Railer Express on track so far

Transcona

The Transcona Railer Express are rolling through the competition so far this season.

At the start of December, the Railer Express held a 15-2-1 record, good for second place in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League, only one point back of defending champions the St. Boniface Riels, ahead of a Dec. 5 game between the two clubs (the result was unavailable at press time).

“They’re really fast and transition well, especially through the neutral zone,” longtime coach Derek Gagnon said ahead of the Riels matchup. “They don’t spend a lot of time in their zone. So when we do get in there, hopefully we can make it count.”

The Railer Express had scored the most goals per game at 4.83, while earning the second-best goals against average at 1.89 and the league’s second-best penalty kill, operating at 90.4 per cent. Starting goaltender Sage Delaronde held a 1.74 GAA and 0.941 save percentage, second only to top ’tender Owen LaRocque of St. B.

“Everyone loves to score goals and we’ve been able to score almost at will so far this season,” Gagnon said. “But it doesn’t matter if we don’t take care of our own end. We’ve had some disagreements with our guys because our D-zone has been lacklustre at times though, to be honest, I may not be giving them enough credit. I can be hard on them, at times. But we could use some work.”

Still, with over half the season’s 45 games remaining, the Railer Express aren’t taking anything for granted in pursuit of the team’s first league championship, after coming close a number of times since entering the MMJHL in 2012. Last season, Transcona made it to the finals before falling 4-1 in the best-of-seven series against St. Boniface.

The goal for this season is to play their way to a championship, but Gagnon said it won’t be easy.

“(We need to) stay focused on what we need to do right now instead of looking ahead,” he said. “Taking it day by day, shift by shift. Any speedbumps along the way, we can overcome them and roll the punches.”

This season’s Railer Express team is built around a veteran core who know the systems and what it takes to make it to the championship. The half-dozen or so rookies in the lineup, Gagnon added, have made themselves at home nicely.

“We have an older team this year, not necessarily in age, but in experience,” he said. “A lot of guys have been playing with us for years. But those new guys have stepped into a role right away. Tommy Wyatt, rookie goalie, has played well. Cameron Sylvester was rookie of the month in October. So they’re stepping in right away and feeling comfortable.”

Indeed, Wyatt’s 2.13 goals against average and .924 save percentage has him in the league’s top five goalies, while Sylvester’s eight goals and six assists in 18 games has him among the team’s top 10 point producers.

With more than half the season remaining, Gagnon hopes the team can continue to perform, and enjoy the support the community has provided again this year.

“I’d like to give a shoutout to the community,” he said. “We’ve had so many games where we have multiple kids teams in attendance. It’s a really cool community feel that I know the guys really appreciate.”

Visit mmjhl.ca for more information, including up-to-date schedule, results, and more.