History
The Coquitlam Express began play as a new franchise in the BCHL for the 2001–02 hockey season, and played in the city for four seasons at the Coquitlam Sports Centre. Due to unsatisfactory conditions at the Sports Centre (specifically a reduction of parking due to the construction of a new aquatic complex next door), the team relocated to Burnaby for the 2005–06 season.
Burnaby originally had a junior "A" team by the name of the Burnaby Bulldogs, which played in that city for 4 seasons (1998–2001). That team relocated to the city of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island for the start of the 2002 season, and was renamed the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
The 2005–06 season saw the Express win the league championship (Fred Page Cup) and the Mowat Cup by defeating the Langley Hornets in four games, the Chilliwack Chiefs in 5 games, the Victoria Salsa in 5 games, and the Penticton Vees in six games. The team then defeated the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in six games for the Doyle Cup and entered the National Championship as Pacific Region winners.
The Express won the Royal Bank Cup 2006 (National Championship) by defeating the Yorkton Terries by a score of 8–2. In the Semi-Final against the Fort William Northstars, they scored the tying goal with 12 seconds left in the third period then went on to win 3–2 in overtime. During the round-robin they had a record of 3–1, which seeded them 2nd in the Tournament, behind the hometown hosts Streetsville Derbys.
In 2006–07 the Express were highly touted as a top team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, with the likes of Kyle Turris and Tyler McNeely. They set out to repeat as Royal Bank Cup champions again, but fell short. In the first round of playoffs the team beat the Langley Chiefs in 7 games and in the second round lost to the eventual BCHL league champions Nanaimo Clippers in 7 games.
2007–08 saw a coaching change from Rick Lanz (Colorado Avalanche Western Scout) to Dave McLellan. The team was not been very well-supported since the move from Coquitlam, and struggled in attendance for the 3rd straight year. Although the team enjoyed a little success in the regular season it was the Victoria Grizzlies that ended the careers of Carlo Finucci, Kevin Tipper, Todd Bowman, Brad Hunt, and Mike Rempel.
As of 17 October 2009, the Burnaby Express were averaging just 548 fans per game, which was the second lowest attendance of the 17 teams in the BCHL at the time. This is half the attendance the team averaged in their final season in Coquitlam (1,091 fans per game).
With the team in last place in the Coastal Conference, on 16 January 2010 the Express announced the firing of coach Dave McLellan. General Manager Darcy Rota took over the interim coaching duties, with Bill Zaharia and Tyler Kuntz named as Assistant Coaches for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. On 13 April 2010, the Express named Jon Calvano as their new head coach.
The 2010-11 season marked the Express' return to Coquitlam. They played their first game back at the newly renovated and renamed Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex on 24 September 2010, where they defeated the Surrey Eagles 4-2. Coquitlam would make the playoffs for the first time in 3 years, losing in the first round to the Eagles in four games. The following year they would again be eliminated in the first round, this time to the Powell River Kings in six games. Following the 2011-12 season, the Express would name Jon Calvano as General Manager on top of his existing coaching duties.
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