Fourth time is a charm – Blades finally get initial home win

Nolan Kneen, left, celebrates his winning goal for the Blades with Kyle Crnkovic.

    Nolan Kneen admitted it felt like his Saskatoon Blades finally got a monkey off their collective backs.

    After dropping their first three home dates at the SaskTel Centre including a 5-4 setback last Sunday after a tiebreaking shootout to the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Blades finally got their first win at home of the current WHL campaign.

    On Wednesday before 2,715 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades slipped past the Vancouver Giants 2-1 in a competitively contested regular season game.

Nolan Kneen scored the third period winner for the Blades.

    “It was kind of funny to hear the win song for the first time at home, which was nice,” said Kneen, who is an overage offensive-defenceman with the team. “It is obviously nice to get the first win under the belt.”

    The Blades went into the clash with the Giants with the heartbreaking setback to the Wheat Kings on their mind. In the loss to Brandon, Saskatoon held a 4-2 lead before the Wheat Kings scored twice in the final 65 seconds of the third period to force a 4-4 tie and overtime.

    That set the stage for Brandon to prevail after a tiebreaking shootout.

    On Wednesday night, the Blades entered the third period holding a 1-0 lead over the Giants. The Giants evened things up at 1-1 at the nine-minute mark of the frame, when overage defenceman Dylan Plouffe blew home a mid-range drive.

    The Blades answered back working on the power play with 6:34 remaining in the third, when Kneen pinched down the right wing with the puck and fired home a close in shot to put the host side up 2-1.

Dylan Plouffe scored the third period equalizer for the Giants.

    Blades star netminder Nolan Maier made 30 saves on the night to ensure Kneen’s marker stood up as the winner.

    “I think we just played a full 60 tonight,” said Kneen, whose team improved to 4-3-0-1. “There were kind of times where we slowed down and let them play their game, but I think overall we had a good 60 minutes.

    “When they scored, we kind of kept it even-keel and didn’t stray from our systems or anything. We just came back and ended up getting another one.”

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased with how his team responded after the Giants tied things up.

Blades goalie Nolan Maier holds of the Giants late in the third period.

    “I said to our guys tonight I liked after they scored their goal to tie it that we didn’t panic,” said Love. “We stayed patient.

    “That is sometimes hard to do, especially after a night on Sunday, where we gave up a couple of late goals for them to tie it up. I liked our composure in those times.”

    Overall, Love liked his is team played against Giants side that returned a large number of players that helped Vancouver reach the WHL final last season before falling in 3-2 in overtime in a series deciding Game 7 to the Prince Albert Raiders.

    “A bit of our game plan was obviously to try to limit their offence from their back end,” said Love. “That is the strength of their hockey team along with their goaltending.

Chase Wouters scored in the first period for the Blades.

    “They are a little depleted up front right now. They had some defencemen playing forward for them, so they are not at full health there. Again, they play a really, really good team game.

    “They’ve got a lot of good little schemes out there that they run that you have to be dialled in on. We were fortunate we had a few days between our Sunday game and tonight to prep for that, and I thought our guys did a good job of limiting their offence.”

    The Giants entered the game without injured second-year right-winger Lukas Svejkovsky (upper body, day-to-day) and injured rookie left-winger Cole Shepard (lower body, week-to-week). Due to their absence, the Giants had defencemen Nicholas Draffin and Tanner Brown play up front.

Despite the injuries, the Giants played a solid game.

Giants D Dylan Plouffe, left, battles Blades LW Colton Dach for the puck.

    At the start, the Blades got the jump. They broke through on the scoreboard, when captain Chase Wouters tipped home a point shot from defenceman Scott Walford for a power-play goal 78 second into the contest for a 1-0 lead.

    Near the midway point of the first, the Giants had a big chance to even things up, but a backdoor drive by Giants right-winger Tristen Nielson was turned away by the glove had of Maier.

    With 6:54 remaining in the first, Blades feisty left-winger Riley McKay was hauled down on a breakaway by Giants left-winger Jackson Shepard resulting in a penalty shot.

