Captain nets third period winner in 4-2 victory over Raiders
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| Jared Dmytriw, left, celebrates scoring the winner for the Giants. |
The WHL Championship is heading to a series deciding Game 7 for the first time since 2014.
On Sunday in Game 6 of the WHL final, Dmytriw’s Vancouver
Giants, who were facing elimination, were locked in a 2-2 draw with the host
Prince Albert Raiders heading into the third period at the Art Hauser Centre.
At the 3:40 mark of the third, Dmytriw, who is the Giants
captain, backhanded home the rebound of a shot taken by linemate Lukas
Svejkovsky to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead. That tally held up as the winner as
the Giants pulled out a 4-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators
at the Raiders 2,580 seat home rink.
With the win, the Giants tie the best-of-seven series 3-3. A
winner take all Game 7 for the Ed Chynoweth Cup and the WHL title is set for 7 p.m. local time Monday at the Art Hauser
Centre.
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| David Tendeck stopped 36 shots in goal for the Giants. |
The last WHL final to go to a series deciding Game 7 came
back in 2014, when the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Portland Winterhawks to take
the league crown. Edmonton moved on to win the Memorial Cup.
Dmytriw, who is from Craven, Sask., was pumped to score the
winner on Sunday.
“It was unbelievable,” said Dmytriw. “To get the lead at
that point in the game was huge.
“Then, we kind of locked it down. I thought the team played
well down the stretch.”
At first, things didn’t start well for the Giants.
Just 53 seconds into the game, Raiders power forward Parker
Kelly shot down the right wing, cut to the front of the Vancouver goal, took a
shot and banged home his own rebound to give the host side a 1-0 edge.
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| Davis Koch scored two goals on Sunday for the Giants. |
Dmytriw was pleased with how his squad bounced back after
falling behind early.
“It has kind of been the identity of our group this whole year
is to bounce back,” said Dmytriw. “We knew coming into tonight whether they got
the first one or we got the first one we weren’t going to change our game.
“We were going to stick to our game plan, and I was proud of
the way the boys handled that adversity early and bounced back.”
Before the first period ended, the Raiders evened things up
at 2-2, when Kelly netted his second of the game with 32.2 seconds remaining in
the frame.
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| Parker Kelly (#27) sets to pop home a rebound for a Raiders goal. |
Koch potted his second goal of the contest with 14.2 seconds
remaining in the third to seal the Giants victory.
Ian Scott turned away 23-of-26 shots to take the setback in
goal for the Raiders. David Tendeck stopped 36 shots in a sensational outing to
pick up the win in goal for the Giants.
“I thought we were OK outside of a couple of things in our
D-zone that could have been better,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “I
thought we missed a couple of assignments.
“We weren’t as good as we could have been. They played heavy. We can be better in our own end, and that will help us out offensively.”
“We weren’t as good as we could have been. They played heavy. We can be better in our own end, and that will help us out offensively.”
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| Raiders fans cheer on Parker Kelly’s first goal. |
“I’m proud of the way we’ve played,” said Dyck. “Coming into
a building that is not easy to play in, but I think we fed of the energy early.
“I like the way we responded after giving up a goal in the
first minute. I thought we played solid from there.”
After the Giants went ahead 3-2, Kelly had a huge chance in
front of the Vancouver goal to net the equalizer, but he was stoned by Tendeck.
Looking back on the contest, Kelly thought his team might have had a bit of a lull after he scored the game’s first goal.
“I thought our start was good,” said Kelly. “Maybe, we kind of let our foot off the gas pedal.
Looking back on the contest, Kelly thought his team might have had a bit of a lull after he scored the game’s first goal.
“I thought our start was good,” said Kelly. “Maybe, we kind of let our foot off the gas pedal.
“We can’t be doing that.”
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| Aliaksei Protas jets up the right wing for the Raiders. |
Vancouver finished second overall in the WHL with a
48-15-3-2 mark and was rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
When the Giants fell behind 3-1 in the series, they faced a
tough challenge in attempting to pull even. After winning two straight, Koch
was pumped to see his WHL career get extended for a second time.
“It is nice to stave off elimination in those two games,”
said Koch. “I look forward to tomorrow in Game 7.”
In Monday’s Game 7, the Raiders will be facing elimination
for the first time in the post-season. Still, Raiders captain Brayden Pachal is
looking forward to playing a winner take all contest.
“It is something you dream of your whole life,” said Pachal.
“It is time for us to take control of that opportunity.”
The winner of Game 7 on Monday will earn a berth to the Memorial
Cup, and this year’s CHL championship tournament starts Friday and run to May
26 in Halifax, N.S.
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| The Giants celebrate an empty-net goal from Davis Koch. |
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Dyck. “We didn’t think about winning three games when we were down.
“We thought about winning one. It was an opportunity to come
back into here, and we just wanted to keep moving forward from there.”
Habscheid has faith that his players will find a way to prevail in Game 7.
Habscheid has faith that his players will find a way to prevail in Game 7.
“This is a special group that I coach here,” said Habscheid.
“It is a great bunch of guys.
“We treated Game 5 like it was Game 7. We treated Game 6
today like it was Game 7. We will treat Game 7 like it is Game 7.
“We’re fine. If I was going anywhere, I’d take these 20 guys
with me. They are great kids, they’re winners, and we like our chances
tomorrow.”
Storm romps to 8-3 OHL title clinching victory
On Sunday
before 5,005 spectators at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, the host Storm fell
behind 2-0 to the visiting Ottawa 67’s heading into the first intermission.
The Storm
exploded for five straight goals to start the second period to go ahead 5-2 and
cruised to an 8-3 victory in Game 6 of the OHL final.
With the
win, the Storm took the best-of-seven series 4-2. Ottawa won the first two
games of the series before Guelph closed things out with four straight
victories.
Dmitri
Samorukov and Isaac Ratcliffe both scored twice for the Storm, while Cedric
Ralph, Nick Suzuki, Domenico Commisso and Keegan Stevenson had singles.
Commisso’s goal was scored into an empty net, when the 67’s pulled their goalie
for an extra attacker while down 6-3 in the third period.
Noel
Hoefenmayer, Kody Clark and Sasha Chmelevski had singles for the 67’s.
Anthony
Popovich turned away 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm. Cedrick
Andree turned away 31-of-38 shots to take the loss in goal for the 67’s.
The 67’s
were without star goaltender Michael DiPietro, who was injured in Ottawa’s 4-3
victory on home ice in Game 2. DiPietro is reported to have a high ankle
sprain.
Suzuki was named the MVP of the OHL playoffs posting 16 goals and 26 assists appearing all of his team’s 24 post-season games.
Suzuki was named the MVP of the OHL playoffs posting 16 goals and 26 assists appearing all of his team’s 24 post-season games.
The 67’s
topped the OHL regular season standings with a 50-12-4-2 record and were rated
fourth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
The Storm
finished eighth overall in the OHL’s regular season with a 40-18-6-4 mark.
Guelph
advances to play for the CHL title in the Memorial Cup tournament, which starts
Friday and runs to May 26 in Halifax, N.S.
The
Memorial Cup field includes the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and the
host Mooseheads.
The Storm
opens play at the Memorial Cup on Saturday taking on the Huskies.
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