It's going to be a tense night at Prince Albert's Art Hauser Centre. On Monday night, the Prince Albert Raiders will face off against the Vancouver Giants in game seven of the 2019 WHL Championship Series. The Raiders lost 4-2 against the Giants in Prince Albert, Sask. on Sunday night, tying the series at three games apiece. Prince Albert led the series 3-1 at one point. Raiders forward Parker Kelly notched a goal with just 53 seconds into the first period, but the Giants' Owen Hardy tied the game six minutes later. Kelly tied the game with just 33 seconds to play in the first period, tying the game at 2-2. The third period proved to be less successful, with the Giants' Jared Dmytriw scoring at 3:40 and Davis Koch scoring an empty net goal. Game seven will start at the Art Hauser Centre at 7 p.m. CST Monday night.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email The Vancouver Giants downed the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 on Sunday to force a Game 7 in the Western Hockey League (WHL) final. Jared Dmytriw broke a 2-2 tie 3:40 into the third period and Davis Koch, with his second goal of the game, scored into the empty net with 15 seconds left in the period. READ MORE: Prince Albert Raiders try booking their ticket to Memorial Cup Owen Hardy also scored for the Giants. Parker Kelly scored both goals for the Raiders. David Tendeck stopped 36 of the 38 shots he faced in net for the Giants, while Ian Scott made 23 saves in the loss. Story continues below advertisement READ MORE: Prince Albert Raiders playoff success creating community in small town Saskatchewan Game 7 goes Monday evening in Prince Albert. The winner is off to the Memorial Cup, which starts on Friday in Halifax.<doc-sep>Share this Story: WHL final Game 7: P.A. Raiders win in OT, Hannoun nets winner WHL final Game 7: P.A. Raiders win in OT, Hannoun nets winner The Prince Albert Raiders are this year's WHL champions. Photo by Peter Lozinski, Prince Albert Daily Herald / Saskatoon Article content PRINCE ALBERT — WHL championship final. Seventh game. Overtime. Does it get much better than this? We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or WHL final Game 7: P.A. Raiders win in OT, Hannoun nets winner Back to video “Yes it does,” promised Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “In about two weeks.” Habscheid and the Raiders are probably just glad this series is finally — we mean, finally — over. After staking out a 3-1 series lead in this best-of-seven Western Hockey League championship final, the Eastern Conference champion Raiders needed all three of its tries to clinch a 2019 Western Hockey League championship title against the Western Conference champion Vancouver Giants. As it turns out, third time’s the charm. If, at first, you don’t succeed, try and try again. After coming up short in the previous two games, the hometown Raiders finally took care of the pesky Giants with a 3-2 overtime victory here Monday night in Game 7. The long-waited win came before a packed Art Hauser Centre filled with 3,289 screaming patrons, many of them perched on stools and milk crates in the standing room area. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Prince Albert now advances to the 2019 Memorial Cup championship as the WHL representative. That tournament begins Friday in Halifax, N.S., when the Raiders meet the host Halifax Mooseheads. Dante Hannoun scored the WHL championship series winner Monday at 18:25 of OT to give the Raiders only their second-ever WHL title. “I think I blacked out a little bit,” said Hannoun, who was acquired from the Victoria Royals prior to the WHL trade deadline. “Gregs (Gregor) came down and he had a little lane to me back door. After that, I blacked out. It was slow motion. It was unbelievable.” What an unbelievable series it was. And what an unbelievable game was Game 7. “You dream about this every night when you’re a kid,” said Hannoun. “It’s probably the best scenario. Game 7. Overtime. There’s nothing else that could have made it better. “I’m pretty grateful to have this opportunity.” Opportunity was knocking on both doors Monday. Milos Roman opened the scoring at 4:45 of the second period to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. It was a backdoor play as Roman finished off a pass from Justin Sourdif. Noah Gregor knotted things up for the Raiders, weaving his way into the high slot before sending a shot through traffic and past Vancouver goalie David Tendeck. Gregor then added the go-ahead goal with his second tally, this one coming at 4:25 of the third. Roman answered with his second goal of the night, on the power play at 8:30, to even the score at 2-2. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The Raiders had numerous quality scoring chances in the final minutes of the third but couldn’t find the back of the net. Brett Leason was in tight and slid the puck through the crease behind Tendeck. Cole Fonstad was in all alone and Zack Hayes, all alone in the high slot, had a great look but missed the net. Prince Albert out-shot Vancouver 40-26. Raiders goalie Ian Scott, who made 24 saves Monday, was named the WHL playoff MVP. “We knew we had a job to do — it was going to come and we just had to keep going,” said Scott. “We came into the season wanting to go there (Halifax) and now we have our chance.” Monday’s Game 7 between the Raiders and Giants marked the 12th time in league history that the WHL final was decided in a seventh game. “It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” said Gregor, who was clutch throughout the WHL playoffs. “Overtime. Game 7. A pretty crazy game. I’m just so happy we were able to find a way to battle it out and win a championship. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had.” The Raiders won their one and only Memorial Cup in 1985 after racking four previous national junior A championship titles during a six-year span from 1977-1982. Prince Albert defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes 6-2 in that 1985 final. The team featured the likes of Dan Hodgson, Dave Pasin, Pat Elynuik. Dave Manson, Ken Baumgartner, Dave Goertz, Tony Grenier and Emanuel Viveiros. Vancouver last won the WHL championship title in 2006, claiming the President’s Cup (now the Ed Chynoweth Cup) that year. The Giants won their one and only Memorial Cup in 2007 as the host team. I haven’t seen this many milk crates since my days as an IGA grocery clerk many moons ago! ⁦@PARaidersHockey⁩ fans doing whatever they can to see action at ⁦@TheWHL⁩ final against ⁦@WHLGiants⁩ in Game 7. Raiders up 2-1 in 3rd. #WHLChampionship #ArtHauserHeaven pic.twitter.com/4Y5SectnxJ — darren zary (@DZfromtheSP) May 14, 2019 Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content SASKATCHEWAN HOCKEY ROOTS ON GIANTS The Giants roster featured four players from Saskatchewan, including Saskatoon native and former midget AAA Contact Dawson Holt, captain Jared Dmytriw of Craven, assistant captain Alex Kannok Leipert and fellow D-man Kaleb Bulych. Also on Vancouver’s roster is former Saskatoon Blades defenceman Seth Bafaro, who was acquired from the Blades earlier this season in exchange for a fifth round draft pick in 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski / PNG dzary@postmedia.com Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<doc-sep>PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — The Vancouver Giants have pushed the Western Hockey League final to the distance. The Giants downed the host Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 in Game 6 on Sunday to force a deciding game. Vancouver captain Jared Dmytriw scored the winner at the 3:40 mark of the third period, backhanding home a rebound to break a 2-2 deadlock. "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." Davis Koch scored his second of the game into an empty net to round out the scoring in the third for the Giants, while Owen Hardy had the other. Game 7 is set for Monday in Prince Albert. It’ll mark the first time the WHL final has gone to a Game 7 since 2014, when the Edmonton Oil Kings got past the Portland Winterhawks. Just 53 seconds into the game, Raiders forward Parker Kelly shot down the right wing, cut to the front of the Vancouver goal and banged home the rebound of his own shot to give the host side a 1-0 edge. The Giants weren’t shaken by the early goal and Koch and Hardy responded by netting singles to give Vancouver a 2-1 edge. Before the first period ended, the Raiders evened things up at 2-2 when Kelly scored his second of the game with 32.2 seconds remaining in the frame. 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." The teams played through a scoreless second before the Giants produced the game’s final two goals in the third. David Tendeck turned away 36 shots to pick up the win. Ian Scott stopped 23-of-26 shots in defeat. "I thought we were OK," said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. "Outside of a couple of things in our D-zone that could have been better, 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." 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. "We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves," said Giants head coach Michael 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." This year’s WHL final features the league’s top two clubs. The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-4 record and were rated No. 2 in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. Vancouver finished second overall in the WHL with a 48-15-3-2 mark and No. 6 in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The winner will earn a berth to the Memorial Cup being held May 17 to 26 in Halifax. The Raiders last won the WHL title and the Memorial Cup in 1985. The Giants last won the WHL title in 2006, and they captured the Memorial Cup in 2007 as the tournament’s host team. "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."<doc-sep>
It came down to a classic Game 7 overtime thriller between the Prince Albert Raiders and the Vancouver Giants and on Monday night it ended in a championship for the Raiders. Dante Hannoun got the game winner with 1:35 left on the clock sending the Art Hauser Centre into a frenzy. It’s Prince Albert’s first WHL championship since 1985. The team now prepares to head off to Halifax for the Memorial Cup. The Raiders came into the game following back-to-back losses against the Vancouver, who were proving to be the team that wouldn’t go away. Down 3-1 in the series, the Giants clawed back with wins in Games 5 and 6. In Game 7, the Giants opened the scoring in the second period thanks to Milos Roman, who notched his third of the post season. Noah Gregor tied it up for the Raiders with just over five minutes left in the second. In the final frame of regulation, Gregor scored again to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead. The Giants managed to tie it up when Roman got his second of the game. The two teams would go to overtime, which would see the Giants get a great opportunity after the Raiders were called for delay of game when the puck was flipped over the glass. But Ian Scott shut the door. With 1:35 left on the clock, Dante Hannoun got the puck on the doorstep for Prince Albert and fired home the game winning goal for the Raiders. It was all celebration from there. The first game of the Memorial Cup is set for Friday night.