Trent Miner made 29 saves in goal for the Giants on Wednesday.

    On the penalty shot, McKay tried to go forehand to backhand but he was denied by a left pad save from Giants goalie Trent Miner.

    In the final seconds of the first, McKay made his presence felt again levelling Shepard with an open ice hit.

    The teams played through a scoreless second with the Giants holding a 12-10 edge in shot over the 20-minute stanza. Maier and Miner, who are both 18 years of age, put up walls in front of their respective goals denying all shooters that came their way.

    “He (Maier) looked sharp tonight,” said Love. “He looked like he was in the zone, a competitive zone.

Two young fans cheer on Blades LW Riley McKay.

    “I think sometimes as a goalie you also look at the other guy that is at the other end, and you want to try and out do him. Miner is a good young goal, the same age. There is some extra motivation there I am sure.

    “Both kids were real good tonight. Again when you have that, it tends to lead to a low scoring hockey game.”

    The scoreless second gave way to the drama in the third.

    Inside of the final two minutes of the third, Maier made key back-to-back stops on Nielsen and Giants star offensive-defenceman Bowen Byram to preserve the Blades victory.

    Miner turned away 29 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants (4-5).

    “I think obviously when you come out with a win it is a fun game,” said Maier. “There are a lot of guys in the locker room that I think played their best game of the year.

    “That is really positive, especially for our young guys that aren’t getting as much minutes as our older guys. They are kind of finding their way. We’re all looking comfortable out there, so it is really good from a team perspective.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Wednesday night.

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings. The Giants are also back at it on Friday traveling to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors.

    Maier said the Blades will be looking to earn a little bit of redemption in Friday’s game against the Wheat Kings after what happened last Sunday.

    “I think we want to prove something that we didn’t have our best game,” said Maier. “We kind of let it slip away from us, so I think we are going to have a really big one against them in their barn.”

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

-------

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Giants gut out 4-3 win over Raiders, stay alive in WHL final

Davis Koch scored for the Giants on Friday.

    The Vancouver Giants won on plain old guts.

    On Friday night, the Giants pulled out all the stops to pull out a 4-3 victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders in a fire wagon style hockey contest in Game 5 of the WHL Championship series at the Langley Events Centre. With the win, the Giants cut the Raiders lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

    Game 6 is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. If a Game 7 is needed, it will be held on Monday at 7 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Friday’s game was a contest where Giants could have easily been watching the Raiders celebrate at centre ice with the WHL championship trophy - the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The two clubs didn’t put on the greatest display of defence, and there could have been way more goals in the game had it not been for the play of Raiders star netminder Ian Scott and Giants standout goalie David Tendeck.

    When the dust settled, the Giants were able to give a final salute to the 5,033 spectators in attendance among a joyous atmosphere for the home side. The Giants won because they played their most desperate game of the series, where the desperation could have been costly too.

Dylan Plouffe scored the Giants fourth goal on Friday.

    The Giants broke through on the scoreboard first at the 7:42 mark of the first period, when left-winger Brayden Watts fired home the rebound of a shot taken by linemate Jadon Joseph.

    The Raiders evened things up at 1-1 at the 10:44 mark of the first, when import left-winger Aliaksei Protas fired home the rebound from a shot taken by linemate Sean Montgomery.

    In the final seconds of the opening frame, the Giants had a golden chance to go ahead off a set play on an offensive zone faceoff. Vancouver won the draw to star offensive defenceman Bowen Byram, but he fired a shot wide of the goal.

    The two sides proceeded to engage in a wild and wide open second period.

    Just 2:45 into the frame, Tendeck got crossed up trying to give the puck to one of his defenceman causing the puck to be turned over. Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason passed the puck out to standout overage centre Dante Hannoun, and he fired a shot past Tendeck to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage.

    Only 50 seconds later, the Giants evened things up at 2-2, when Byram fired home a shot from the left slot in the Prince Albert zone after taking a nice set up pass from Joseph.

