Clippers fall 7-5 to Coquitlam Express

#21 Connor Haynes wins a face-off in the Coquitlam end of the rink.

By Malcom Cooke

The Nanaimo Clippers fell spectacularly on Friday night, losing 7-5 to the Coquitlam Express. Nanaimo went up 4-0 in the first period before having the wheels fall off in the final 40 minutes. Chase Hull, Joel Plante, Luke Lavery, Conner DeTurris, and Cole Lonsdale scored the five Nanaimo goals.

New addition Carson Lesiuk fed Conner Haynes in front of the Express’ net for a clean shot on goal. Haynes nearly scored but was turned aside by Coquitlam’s goalie. The Clippers were awarded the first power play of the evening early in the first period. A crisp tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Anthony Biakabutuka to Patrick Fortune to Chase Hull to the back of the net is how the Clippers scored the opening salvo on the power play. Coquitlam took another high-sticking penalty shortly after the Clippers scored, giving the home team a second power play.

The end result was nearly identical to the first, except this time it was Joel Plante finishing off the play on assists from Andrew Brown and Cole Lonsdale. Nanaimo went up 3-0, scoring their third goal in three minutes to take a commanding lead less than ten minutes into the action. Conner DeTurris rifled home his fourth goal of the season to put the Clippers up 4-0 in the first period. With a comfortable lead, the Clippers sat back on defence for the final minutes of the first. Nanaimo outshot Coquitlam 13-12 through twenty minutes of play.

In the second period, it would be the Clippers that got penalized early. Conner DeTurris received a double-minor penalty for high-sticking. Coquitlam was able to score on the first half of the power play to cut the Clippers lead to 4-1. Chazz Nixon made multiple high-danger saves in the second half of the Express power play to keep the Clippers ahead by three goals.

Coquitlam cut Nanimo’s lead in half in the second. Express forward Joseph Odyniec wired a bar-down shot past the outstretched glove of Chazz Nixon. With only ten seconds remaining in the second, the Express scored again to cut Nanaimo’s lead to 4-3 through forty minutes of play. The Express dominated the Clippers in the shot totals, outshooting them 18-3 in the second.

The Clippers nearly scored in the opening seconds of the third, but the puck whistled just wide of the Express net. The Express completed the comeback early in the third period, as they scored twice in quick succession to completely erase the Clippers' early 4-0 lead. A chance for Nanaimo to tie the game came midway through the third period. Coquitlam was penalized for tripping, giving the Clippers a power play. The Clippers scored on the previous two power play opportunities but could not capitalize. Coquitlam scored again on an absolute pizza pass from a Clippers' defender behind his net to score their sixth unanswered goal.

Coquitlam scored their seventh unanswered goal on a power play to rub salt in the wound of all the fans at the Frank on a chilly autumn evening. The Clippers finally answered, scoring their fifth goal of the game with less than a minute to play. The final shot total was 38-24 in favour of Coquitlam.

The Express swept the three stars. Joseph Odyniec, Andrej Kovacevic, and Cooper Wilson were first, second, and third stars. Joel Plante took home FortisBC Energy Player of the Game.

]The Clippers look to bounce back tomorrow (Sat., Oct. 26) at home against the Chilliwack Chiefs. Tickets can be purchased at the Frank Crane box office on game day or at tickets.nanaimoclippers.com.