished sixth in the Mainland division and out of the playoffs.
Fortier, who’s from Sault St. Marie, Ont., spent last season as an associate coach with the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League after he helped coach the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup where they lost the final in overtime.
Prior to that he was the head coach of the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, guiding them to two straight league championships and a berth in the 2014 RBC Cup in Vernon, B.C. He was also the director of hockey and assistant coach of the Toronto Nationals midget AAA team that won two straight Ontario championships and went on to win the Telus Cup Canadian championship in 2015.
Fortier played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League before embarking on a professional career playing in leagues in Germany and Holland as well as the minor Central Hockey League in the United States.
Fortier will make his debut behind the Express bench on Wednesday, when the Langley Rivermen visit the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex. Game time is 7 p.m.