Bowen Byram had a goal and an assist for the Giants.

    Vancouver went ahead 3-2 at the 9:24 mark of the second, when overage forward Davis Koch fired home the rebound of a shot taken by defenceman Seth Bafaro.
    The Giants expanded their edge to 4-2 at the 11:13 mark of the second, when rearguard Dylan Plouffe blew home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

    With 4:06 remaining in the third, the Raiders cut the Giants lead to 4-3, when star overage centre Noah Gregor received a pass from Ozzy Wiesblatt and lifted a backhander past Tendeck.

    Before the second ended, Gregor had a chance to tie things up on a breakaway, but he rang his shot off the post of the Vancouver goal.

    In the third, play was tilted inside the Vancouver zone as Tendeck stood on his head to preserve a one-goal win for his team. The Raiders had a 15-5 edge in shots on goal in the frame.

    Tendeck had to make a blocker stop off Raiders star left-winger Cole Fonstad. The Giants puck stopper also turned away a dangerous redirection chance from Montgomery.

    There was a nervous pause when Tendeck got the glove on a long off-speed shoot in that bounced off the ice from five feet in front of the Vancouver goal.
    The NHL Entry Draft selection of the Arizona Coyotes stopped 37 shots to keep his team’s season alive.

David Tendeck made 37 saves in goal for the Giants on Friday.

    Scott, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, turned away 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.
    Leason finished the game with two assists and has scored points in his last eight consecutive game netting seven goals and six assists over that time.
    The Raiders had offensive defenceman Max Martin back in the lineup after he missed two games after taking an awkward fall in the boards in the Raiders 4-0 win in Game 2 of the WHL final in Prince Albert.

    Byram and Watts each had a goal and an assist for the Giants, while Joseph finished with two helpers.
    Saskatoon product Dawson Holt had an assist for the Giants in their win.

    The excitement of Friday’s game was something you would come to expect from the WHL’s two top clubs in the regular season.

    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 winner of the WHL final will earn a berth to the Memorial Cup, and this year’s CHL championship tournament is being held May 17 to 26 in Halifax, N.S.

Dawson Holt had an assist for the Giants on Friday.

    The Giants are trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win the WHL final since the Victoria Cougars pulled the trick in 1981 against the Calgary Wranglers.
    While desperation allowed Vancouver to pull out the win, the Giants will be hard pressed to win two games in similar fashion in Prince Albert in order to capture their first WHL title since 2006.

    The Raiders are in all likelihood coming out of Friday’s game thinking they should have won. Their confidence of locking up the series in front of their adoring fans has to be sky high.

    The Giants still face a daunting task of trying to push the series to a Game 7.

    The Raiders are still in perfect position to capture their first WHL title since 1985, and odds are still in their favour that they will prevail.

Storm win away from Memorial Cup after 4-3 win over 67’s

    The Guelph Storm are a victory away from earning a berth in the Memorial Cup after winning their third straight game in the Ontario Hockey League Championship series.

    On Friday, the visiting Stormed posted a 4-3 win over the host Ottawa 67’s in Game 5 of the OHL final played before 8,855 spectators at TD Place.

    With the win, the Storm take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, which they trailed 2-0 at one time. They will try to close the series out in Game 6 in Guelph on Sunday.

    Tye Felhaber gave the 67’s a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Guelph exited the opening frame holding a 2-1 edge on goals from Cedric Ralph and Isaac Ratcliffe.

    Early in the second, Alexey Toropchenko scored for the Storm to give the visitors a 3-1 edge. Sasha Chmelevski replied for the 67’s just under three minute later to cut the Storm lead to 3-2.

    Nate Schnarr tallied for the Storm to give the visitors a 4-2 edge heading into the second intermission.

    Felhaber scored his second of the contest in the third for the 67’s to cut the Storm lead to 4-3, but the host side couldn’t find the equalizer.

    Anthony Popovich turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm. Cedrick turned away 25 shots to take the setback 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.

