After Carson McGinley learned he’d been traded to the Coquitlam Express from the Sherwood Park Crusaders on Dec. 30, he and his dad, Mike, loaded up his car and drove 13 hours from Alberta to his third hockey destination in five months.
Several other players have been similarly uprooted as Express general manager Tali Campbell and head coach Jeff Wagner refine the BC Hockey League (BCHL) team’s lineup for the stretch run to the playoffs.
Goaltender Andrew Ness was acquired by Coquitlam from the Penticton Vees in late November. Defenseman Jack Sullivan joined the Express from the Blackfalds Bulldogs a week later.
In the past two weeks, the team has also added Kazakhstan junior national player Nikita Sitnikov and forward Dane Pyatt, who’d been injured most of his rookie season with the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs.
Wagner said the upheavals can be unsettling for everyone involved — the new players coming in and the group already established in the dressing room.
“The business of junior hockey is that moves are made and you can’t take anything for granted,” said Wagner, who’s in his first season running the Express bench.
Easing a player’s transition into a new situation that not only includes a new coach and new teammates, but also a new living situation with an unfamiliar billet family and a new community to navigate, is all about making sure management has done its homework, keeping open the lines of communication and having trust in the dressing room’s leadership group, said Wagner.
“We lean on our leadership group to make sure that they’re integrated well and put into a good situation.”
McGinley, who’s originally from Phoenix, Ariz., said he felt instantly welcome when he arrived in Coquitlam. His new teammates and billet family helped him settle in and showed him around town so he could keep his focus on what he needs to do on the ice.
“It was a very easy transition,” he said.
It’s showed in McGinley’s performance. In the four games he’s played since joining the Express, he’s scored eight points.
The instant payoff pleases Wagner as he and Campbell continue to search for the bits and pieces that will produce a winning formula for Coquitlam.
That process includes keeping an eye on other players around the BCHL and elsewhere, assessing their situations and sharing information.
After starting the season in Vernon, McGinley was moved to Sherwood Park so the Vipers could acquire a defensemen to help fill some holes in its lineup. But the Crusaders proved a poor fit, so the move to the Express was welcome, said the 18-year-old right winger.
Placed on a line with offensive spark plugs Mason Kesselring, who has 31 points in 32 games, and rookie Thomas Zocco who has 28 points, McGinley said his confidence has been restored.
“It’s just building chemistry with your linemates. They’re two unbelievable players and they’re really easy to play with.”
Wagner said the latest roster moves have come at an opportune time.
The two-week break around the BCHL’s all-star weekend festivities in Salmon Arm provides ample practice time to work the new players into the lineup, get them settled into their environs and forge bonds in the dressing room.
“The extra time helps get them integrated with the systems and get to know the guys in the room,” Wagner said, adding it also provides a bit of a buffer to soothe any shock players felt from the departure of a teammate or friend.
With three wins in the four games the Express has played since the holiday break, Wagner said the team is headed in the right direction after a November swoon saw them slide down the Coastal Conference standings following a hot start to the season.
“We’re fairly happy with our group and we believe in what they can do.”
But, he added, the tinkering never really ends — especially if injuries occur.
“It just makes our decisions a little bit more difficult moving forward.”
Two home games coming up
The Express return to action Friday, Jan. 24 when it hosts the Chilliwack Chiefs at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex at 7 p.m.
Chilliwack leads the Coastal Conference standings with 47 points in 33 games, but Coquitlam has defeated the Chiefs in three of the four games they’ve played so far this season.
Saturday, Jan. 25, the Express hosts the Surrey Eagles, also at 7 p.m.
Developmental team features in school day matinee
The Express is giving local school kids an opportunity to see its U18 developmental team with a special midweek matinee game between Coquitlam HC and Langley HA on Jan. 22 at 12 p.m. at Poirier.
The U18 Coquitlam HC team is the top tier of four youth teams the Express launched in the Junior Prospects Hockey League (JPHL) to develop local players in-house after the BCHL decided to pull out of Hockey Canada and operate as an independent league.
The club recently announced it would also become part of a similar developmental program for female hockey players in the Female Super League that operates across Canada's four western provinces.
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