EAGLES SPOIL EXPRESS FINAL HOME GAME

The Surrey Eagles weren't too kind to the Express in their final home game of the season walking out with an 8-1 win.

Surrey's depth was well on display Friday night as the Eagles got goals from 8 different players, 7 players had multiple point nights and 13 players picked up a point in the game.

The Eagles started quickly as Trevor Cameron scored 39 seconds into the game on Daniel Urbani who got the start for the Express.

The opening period was filled with lots of continuous action with nearly 10 straight minutes of whistle free play.

Former Express Brady Shaw extended Surrey's lead late in the first period as he blasted home a one timer from the slot through the legs of Daniel Urbani.

Early in the second period Shaw set up Michael Stenerson for a shorthanded goal at 1:31 for a 3-0 Surrey lead.

Kevin Killistoff's goal 7 minutes later meant the end of the night for Daniel Urbani after allowing 4 goals on 12 shots.

In came Cole Huggins who was welcomed to the game with a number of quality scoring chances turning away Brady Shaw on a pair of occasions with some athletic pad saves. He had another great save off Kevin Killistoff with his left pad.

Craig Wyszomirski re-directed a Adam Tambellini shot from the right circle for a powerplay goal to give Surrey a 5-0 lead going to the third period.

Surrey added third period goals from Colton Mackie, Drew Best and Stefan Burzan. Former Eagle Brandon Morley scored the lone Express goal on the powerplay.

The Express wrap up their season Saturday night with a re-match with the Surrey Eagles at the South Surrey Arena.

JON CALVANO SHOW

In the latest installment of the Jon Calvano show we discuss the two games last weekend vs. Cowichan Valley and Salmon Arm. We talk about the focus of the club in the final two games of the season knowing that the Express will not be in the playoffs this season. And we discuss the focus of the club looking forward to next season. 

2012-13 BCHL ALL STARS

Wednesday the BCHL announced it's 1st and 2nd team all stars. Plus it's all rookie team. Three former Express' John Siemer, Phil Zielonka and Brady Shaw are on the various squads. 

After a poll of the BCHL head coaches, the league has compiled its all-stars for the 2012-13 season.

Since the all-star game was done away with after the 2009-10 season, the league has recognized league all-stars with first-team, second-team and all-rookie squads.

This season, 12 BCHL teams had at least one player named to one of the teams.


BCHL First Team

Interior Conference
F – Wade Murphy, Penticton Vees                  D – Troy Stecher, Penticton Vees
F – Marcus Basara, West Kelowna Warriors   D – Shane Hanna, Salmon Arm SilverBacks
F – Seb Lloyd, West Kelowna Warriors          G – Tyler Steel, Merritt Centennials

Coastal Conference
F – Mario Puskarich, Langley Rivermen   D – Devon Toews, Surrey Eagles
F – Brady Shaw, Surrey Eagles              D – Craig Wyszomirksi, Surrey Eagles
F – Luke Esposito, Chilliwack Chiefs       G – Mitch Gillam, Chilliwack Chiefs

BCHL Second Team

Interior Conference
F – Regan Soquila, Merritt Centennials     D – Brett Corkey, Vernon Vipers
F – John Siemer, Penticton Vees            D – Josh Monk, West Kelowna Warriors
F – Brent Baltus, Trail Smoke Eaters        G – Tyler Briggs, West Kelowna Warriors

Coastal Conference
F – Adam Tambellini, Surrey Eagles          D – D.J. Jones, Victoria Grizzlies
F – Austin Plevy, Chilliwack Chiefs           D – Bo Pellah, Alberni Valley Bulldogs
F – Phil Zielonka, Chilliwack Chiefs        G – Michael Santaguida, Surrey Eagles

All Rookie Team
F – Brad McClure, Penticton Vees          D – Jarrett Brown, Cowichan Valley Capitals
F – Phil Zielonka, Chilliwack Chiefs       D – Dane Birks, Merritt Centennials
F – Luke Esposito, Chilliwack Chiefs       G – Michael Santaguida, Surrey Eagles

SILVERBACKS @ EXPRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Here's the highlights of Salmon Arm's 5-4 win over the Express Sunday.

   

 Highlights courtesy of Cary Derksen.

WIERCIOCH SCORES 1ST NHL GOAL

Former Express Patrick Weircioch scored his first NHL goal Sunday afternoon on Long Island. The Maple Ridge native took a pass from his Express teammate from the 06-07 season to tie the game at two and send it to overtime.

 

Congratulations Patrick.

LAST MINUTE PLAYOFF DAGGER

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks scored 4 unanswered goals to erase a pair of three goal deficits and Steven Iacobellis scored with 23 seconds left in the third period to give Salmon Arm a 5-4 win over the Express. 

The loss officially clinched 4th place in the Mainland division for the Langley Rivermen and eliminated the Express from the playoff race with just two games left in the season.

Having won 5 of the last 6 games in 3 in a row entering the contest, the Express appeared to be in good shape to keep the run alive in the first 26 minutes of the game.

Justin Georgeson extended his goal scoring streak to 4 games just over 4 minutes into the game as he scored from a sharp angle on Adam Clark.

Then the Express got into some penalty trouble but found ways to get out of it and find ways to respond. 

Moments after killing off a Brad Ryan interference penalty Marc Biega scored off the rush snapping a shot over the glove of Clark.

More Express penalties resulted in 5 on 3 to kill off for just under a minute and a double minor penalty to Brad Ryan for high sticking. The Express killed off those penalties and again scored shortly after returning to full strength as Brandon Morley poked in a loose puck at the side of the net to give the Express a 3-0 lead. 