    The Memorial Cup tournament for the CHL title runs from May 17 to 26 in Halifax, N.S.

Huskies hold 3-2 edge in QMJHL final over Mooseheads

    The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies will try to close out the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship series on Saturday to capture their second league title in the last four years.

    The Huskies took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series downing the Halifax Mooseheads 6-3 in Game 5 on Thursday before 3,428 spectators at Arena Iamgold in Rouyn-Noranda. Game 6 of the series is set for Saturday in Halifax.

    Game 5 contained some big momentum swings. The Huskies took a 4-0 lead in the first period, but the Mooseheads cut the gap to 4-2 heading into the first intermission.

    Halifax scored early in the third to trim the Huskies lead to 4-3. The Huskies sealed victory scoring two empty-net goals inside of the final minute of the third period.

    Rafael Harvey-Pinard netted a hat trick for the Huskies, which included the two empty-net goals. Peter Abbandonato, Jakub Lauko and William Cyr scored singles for Rouyn-Noranda.

    Arnaud Durandeau, Raphael Lavoie and Samuel Asselin replied with singles for the Mooseheads.

Samuel Harvey turned away 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies, who last won the QMJHL title in 2016. Alexis Gravel turned away 39 of 43 shots to take the setback in goal for the Mooseheads.

    As Halifax is playing host to the Memorial Cup from May 17 to 26, both clubs already have berths locked up in the CHL championship tournament.

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

-------

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Giants outlast Raiders 5-4 in WHL final opener

The Giants celebrate a goal from Dylan Plouffe.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was an old school WHL classic in an old school rink.

    Before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, the visiting Vancouver Giants and the host Prince Albert Raiders engaged in an all over the place war in Game 1 of the WHL Championship series.

    The clash included a lot of big hits, momentum swings and goals by both sides. When the dust settled, the Giants escaped with a 5-4 victory allowing captain Jared Dmytriw and right-winger Dawson Holt to have a memorable Saskatchewan homecoming.

Dawson Holt had a pair of goals for the Giants.

    Dmytriw, who had a large contingent of supporters from Craven, Sask., had a goal and two assists for the Giants. Holt, who had a huge following of supporters from Saskatoon, Sask., had a pair of goals including the eventual game-winner before a large gathering of followers.

    “It is pretty exciting to be back here in Saskatchewan for me and Dawson (Holt),” said Dmytriw, whose club will face the Raiders in Game 2 of the WHL final on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre. “To be in the WHL final is special and to play anywhere, but to have friends and family in the stands is always nice.

    “It is awesome to get the win tonight is the biggest thing. It felt good out there tonight and we’re proud of the way the guys played to finish it off like that.”

Captain Jared Dmytriw celebrates scoring for the Giants.

    Holt was pumped to get a couple of big goals at key times. He scored at the 6:06 mark of the first to give his side a 2-0 lead, and he tallied with 16.5 seconds remaining in the second to give the Giants a 5-3 advantage going into the third period.

    “It is super cool,” said Holt. “Obviously, I had a lot of family and friends here.

    “To be able to get the win in front of them is obviously pretty special. Obviously, their crowd is loud. There is no secret about it.

    “To get some momentum and kind of quiet them down a little bit, it was big.”

    The Giants had all the momentum early in the first period and found themselves working on a two-man advantage. On that power play, Giants star defenceman Bowen Byram found his defensive partner Dylan Plouffe down in the right slot with a pass, and Plouffe one-timed home a goal to give the Giants a 1-0 at the 4:20 mark of the opening frame.

Giants fans cheer one of their team’s goals.

    A short time later, Dmytriw fired a shot that deflected off the boards behind the Prince Albert goal to Holt at the right side of the net. Holt popped home his first of the game to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

    Giants head coach Michael Dyck said early excitement helped his squad jump out to a good start.

    “Honestly, I think their crowd helped,” said Dyck. “We could hear a buzz before we got out.

