Raiders in seventh WHL championship OT heaven

Hannoun hero in 3-2 extra time victory over Giants

Dante Hannoun (#17) reacts to scoring the OT winner for the Raiders.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - The only thing missing on this night was video of the late “Grandma Raider” saying, “Once a Raider always a Raider.”

    Calla Grasley must have been smiling down on her team from heaven.

    On Monday before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, overage centre Dante Hannoun tapped in a backdoor feed from linemate Noah Gregor with 1:35 remaining in overtime to deliver the Prince Albert Raiders to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants in Game 7 of the WHL Championship series.

    The contest was arguably the greatest game ever played at the Raiders storied home rink.

    With the win, the Raiders take the best-of-seven series 4-3, and they captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions.

The Raiders mob Dante Hannoun after he scored the WHL title OT winner.

    “Honestly, I blacked out,” said Hannoun about his OT winner. “It was Gregs (Gregor) who made an unbelievable feed to me backdoor.

    “I just tapped it in. Like I said, I blacked out. It was just slow motion. It was unbelievable.”

    The victory marks the first time the Raiders have won the WHL title since 1985.

    That year, the Raiders moved on to win the Memorial Cup under the guidance of then head coach and general manager Terry Simpson, who is a legend in Prince Albert hockey circles. The 1984-85 Raiders team featured the likes of Dan Hodgson, Dave Pasin, Emanuel Viveiros, Dave Manson and Ken Baumgartner.

    The current edition of the Raiders advance to this year’s Memorial Cup, which starts Friday and runs to May 26 in Halifax, N.S. 

The Raiders faithful erupts after Dante Hannoun’s OT winner.

    Prince Albert opens the tournament Friday against the host Mooseheads.

    Hannoun came to the Raiders in a trade in early January from the Victoria Royals. He was elated to score the overtime winner that gave the Raiders the WHL title, while playing in his final season of major junior eligibility.

    “I am just so grateful for this opportunity for the Prince Albert Raiders bringing me in here,” said Hannoun. “I’m so happy. I’m speechless right now.”

    Gregor was excited that he was able to set up the winner and that his team won the league title.

    “It feels pretty good,” said Gregor. “That moment that Hannoun was able to put that puck into the net, I kind of blacked out.

    “I just chased him down the ice. He was already at the other end of the ice before I could even look up, so it was pretty unreal. Overtime in Game 7, it doesn’t happen too often, so it was pretty amazing we were able to come out on the winning side.”

Dante Hannoun was a big trade addition for the Raiders.

    Monday’s game had various swings. Giants import centre Milos Roman scored at the 4:45 mark of the second to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

    Gregor brought the Art Hauser Centre faithful to life scoring with 5:05 remaining in the second to force 1-1 tie.

    At the 4:25 mark of the third, Gregor took a pass from import defenceman Sergei Sapego and sniped home a shot to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead.

    Just over four minutes later Roman scored for the Giants on the power play to tie things up at 2-2 and ultimately force overtime setting the stage for Hannoun to score his winner.

    Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason was pleased his club overcame the swings in momentum, and he was pumped when Hannoun scored the winner.

    “It was just pure joy and pure relief,” said Leason. “They battled.

    “They brought it to us. It was a hell of a game, and when that puck went in, the building erupted and so did the bench. It just went crazy here.”

Noah Gregor scored twice for the Raiders on Monday.

    Ian Scott, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, made 24 saves in goal for the Raiders. David Tendeck turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants.

    Scott was named the MVP of the WHL playoffs. The Calgary, Alta., product played in all of the Raiders 23 games in the WHL post-season posting a 16-7 record, a 1.96 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and five shutouts.

    “It was pretty cool,” said Scott about the MVP. “I couldn’t have done it without this group of guys.”

    Scott was more pumped to win the WHL title for the people of Prince Albert and all the supporters of the Raiders.

    “The fan support through this whole playoffs is something I have never seen before,” said Scott. “They drive us a lot.

    “You could tell tonight just the way they were cheering that they fuel us.”

    Monday’s contest mark the first time the Raiders clinched a playoff series on home ice since 2005, when they defeated the Medicine Hat Tigers 3-0 in Game 6 of a second round series.

Giants C Milos Roman set to fire a shot past Raider D Sergei Sapego.

    Before Monday, the Raiders had clinched each of their three previous series wins in this year’s playoffs on the road.

    Actually, the last time the Raiders won a major hockey championship on home ice came back in 1982, during the franchise’s final year in the junior A ranks. That season, the Raiders downed the Guelph Platers 8-4 in Prince Albert in the deciding game of the Centennial Cup championship series to become national champions at the junior A level.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said it was great the Raiders home crowd got to witness the spectacle that was Monday’s Game 7.

