The Coquitlam Express are pleased to announce that defenseman Taylor Green (95) has committed to Mount Royal University (CIS) in Calgary.
Green recently completed a four year junior career in both the WHL and BCHL. He spent most of his first three years of junior hockey in the WHL with Seattle, Brandon and Moose Jaw dressing in 144 games with 4 goals and 17 assists for 21 points.
He completed his junior career in the BCHL with the Nanaimo Clippers and Coquitlam Express. The majority of his 83 games in the BCHL were with the Express where he dressed for 76 games.
The Port Coquitlam native was acquired by the Express from Nanaimo in January 2015 for future considerations. He finished the 2014-15 season with an offensive flurry with 4 goals and 9 points in 18 games. His four goals to end the season were the most by an Express defenseman that season going forward from the time he was acquired.
In his final season of junior hockey, the 6'7 defenseman would enjoy his finest year in 2015-16. He would be named an alternate captain prior to the season. He logged valuable minutes every night matching up against the oppositions best players and combined his size and smooth skating ability to be a very effective defender.
He dressed for all 58 games in 2015-16, he finished tied for the team lead in scoring among defenseman with 6 goals and 31 assists for 37 points. His 31 helpers led all Express blue liners. At the end of the season Green was recognized as the Express' top defenceman. He also appeared in 9 career playoff games in an Express uniform. In 76 career games with the Express he had 10 goals and 36 assists for 46 points.
Jackson Cressey and company celebrate - Photo courtesy of Damon James.
Taylor Green's goal with 24.9 seconds remaining in the third period a 4-3 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings. Click here for boxscore
The goal capped off a back and forth game that saw the Express play with the lead on four separate occasions.
Austin McIlMurray got the Express off on the right foot by snapping his 19th of the season with a quick shot coming in off the right wing. It was the first of two goals on the night for McIlMurray. That goal set the tone for the line of McIlMurray, Jackson Cressey and Colton Kerfoot. They were dominant at times Saturday night controlling the puck in the Spruce Kings zone.
Prince George evened the game 7 minutes into the first period after a won face-off in the Express end, a point shot was stopped by Lawson Fenton but the rebound was buried by Nik Ponak for his third of the season.
Jackson Cressey gave the Express their second lead of the night on the power play after converting a nifty pass out from behind the net from Colton Kerfoot to give the Express their second lead of the night. The goal for Cressey was his third in his last two games.
Owen Stout - Photo courtesy of Damon James.
One trend that has emerged in the first two games for the Express following the Christmas break has been their inability to hold lead. They lead on three separate occasions Thursday's loss in Merritt.
It was more of the same Saturday night. Jarod Hovde beat Lawson Fenton from the slot in the final minute of the first period for a 2-2 tie.
The Express had all three power plays in the first period converting once. It was the exact opposite in the second period. As it turned it out, it proved to be a key turning point in this game. The Express killed off all three Prince George power plays in the first ten minutes of the second period to keep the game tied.
Ryan Coghlan made his Express home debut - Photo courtesy of Damon James.
Minutes later with a delayed penalty in effect, Austin McIlMurray scored his second of the game for a 3-2 Express lead. The goal was set up by Luca Leone who was the extra attacker after Lawson Fenton hustled to the bench. For McIlMurray he joined Jackson Cressey in the 20 goal club. Colton Kerfoot isn't too far behind from joining his line mates in the 20 goal club sitting at 17 this season.
Prince George erased an Express lead for a third time Saturday midway through the third period after they failed on an odd man rush. Then from behind the net Matthew Stief bounced the puck in off Fenton to tie the game at three.
Blake Hayward - Photo courtesy of Damon James.
In the final minutes of the third period now in a 3-3 tie, Barry Wolff played it safe playing Taylor Green with Jake Brien on a regular basis as a defense pair.
That pair had a hand in the game winning goal. Jake Brien got the puck at the blue line following a pair of prolonged scrums for the puck in the Prince George zone, Brien slid the puck across to Green who had room to walk in and unload a slap shot which beat McCloskey to give the Express a 4-3 lead with 24.9 seconds left.
Jake Brien - Photo courtesy of Damon James.
Lawson Fenton turned aside 20 of 23 Prince George shots for his 8th win of the season. It was encouraging to see the Express not force their goaltender to face nearly 40 shots to pick up a victory.
The top line for the Express gets plenty of headlines for being on the ice for all four Express goals. But as a whole the Express used their speed very effectively through the night creating chances.
It was the third win in five games for the Express vs. Prince George this season as they opened up a 7 game home stand. Up next the Express play host to the Merritt Centennials for the second meeting in less than a week between the two teams.
The BCHL's best team were too much for the Express to handle for the full 60 minutes in a 4-1 Penticton win Friday night.
The win completed a two game sweep of a home and home between the two teams. Penticton took the opener 5-2 in the South Okanagan Wednesday.
Right from the drop of the puck the Vees were too much for the Express to handle. Their speed and control of the play all night was the story of the game.
The Vees got off to a better start than they did the night before. They opened the scoring litte more than six minutes into the game when Chris Tai had trouble covering up the puck in the crease and Jack Ramsay pounced on the gaffe and poked the loose puck lying in the blue paint.
Before the first period was half over the Vees already had a 14-1 advantage in shots. They finished the night with 53 which sets a new season high for most shots allowed in a game for the Express. The previous mark was 51.
Penticton added two more goals in the second half of the first period on blasts from Gabe Bast and Lewis Zerter-Gossage on the powerplay for a 3-0 Vees lead heading to the second period.
Chris Tai was tickted with the loss, but were it not for his stellar play especially in the final two periods the score would have been more lopsided. He stopped 31 of the 32 shots sent his way in the final two periods. Including all 18 sent his way in the second period.
Tyson Jost scored the Vees fourth goal of the night three minutes into the third period.
Brett Supinski broke Hunter Miska's bid for his 5th shutout of the season midway through the third period set up by Corey Mackin and Austin Anselmo. That goal was the lone set back on a relatively easy night for Miska who faced just 21 Express shots. That number matches a season low for shots on goal for the Express this season.
The busy week of four games in five nights for the Express resumes Saturday in Nanaimo then heading down to the Island to Victoria on Sunday afternoon.
Defenceman Taylor Green (95) made his Express debut Friday night. He was acquired by the Express from Nanaimo in exchange for future considerations. The 6'7 blueliner comes to the Express with 144 career games of WHL experience with Seattle, Brandon and Moose Jaw. He played 7 games with Nanaimo this season picking up one assist.
The BCHL trade deadline is Saturday night at 6pm for trades outside the BCHL and 8pm for deals within the BCHL.