    “We knew what we were coming in to. Anytime you get a chance to play in the finals, you have to take advantage of it. I know everybody was really excited about getting going.

Parker Kelly had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

    “It was great that we got off to a good start.”

    Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason fired home a power-play goal at the 3:20 mark of the second to cut the Giants lead to 2-1.

    At the 5:13 mark, Dmytriw scored off a rush for the Giants to extend Vancouver’s edge to 3-1.

    Just 64 seconds later, Raiders star centre Noah Gregor sniped home a beauty set up pass from linemate Parker Kelly from the front of the Vancouver goal to cut the Giants lead to 3-2.

    With 3:15 remaining in the second, Raiders speedy overage centre Dante Hannoun backhanded home the rebound of a shot taken by Kelly to pull the Raiders even at 3-3.

Dante Hannoun scored a second period equalizer for the Raiders.

    Hannoun said his team never panicked, when the Giants jumped in front.

    “I thought we just stayed calm, and we just worked hard,” said Hannoun. “Shifts after goals are pretty huge here in playoffs, so we focus on that and just a shift at a time here.”

    Before the second ended, the momentum swung back in favour of the Giants. With 30.9 seconds remaining in the second, Giants import right-winger Yannik Valenti drove home a power-play goal from the front of the Prince Albert net to give Vancouver a 4-3 lead.

    Holt followed by scoring his second of the contest with 16.5 seconds remaining in the second sneaking a bad angle shot by Raiders star netminder Ian Scott to give the visitors a 5-3 lead.

    “A little bit of the elephant in the room, I think Scotty (Scott) wants a few of those goals back there is no doubt,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We win as a team. We lose as a team.

The Raiders faithful cheers one of their team’s goals.

    “We could have done some things better. He (Scott) will be better tomorrow. We’ll be better tomorrow.”

    Still, the Raiders attempted to battle back in the third. At the 2:50 mark of the third, Raiders veteran defensive defenceman Jeremy Masella did his best imitation of hockey legend Bobby Orr.

    Masella got the puck at the left point of the Vancouver blue-line, zipped across the blue-line, drove down the right wing, cut to the front of the Vancouver net and slipped home a goal between the legs of Giants star netminder David Tendeck. Masella’s highlight reel goal cut the Vancouver lead to 5-4.

Bowen Byram had four assists for the Giants.

    Prince Albert was unable to find the equalizer after that beauty effort.

    Tendeck stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Giants. Byram picked up assists on four of the Giants goals.

    Scott turned away 21 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.

    Habscheid said his club was a little too nervous in the first period, but he wasn’t disappointed in the effort put in by his side.

    “I liked a lot about our game,” said Habscheid. “We did a lot of real good things.

    “I liked our speed. I liked the way we moved the puck. They are a good team, but we’re confident in our game and in our team.”

    Raiders captain Brayden Pachal expected the intensity that came out of Friday’s clash.

    “It is the WHL final,” said Pachal. “We are in each others’ way here for a championship here.

    “Obviously, there is no love out there.”

    Despite the setback, Pachal came away optimistic about a lot of aspects of Friday’s encounter.

Zack Hayes controls the puck at the point for the Raiders.

    “When we were using our speed and the guys were into it, we were a force tonight,” said Pachal. “I think we can build off some things, and obviously, improve some things.

    “We just have to look forward to tomorrow.”

    Dyck thought Friday’s opener was fitting of a contest between the teams that topped the WHL’s regular season standings.

    The Raiders finished first overall in the regular season at 54-10-2-2 and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Giants finished second overall at 48-15-3-2 and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Dyck said his club has to keep playing their style of a play going forward with a touch more focus.

    “I don’t think that we’re going to tweak much,” said Dyck. “We have to do what we do more consistent and better in some spots.

The Giants celebrate their victory in Game 1 of the WHL final.

    “Again, you have to give them some credit too. I thought they came at us at times in the second period. That is why they are one of the top teams in the country.

    “They play on their toes, and they are a very good transition team.”

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

-------

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.