David Tendeck makes one of his 37 saves in goal for the Giants.

    He said he was proud of his players remembering how a couple of teams taunted the Raiders core two seasons ago, when the club was young and building.

    “We lost with class, and we won with class,” said Habscheid. “Now, these kids are champions, and it is something they can carry with them for the rest of their lives and good on them.

    “If these kids would have lost, it wouldn’t have been right. It wouldn’t have been right for what these guys have gone through the last two to three (years).”

    Habscheid said it was great to see overage centre Sean Montgomery become a WHL champion. Montgomery is a career member of the Raiders who has played a team record 345 regular season games with the club.

Raiders goalie Ian Scott (#33) stops Giants winger Davis Koch.

    “Look at Sean Montgomery and what he went through with the losing and the taunting,” said Habscheid. “If he would have lost today, it wouldn’t have been right.

    “I’m really happy for him.”

    Montgomery said it was surreal to see Hannoun score the overtime winner and realize the Raiders had won the league title.

    “It was just the best feeling of my life,” said Montgomery. “Skating down there and throwing all our stuff, it was unbelievable.

    “We’ve had some tough years, and to end it off on the most incredible year of my life, I can’t put it into words.”

Raiders fans cheer one of their team’s goals.

    During the WHL regular season, the Raiders and Giants were the circuit’s top two teams.

    The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    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.

    The Raiders eliminated the Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades and Edmonton Oil Kings on their way to the WHL final.

    The Giants eliminated the Seattle Thunderbirds, Victoria Royals and Spokane Chiefs on their way to the WHL final.

The Raiders celebrate with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Vancouver last won the WHL title in 2006 and last won the Memorial Cup in 2007 as the host team.

    Before this year’s post-season, the Giants hadn’t won a playoff series since 2010. Giants head coach Michael Dyck was obviously disappointed his team couldn’t pull out the WHL final.

    Still, Dyck, who is in his first season guiding the Giants, noted not much was expected from his team at the start of the season, so he was really happy with what his club accomplished in 2018-19. He was pleased with how his club battled back from being down 3-1 in the series with the Raiders to force Game 7.

Sean Montgomery takes a spin with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Dyck said Vancouver’s overagers in captain Jared Dmytriw, winger Davis Koch and defenceman Dallas Hines contributed a lot to the squad.

    “I couldn’t be prouder of our group of guys right now,” said Dyck. “How far they came this season and the way they battled in this series and right through the playoffs, it is a reflection of the character of this group.

    “For our 20-year-olds that are moving on, they left a legacy here. They’ve been a huge part of the chance in the culture and winning some respect back. For our younger guys, what an experience it was for them and a foundation to build on.”

The Raiders are all smiles for the customary team photo.

    The QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and the OHL champion Guelph Storm round out the field at this year’s Memorial Cup.

    While Monday’s WHL championship win was a high, Montgomery is looking forward to play more hockey at the Memorial Cup.

    “It is exciting,” said Montgomery. “We’re going to enjoy this for tonight, and then get ready to go.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Leason, Scott put Raiders a win away from a party like 1985

Brett Leason scored the only goal of Game 4 of the WHL final.

    Brett Leason and Ian Scott took a big step towards cementing their respective statuses as Prince Albert Raiders legends.

    On Wednesday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., Leason scored the only goal in Game 4 of the WHL Championship series against the Vancouver Giants and Ian Scott made 36 saves to give the Raiders a 1-0 victory before 4,626 spectators.

    With the win, Raiders took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Raiders will try to close things out and win their first WHL title since 1985 in Game 5 on Friday at the Langley Events Centre with a 7:30 p.m. start local time.

    After winning the WHL crown in 1985, the Raiders moved on to capture the Memorial Cup.

    If the Raiders win on Friday, they will be flying home to Prince Albert with the Ed Chynoweth Cup in hand as WHL champions on Saturday.

    The Raiders and Giants entered the third period of Wednesday’s game locked in a 0-0 tie.

    The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard at the 4:21 mark of the third, when defensive defenceman Jeremy Masella and import left-winger Aliaksei Protas combined to spring Leason into the Vancouver zone on a breakaway.

    Leason snapped a shot on net that Giants standout netminder David Tendeck got a piece of but couldn’t prevent from entering the Vancouver goal.  That tally stood up as the winner in a 1-0 Raiders victory.
    During the regular season, Leason broke out to achieve star status leading the Raiders in scoring with 36 goals and 53 assists for 89 points appearing in 55 games. The Calgary, Alta., product, who played for Canada at the last world juniors, posted a plus-55 rating in the plus-minus department.

Ian Scott made 36 saves to pick up a shutout in Game 4 of the WHL final.

