BCHL’s Coquitlam Express honours Tumbler Ridge shooting victims with board memorial

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An end board displaying the victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting will be in the Coquitlam Express’ home arena for the remainder of the BCHL season (Coquitlam Express/Facebook)

COQUITLAM, B.C. — The British Columbia Hockey League’s (BCHL) Coquitlam Express have placed the names of the eight victims of the February 10th Tumbler Ridge mass shooting on an end board at the team’s home arena, the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.

Shaanda Aviugana-Durand, Zoey Benoit, Jennifer and Emmett Jacobs, Ticaria Lampert, Abel Mwansa, Ezekiel Schofield and Kylie Smith were given the special memorial by the junior hockey team, which will stay until the start of the 2026-27 BCHL season.

The February 10th shooting was committed by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who killed five students, an instructor, and her mother and stepbrother before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Express president and general manager Tali Campbell told Energeticcity.ca although the distance of 1,163 kilometres was substantial, incidents in a local school in Coquitlam brought the news of the killings “probably a little closer to home.”

“The week prior to the shooting, we had lockdowns at [Coquitlam’s] Centennial Secondary School due to a bomb threat,” said Campbell. “We have been on a little bit of an alert recently in our community.”

“Our U-18 team were in Kamloops about to play a game when we heard the news. Your heart just sinks right away.”

Campbell added the end board “was the smallest gesture” to ensure there was a memorial to continue to honour the lives that were lost.

Currently, the Express has a BCHL team alongside a hockey academy, with both boys’ and girls’ squads from the U-14 to the U-18 levels.

A Facebook post showing the end board wrote the club “stands with” the families and “the lives lost will never be forgotten.”

While the board will remain in the arena until the 2026-27 season, Campbell told Energeticcity.ca there are plans underway to have a permanent memorial.

“That is something we are hoping to work with the families on,” said Campbell.

The BCHL team is currently in second place in the BCHL’s coastal east division.