Coastal Conference

Shaw hired as Express head coach and assistant general manager

Written by Brian Wiebe on

 

The Coquitlam Express have hired Brandon Shaw as its new head coach and assistant general manager, signing the Barrie, Ontario product to a two-year contract on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Shaw joins the Express after spending two seasons with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs as their director of player development and associate coach.

“We are really excited to welcome Brandon to the Express organization as our new head coach,” said Express general manager Tali Campbell in a news release. “After an in-depth search, we were impressed with his experience in recruiting, his connections with NCAA schools, and his detailed approach to making a team successful.”

Prior to joining the Bulldogs in 2019-20, Shaw spent three seasons in the Merritt Centennials organization. He was assistant coach and director of scouting for the Cents in 2018-19 after serving as an assistant coach and scout in 2017-18.

He was a regional Ontario scout for Merritt in 2016-17. For that season and the one before, Shaw was an assistant coach, video coach, and skills coach for the Cambridge Winter Hawks of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

“I am extremely excited to join the Express, a premier organization in the BCHL,” said Shaw. “I would like to take a moment and thank team governor Fayaz Manji and GM Tali Campbell for this opportunity. I also wish to thank my family for all their support along the way. I have been fortunate to have great mentors in the BCHL in Joe Martin and David Michaud in Alberni Valley and can’t thank them enough for helping guide me in my professional development as a coach.”

Shaw succeeds Adam Nugent-Hopkins as Express head coach. The latter took over on an interim basis in March after assistant GM and head coach Dan Cioffi stepped down to “focus on family and pursue a new opportunity”, according to a news release at the time.

The Express went 8-3 under Cioffi during the exhibition season in a cohort that included Chilliwack, Langley, and Surrey. In the pod season against the Eagles and Powell River Kings, Coquitlam finished with a 6-11-3 record under Nugent-Hopkins.

Coquitlam allowed the second-most goals against in the league during the pod season and was 10th overall in goals for.

Brian's been involved in the BCHL in a variety of capacities for 17 years. From 2002 to 2012, he served in several roles around the Merritt Centennials organization, including as team president, board member, beat writer, colour commentator, webmaster, media and communications coordinator and marketing assistant. He's been writing about the BCHL since 2008 and served as colour commentator on the TSN 1040 broadcasts in 2012-13. BCHLNetwork is one of Brian's many passion projects that he balances around his full-time job as an instructor in the Radio Arts and Entertainment Program at BCIT in Burnaby.