    With his goal on Wednesday, Leason has recorded points in his last seven straight games posting seven goals and four assists over that time. In his 19 appearances with the Raiders in this post-season, Leason leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points, while posting a plus-nine rating.

    Scott stoned the Giants, when they played what was their best game of the WHL Championship series.

    The shutout was Scott’s second of the WHL final and fifth of the current post-season. The Calgary, Alta., product, who also played for Canada at the last world juniors, became just the fifth goalie in the history of the WHL to record five or more shutouts in one post-season.

    Scott, who has an NHL entry-level contract signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has had a sensational regular season with the Raiders posting a 38-8-3 record, a 1.83 goals against average, a .932 save percentage and eight shutouts.

    His goals against average, save percentage and shutout totals were all regular season club records.
    Scott has appeared in all of the Raiders 20 playoff games to date posting a 15-5 record, a 1.83 goals against average and a .931 save percentage to go with his five shutouts.

    With Wednesday’s win, the Raiders match their team record for most wins in one WHL post-season at 15 first set back in 1986. The Raiders played through a 10-game round robin under the format that was used in the 1986 WHL post-season.

    After the Raiders posted a convincing 8-2 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday night at the Langley Events Centre, the Giants came out with a lot of fire in the first period of Wednesday’s contest holding a 15-9 edge in shots on goal. The hosts’ biggest chance to go ahead came on a short-handed breakaway by star overage centre Davis Koch late in the frame.

Brett Leason has had a stellar season for the Raiders.

    Kock tried to pick a corner of the Prince Albert net, but he was turned away due to a shoulder save by Scott.

    The second period was fairly evenly played with the Raiders holding a 12-10 edge in shots on goal.

    Vancouver’s best chance to score in the frame came from import centre Milos Roman, who fired a shot just over top of the Prince Albert net on a breakaway opportunity.

    Raiders import defenceman Sergei Sapego had a breakaway late in the second, but his shot was smothered up by Tendeck.

    Early in the third, Scott made a sprawling pad save on Giants winger Jadon Joseph to keep the game scoreless.

    That set the stage for Leason to score the game’s only goal.

    Scott continued to shut the door after the Raiders took the lead. He lunged across the crease of the Prince Albert goal to rob Giants defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert with a glove save.

    The Giants held an 11-5 edge in shots on goal in the third period.

    Tendeck turned away 25 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants in a valiant effort.

    The Raiders won Wednesday’s game without the services of offensive defenceman Max Martin, who sat out with an undisclosed injury for a second straight contest. Martin was injured in the second period of the Raiders 4-0 win in Game 2 last Saturday, when he took an awkward fall into the boards.

    Leason and Scott are a couple of the big cogs who have helped the Raiders have a magical campaign. The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Entering the current post-season, the Raiders hadn’t won a playoff series since 2005.

Ian Scott is going to go down as an all-time great in Raiders history.

    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. Coming into the current post-season, the Giants hadn’t won a playoff series since 2010.

    With the Raiders having won three straight games in the WHL final, the Giants are facing elimination for the first time in this year’s post-season. They face the daunting task of needing to win three straight games to win the WHL title.

    If needed, Games 6 and 7 of the WHL final will be held Sunday and Monday respectively back at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    The Giants aren’t finished, but they face a major challenge just to win on Friday to extend the series to a Game 6.

    The Raiders and their faithful back in Prince Albert can almost taste and already envision their biggest victory celebration since 1985.

Storm holds off 67’s, evens OHL final 2-2

    The Guelph Storm built a big lead and then held off a furious comeback attempt by the Ottawa 67’s to even the Ontario Hockey League Championship series.

    On Wednesday at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, the Storm and 67’s kept 4,983 spectators on the edge of their seats. After defenceman Hudson Wilson gave the 67’s a 1-0 lead at the 4:48 mark of the first period, the Storm responded with four straight goals to take a 4-1 advantage at the 13:34 mark of the second period.

    The 67’s tried to mount a rally, but the Storm ultimately held on for a 5-4 victory. With the win, the Storm evens the best-of-seven OHL final 2-2.

Game 5 is set for Friday in Ottawa.

    After Wilson gave the 67’s the early lead, Nate Schnarr and Alexey Toropchenko replied for Guelph to give the host side a 2-1 advantage heading into the first intermission.

    Toropchenko potted his second of the contest at the 6:46 mark of the second period, and Nick Suzuki netted his 15^th goal of the post-season at the 13:34 mark of the second to put the Storm up 4-1.

    Lucas Chiodo scored for the 67’s with 1:38 remaining in the second to cut the Storm lead to 4-2.

    At the 2:28 mark of the third, Liam Hawel tallied for the Storm on the power play to increase the host side’s edge to 5-2.