Everything appeared to be in good shape for the Express to take a 3 goal lead to the room, but then a brief lapse came back to bite the Express. A wrist shot from distance was turned aside by Cole Huggins but he gave up a big rebound which Brandon Mistal pounced on and roofed it over Huggins cut the Express lead to 3-1 with just 11 seconds left in the first period. 

Justin Georgeson re-stored the 3 goal Express lead in the second period as he snapped home a one timer from the slot on the powerplay to give the Express a 4-1 lead. Georgeson has scored 6 goals in his last 4 games. He also had a pair of helpers on the other two Express goals for a four point afternoon. Adam Rossignol was also in a giving mood with 3 assists.

After re-storing a second three goal lead, at some point afterwards the game began to slip away from the Express. 

Midway through the period Salmon Arm cut the Express lead back down to two on the powerplay as Brayden Sherbinin pinched in from the point and found a loose puck and poked it past Cole Huggins. 

Salmon Arm scored a second straight late period goal following a lapse from the Express in their own zone. A turnover in their own end resulted in Harlan Orr stealing the puck and wiring a shot over the glove of Cole Huggins at 18:41 to cut the Express lead to one at 4-3.

The third period opened up with the Express presented a great opportunity to put the game away. Steven Iacobellis was called for holding then had a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty tacked on in the dying seconds of the second period to give the Express nearly 4 minutes of powerplay time to open the third period. 

The Express man advantage didn't pay off as they had trouble setting it up in the Salmon Arm zone. A Brayden Sherbinin slashing penalty in the dying seconds of the Iacobellis penalties meant the Express opened the third period with nearly 6 minutes of powerplay time and came away with nothing. 

The opportunity lost for the Express was a boost for the visitors. Mitchell Ferguson blasted home a slap shot from the left point over the shoulder of Cole Huggins with an Express delayed penalty in effect and the three goal lead was a thing of the past. 

Now with just under 9 minutes remaining in the third period the Express need to at least make sure they got at least one point to keep any form of their playoff hopes alive.

It wasn't meant to be. Steven Iacobellis picked up his third point of the game as he banged home the rebound of a Shane Hanna point shot with 23 seconds left in the third period to give Salmon Arm their only lead of the game and hammer in the final nail of the playoff coffin for the Express. 

The Express will finish off the 2012-13 season with a home and home next weekend with the Surrey Eagles.

EXPRESS DISH OUT SOME CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Malcom McKinney tied an Express franchise record with a 4 goal performance in a 7-2 Express win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The win is the third in a row for the Express and their 4th in the last 5 games all on home ice. 

McKinney who is second all time in games played in franchise history sent a message on his opening shift of the game that this was going to be a game to remember. After Brandon Morley started the shift with a big hit, that was followed by 3 hits in quick succession by McKinney as the Express set an early physical tone for the game.

Cowichan Valley looked to open the scoring with a 5 on 3 powerplay for 57 seconds. But the Express penalty killers which are on quite a roll killed off the penalties to Adam Rossignol and Brad Ryan.

Moments after the penalties expired the Express opened the scoring as Malcom McKinney scored his first of the game as he blasted a slap shot past Connor LaCouvee.

Less than two minutes later a pair of Express youngsters teamed up to add to the Express lead as Spencer Quon fired a quick pass to Jackson Cressey who re-directed it home for a 2-0 Express lead. 

The goals kept coming in the second and they really started to get pretty. 

Malcom McKinney scored his second of the game as he finished off a great passing play that saw Garrett Forster dish it across to Adam Rockwood who quickly tipped it to McKinney trailing who snapped home his second of the game to give the Express a 3-0 lead.

Forster and Rockwood also teamed up to set up McKinney's hat-trick goal. Again it was a thing of beauty as McKinney made a quick toe drag move then snapped it top corner glove side on LaCouvee. It was the second career hat-trick for McKinney. It's also the first hat-trick of the season for an Express player.

Justin Georgeson banged home the rebound of a Marc Biega point shot for a powerplay goal to give the Express a 5-1 lead. Georgeson has now scored goals in three straight games. He then added his second of the game off the rush as he poked home a loose puck in the crease following a pass from Adam Rossignol. 

McKinney capped off is big night in the third period as he took a pass from behind the net and snapped it home for his 4th of the game. He also had an assist Friday night to finish with 4 goals and 1 assist for 5 points. It was the 5th time in Express franchise history that a player scored 4 goals in a game. Kyle Turris did it twice, Tyler McNeely and Rich Manley each did it once. 

Mitch Ball rounded out the scoring in the game scoring just 7 seconds after McKinney's fourth to make it a 7-2 game. 

In addition to McKinney's 4 goals and Georgeson's 2, Adam Rockwood and Adam Rossignol each had 3 assists. Garrett Forster and AP Spencer Quon each had a pair of helpers. 

Cole Huggins turned aside 24 of the 26 Caps shots. The Express had another perfect night on the penalty kill shutting down all 6 Caps advantages. The Express have now killed of 24 straight shorthanded situations and 25 of the last 26 in the last 7 games. 

Despite the best efforts from the Express, the Langley Rivermen continue to not do the Express any favours in the race for 4th place in the Mainland division. Langley posted their 3rd straight win with a 4-3 win over Chilliwack. The Rivermen remain 5 points clear of the Express who have just three games remaining.

The 8 game home stand for the Express resumes Sunday vs. their expansion cousins the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.