WHL championship series to return to P.A. for one last time

By Jeff D’Andrea

LANGLEY—The Ed Chynoweth Cup will stay in its case for at least one more game.

The Vancouver Giants were able to extend the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship Series to six games with a 4-3 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders Friday in front of a record-hockey crowd of 5,033 at the Langley Events Centre. The Raiders have a 3-2 series lead after five games. They have two more chances to win the cup, and both will be at the Art Hauser Centre.

Sunday’s Game 6 is slated for 6 p.m. If the Giants win again, the cup will be up for grabs for a Game 7 on Monday at 7 p.m.

The Raiders have spent the last week in Langley, B.C., winning 8-2 on Tuesday in Game 3, and 1-0 on Wednesday in Game 4. But as much as the Raiders wanted to get their hands on the trophy Friday, they’ll have to wait until the end of the weekend for another opportunity.

“It’s tough to win three on the road, in this 2-3-2 format. We won two out of three here, we would have liked to win three out of three,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “But they played well tonight and we didn’t.

“But if somebody told me at the beginning of the year that we’d have two games at home to win the league title, we would have taken it.”

Raiders captain Brayden Pachal is looking forward to the opportunity of returning back on home ice, which has been sold out for the past eight playoff games. In fact, Raider fans are already camping outside the Art Hauser Centre to secure tickets for Game 6.

Had this sent to me postgame. Raider fans already lining up to get their tickets for game six! pic.twitter.com/WgBjFgLE7O

— Trevor Redden (@Trevor_Redden) May 11, 2019

Striking first

One constant in the series has been the how important the first goal has been in the series. The team that’s scored it has gone on to win each game of the series.

Giants forward Brayden Watts was able to get the opener, on a rebound in the first period to give the Giants the advantage in the first period, 7:42 in.

“The first goal’s been huge in the series. To get that tonight, that added some confidence to the group,” Giants defenceman Bowen Byram said. “But we were ready from the start, no matter who scored first, we were ready to go.

“I think we showed a lot of character tonight, obviously with the first time facing elimination in the playoffs. We have two more games to win, that’s what we’re focused on.”

Byram scored his first goal of the series and added an assist in the second period, as the Giants scored three consecutive goals to go up 4-2. Byram has been a big part of the Giants. His seven points (one goal, six assists) contributing on 63.6 per cent of the Giants’ 11 goals of the series so far. Despite being a 17-year-old defenceman, Byram is tied for the playoff lead in points with 25. Raiders forward Brett Leason also has 25 points.

Back to the Hauser

The Raiders will have two more opportunities to finish off the series at the Art Hauser Centre, and punch their tickets to the 2019 Memorial Cup, May 17-26 in Halifax.

Game 6 is slated for Sunday at 6 p.m. If the Giants win, they will force a Game 7 on Monday at 7 p.m.