    Tye Felhaber scored a power-play goal for the 67’s with 3:55 remaining in the third to trim Guelph’s lead to 5-3. With less than five seconds to play in the third, Kyle Maksimovich scored for the 67’s when they had their netminder pulled to round out the 5-4 final in favour of the Storm.

    Anthony Popovich stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm. Cedrick Andree turned away 19 shots to take the setback in the 67’s goal.

    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.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Blades supporting cast needs to help Hebig and Shmyr

Cameron Hebig (#9) fires a shot on goal for the Blades.

    It is starting to feel like the Saskatoon Blades are a two-person team relying on star overage forwards Cameron Hebig and Braylon Shmyr.

    During the early going of the 2017-18 WHL regular season, Hebig and Shmyr have piled up the points, but it feels like their efforts have been wasted a few too many times.

    On Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades dropped to 3-6, when they were double up 6-3 by the visiting Vancouver Giants. Hebig scored twice for the Blades, and Shmyr picked up an assist on Saskatoon’s other tally.

    Hebig has seven goals and six assists in seven appearances for Saskatoon, while Shmyr has seven goals and seven assists dressing for all nine games the Blades have played in the current campaign.

Braylon Shmyr wheels into the offensive zone for the Blades.

    Despite the efforts of that dynamic duo on Wednesday, the Blades didn’t get enough production from their supporting cast, and the combination of their defence and goaltending wasn’t strong enough to give them a chance to win.

    A sparse crowd of 2,578 watched the visiting Giants improve to 4-4-1-1 by receiving contributions from a number of sources. Shifty 18-year-old centre James Malm, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 170 pounds, led the way for the Giants recording a goal and two assists. At the moment, the Langley, B.C., product is Vancouver’s leading scorer with two goals and nine assists.

    Brendan Semchuk, who is an 18-year-old Kamloops, B.C., product, potted a pair of goals playing right wing on Malm’s line. The Giants scoring was rounded out with singles coming from Milos Roman, Tyler Popowich and Owen Hardy.

James Malm had a goal and two assists for the Giants.

    The Blades stumbled out of the gate with a costly error, when Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik gave the puck away to Roman in front of the Saskatoon net.
    Roman quickly blasted the gift past Blades netminder Ryan Kubic to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

    Saskatoon did show fight. Late in the first, Hebig wired home a shot from the slot on a power play to tie things up at 1-1.
    Just 21 seconds into the second period, the Blades went ahead 2-1, when Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek pinched low to the right side of the Giants net to pot his third of the season.

    The lead lasted just 14 seconds as Semchuk tied things up at 2-2 with his first of the contest.
    Popowich scored late in the second and Malm and Semchuk, with his second tally of the game, opened the scoring in the third to give the Giants a 5-2 lead.

    At the 12:14 mark of the third, Hebig netted his second of the contest to cut the gap to 5-3. The Blades applied pressure after that tally, but 17-year-old rookie netminder Todd Scott withstood the surge.

Brendan Semchuk scored twice for the Giants.

    With 3:41 to play in the third, the Blades pulled Kubic for an extra attacker, but Hardy scored into an empty net for the Giants to round out the scoring in the contest.

    Kubic turned away 26-of-31 shots to take the loss in goal for the Blades.
    Scott made 32 stops in goal for the Giants to pick up his first career WHL victory to build some personal momentum as his team travels to Brandon on Friday to face the Wheat Kings.

    So far this season, the Blades have scored a total of 29 goals and Hebig and Shmyr have score a combined 14 of those tallies.

    The Blades two regular goalies also don’t have the most flattering of numbers.

Some rough stuff goes down in front of the Vancouver net.

    Kubic has a 3-4 record, a 4.19 goals against average and a .862 save percentage.
    Back up Joel Grzybowski has an 0-1 record, a 4.68 goals against average and a .825 save percentage in 90 minutes of work.

    Those inflated numbers haven’t been all the fault of the two netminders.
    With that said, the play of the Blades defencemen and their netminders have to be better in their own zone.

    The Blades, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons, don’t have to wait long to try and get a better effort.
    They travel to Prince Albert on Saturday to face the Raiders (3-4-3) at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Blue and gold remember Downie

Gord Downie remembered on the SaskTel Centre big scoreboard screen.

    With the passing for Gord Downie late Tuesday night, the Blades ensured the legendary frontman of The Tragically Hip was remembered during their contest on Wednesday.

    During warmups, the Blades played only songs from the iconic Canadian rock band. Following warmups, the Blades played a video of Downie and the Hip playing a song on the big screen on the scoreboard at the SaskTel Centre.

    When the song concluded, the scoreboard showed a picture of Downie on it with a written inscription, “Gordon Downie 1964-2017.”

    The Blades also played a number of songs from The Tragically Hip during stoppages in play.

Downie passed away at age 53 after a battle with brain cancer.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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