During his long tenure coaching at the midget, Junior A and Major Junior levels, Jason Fortier has seen one element as a common ingredient for the teams that found success: character.
He believes his Coquitlam Express has it in spades.
Because even as the team rolled to the top of the BC Hockey League regular season standings with 47 wins in 58 games, it’s how the players performed when the chips were down that told Fortier the Express have earned a place at the table with other squads he has helped guide to Memorial Cup finals, Ontario Junior Hockey League and national midget championships.
“There’s a lot of similarities you see in certain guys stepping up, having a group that genuinely cares about each other and that takes criticism from each other,” Fortier said Monday as the Express prepared to launch their post-season Friday, 7 p.m. at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex against the Langley Rivermen.
Losing only nine games in regulation time may imply the Express didn’t face much adversity along the way but Fortier said his group was able to pull together in stretches to minimize the damage when up to eight regulars were out of the lineup with injuries.
“We’ve shown that consistency of performance and energy.”
Even as the schedule wound down, the Express had to weather the spectre of heading into the playoffs without their most valuable player.
Goalie Clay Stevenson, who won 30 games and posted a league-best 1.77 goals against average, is no longer available to the team because of an obscure NCAA rule that would have cost him a year of his eligibility if he plays a Junior A game after his 21st birthday on March 3. He remains with the Express as a mentor.
Fortier said players have rallied behind former backup Jack Watson and recent acquisition Joe Howe.
“It’s not a one-guy thing,” he said. “We talk about next guy up, stepping into that role whatever needs to be done. We have to keep going.”
Unlike last year, when the Express faced the top-seed Prince George Spruce Kings in the opening round of the playoffs and managed to hand the eventual league champions their only loss of the post-season before succumbing in five games, Coquitlam is this year’s big dog. Fortier said his group has to be aware it’s a target and focus on playing its game.
“Everyone is coming to get us,” he said adding the team has to approach every game with “passion and energy.”
If they succeed, there’s no limit to how far they can go, Fortier said.
“We’re setting our sights on the ultimate prize,” he said. “We’ve had one of those seasons you’re going to remember and we have a chance to cap it off here.”
• Game two of the best-of-seven series against the Rivermen will be played Sunday, 7 p.m., at Poirier. Games three and four are scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday in Langley.
