Feeling good on the Express
A grit and grind crew that does not push the stop button, the Espanola Express has made it to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs for the first time since its debut season, which was the 2015-2016 campaign.
Here it is, the advent of the 2019-2020 playoff season and the Express is in the playoffs as the no. 5 seed and ready to take on the no. 4 seed Soo Eagles in a best-of-three, preliminary-round showdown.
Game 1 is set for the Michigan Soo on Wednesday and the Game 2 home ticket will be in Espanola on Friday. If a third game is needed, it will be back in the Michigan Soo on Saturday.
The Eagles, with a record of 30-21-5, finished 26 points ahead of the 17-34-5 Express during the regular season. But in eight head-to-head matches — most of them hotly contested — the Express did manage to eke out three hard-fought victories over the Eagles.
The upcoming series has the makings of being a narrow one.
Long-time Eagles general manager Bruno Bragagnolo calls the Express “a hard-working team that does not let up. (Espanola head coach) Dave Clancy has done a great job with that team. This is going to be a real tough series.”
And Clancy, from the Express lane, is looking forward to the playoff match-up.
“We are extremely excited to be returning to the playoffs and are looking forward to playing the Eagles,” Clancy told Hockey News North. “The Express staff and players have a lot of respect for the Eagles organization and the season they had … the Eagles play a heavy game and have enough skill to make them tough to play against.
“We will need to show up from the opening face-off with our work hats on and be ready to compete every shift … we will try to utilize our speed and make it hard on them to break out of their zone cleanly and capitalize on force turnovers,” Clancy added.
Clancy also noted that “specialty teams always play an important part of any playoff series and I expect that it will be no different this series. Our team will be ready and confident.”
Besides having a roster of players that includes migrants from southern and eastern Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, and the American states of Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and California, the Express features no less than nine players from various northern Ontario towns.
Among the northern boys are a pair of 2003 birth-year, rookie forwards from Sudbury who were Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft picks in 2019 — Cameron Walker (ninth round, Kingston Frontenacs) and Bradley Brunet (13th round, Niagara Ice Dogs.)
Walker hit for 11 goals, 15 assists, 26 points for Espanola during the regular season while Brunet chipped in with 8-4-12 totals.
Then there a pair of older rookie forwards with 2001 birth dates who are seasoned veterans of the Great North Midget Hockey League — Sault Ste. Marie product Cole Delarosbil and Timmins native Brennen Martel.
Both players have earned extensive praise from aforementioned Espanola bench boss Dave Clancy for their work ethic, commitment and relentless approach to the game.
Delarosbil, who returned to the Express lineup for the final two games of the regular season after being sidelined with a broken ankle since early January, came through with six goals, three assists, nine points in just 27 outings.
Martel, meanwhile, got into 37 of Espanola’s 56 regular-season games and contributed three goals, three assists, six points as an energetic, two-way puck hound.
PHOTO: Brennen Martel (right) of the Espanola Express, in regular-season action against the Soo Eagles.
