Hannoun hero in 3-2 extra time victory over
Giants
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| Dante Hannoun (#17) reacts to scoring the OT winner for the Raiders. |
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.
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| The Raiders mob Dante Hannoun after he scored the WHL title OT winner. |
“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.
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| The Raiders faithful erupts after Dante Hannoun’s OT winner. |
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.”
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| Dante Hannoun was a big trade addition for the Raiders. |
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.”
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| Noah Gregor scored twice for the Raiders on Monday. |
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.
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| Giants C Milos Roman set to fire a shot past Raider D Sergei Sapego. |
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.
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.
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| David Tendeck makes one of his 37 saves in goal for the Giants. |
“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.
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| Raiders goalie Ian Scott (#33) stops Giants winger Davis Koch. |
“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.”
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| Raiders fans cheer one of their team’s goals. |
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.
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| The Raiders celebrate with the Ed Chynoweth Cup. |
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.
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| Sean Montgomery takes a spin with the Ed Chynoweth Cup. |
“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.”
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| The Raiders are all smiles for the customary team photo. |
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.”
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