Making headway in Espanola


By
March 1, 2021
Espanola Express has a record of 5-4-3 through 12 games of the 2020-2021 season. (photo by Chelsea Solomon)

The times they are a changin’ in Espanola.

And it is change that has been for the better relative to the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

Through 12 games of the COVID-19 affected, 2020-2021 NOJHL season, Espanola has a record of 5-4-3 through 12 games.

Which is impressive considering the history of the franchise and taking note of the fact that Espanola does not have a single 2000 birth year skater on its roster — meaning that every current player on the Express is eligible to return for the 2021-2022 season.

Since entering the NOJHL as an expansion franchise in 2015, the Express has made the playoffs only twice while never posting a winning record over five previous seasons.

In fact, when Espanola made the playoffs in 2019-2020 with a record of 17-34-5, it was the most wins in a season by the Express since its debut term of 2015-2016 when it posted a 12-39-3 mark.

Meanwhile, from 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, the Express missed the playoffs all three seasons with respective records of 9-45-2, 2-52-2 and 10-43-3.

Do all the math and in five regular seasons of existence before this one, the Express resembled a track wreck with an overall record of 50-213-15. That is correct — only 50 wins in five years from 278 regular season games.

However, and notably, the Express reversal started to go forward last season when 44-year old Jason Rapcewicz took over sole ownership of the franchise and became its president and general manager.

Under Rapcewicz and second-year head coach Dave Clancy, the Express made it back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. But Rapcewicz and Clancy parted ways during the past off season when the two could not agree on a new contract.

Enter current head coach Brent Hughes — with the recent experience of three straight winning seasons as an assistant coach with the Cape Breton Eagles of the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League — as the new bench boss in Espanola.

And now, through extended use of video and working closely with his players both one on one and as a team, Hughes has the Express just over the .500 mark through 12 games of the 2020-2021 season. It is also worth noting that this is the first time in franchise history that the Express has had a record over .500 at the 12-game mark of a season.

Brent Hughes

The 38-year old Hughes, as the first-year head coach in Espanola, likes how his young team has been able to rebound after a disheartening loss.

Case in point came last week when Espanola had a 5-2 lead over French River with just over two minutes to play in the third period only to have the Rapids stun the Express with three goals in 40 seconds to tie the game and send it to a shootout. And French River would score the only goal of the shootout to steal an improbable 6-5 win.

The next night though, the Express shook off the stunning loss to the Rapids by defeating its cohort rivals 4-2.

“The bounce back is something that we have been able to do a few times now this season,” Hughes relayed to Hockey News North. “It’s all about having a short term memory and making the quick adjustments … and I credit the leaders on our team for showing the way and taking charge.”

Meanwhile, Jason Rapcewicz — the aforementioned president and GM of the Express — noted that “I am extremely happy to be playing above .500, even knowing that we blew and gave away three wins by playing undisciplined hockey in the last five minutes. If not for that, we would have a record of 8-4-0 instead of 5-4-3.

“But we are young and those are bumps in the road,” continued Rapcewicz. “We move past and move forward. I think that if we can add the right pieces for next year we will be a force to be reckoned with.

“Meantime, my goal was to get better from last year to this one, which we have achieved thus far. And as GM and with the trade deadline having passed, my job is to start looking for players to strengthen us for next year. As for now, it is Hughesie’s job as coach to keep us winning,” Rapcewicz summed up.


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