Giants extend WHL championship series to game 7

There’s going to be one more.

Down 3-1 in the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship Series, the Vancouver Giants have now extended the series as far as it can go. They beat the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 to set up a Game 7. No team since 1981 has come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the league.

But, the Ed Chynoweth Cup will be up for grabs to whoever wins the rubber match on Monday, 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders are already looking towards that.

“These are the moments you dream about as a kid,” said Raiders forward Parker Kelly, who scored both Raiders goals in the contest. “Game 7, nothing better than that—it’s do or die. I think the boys will be ready.”

“It’s time for us to take control of that opportunity, not shy away from it,” added Raiders captain Brayden Pachal.

For the Giants, that 8-2 loss in Game 3 on Tuesday seems so long ago. They’ve been able to find their game since, rebounded in Game 4 but fell due to a 36-save shutout performance from Ian Scott, and have now scraped together back-to-back wins to stave off elimination.

Giants head coach Michael Dyck said his team learned about having perseverance at times throughout the regular season, and have put that to the test here in the finals.

“We established early that we have to have resolve through the regular season,” Dyck said. “We want to create those habits that if you lose one, you want to bounce back and get the next one. If things start to slide a little bit, you have to chip away and get momentum back slowly. I think we’ve found that.”

Now, the Giants could be the first WHL team in the past 39 years to come back from a 3-1 deficit.

“It’s exciting. Game 7’s are unique, both teams are going to be really amped up to go,” said Giants captain Jared Dmytriw, who scored the game winning goal. “It doesn’t matter how we got here, both teams are at three wins, now it’s one game.”

Striking first streak done

For the first five games of the series, whoever scored the first goal went on to win the series. Game 6 was the first time that didn’t happen.

Parker Kelly scored 53 seconds in for the Raiders, but the Giants came back thanks to goals from Davis Koch (two, including the empty netter), Owen Hardy and the winner from Jared Dmytriw.

Giants goaltender David Tendeck had his best game of the series, making 36 saves on 38 shots. Raiders goaltender Ian Scott turned away 23 of 26 shots.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Parker Kelly from Justin Nachbaur and Jeremy Masella, 0:53

1-1, Giants, Davis Koch from Justin Sourdif and Milos Roman, 6:58

2-1, Giants, Owen Hardy from Jared Dmytriw and Dawson Holt, 15:17

2-2, Raiders, Parker Kelly from Aliaksei Protas and Ozzy Wiesblatt, 19:27

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

3-2, Giants, Jared Dmytriw from Lukas Svejkovsky and Seth Bafaro, 3:40

4-2, Giants, Davis Koch from Jadon Joseph, 19:45

Game 7

There’s one more game on the docket in the Western Hockey League. The Ed Chynoweth Cup will be on the line, and claimed by the victor of Monday night’s game at the Art Hauser Centre at 7 p.m.