By Doyle Potenteau

The Kelowna Rockets are one win away from earning a date with the Calgary Hitmen.
At Vancouver, Ryley Grantham scored in the first period and Mark Guggenberger made 25 saves for Kelowna as the Rockets defeated the Vancouver Giants 1-0 in WHL playoff action on Saturday night. With the win, Kelowna now leads the Western Conference championship 3-2.

The best-of-seven series – which the Giants led 2-1 after Game 3, but now find themselves on the brink of elimination, – resumes Monday with Game 6 at Prospera Place in Kelowna. A victory tomorrow evening earns Kelowna a berth in the WHL final against the Eastern Conference champion Hitmen.

“We still have a lot left to do,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska after Kelowna blanked Vancouver for a second straight game. On Thursday, the Rockets were near perfect in a 3-0 shutout victory in Game 4. On Saturday in Game 5, the Giants pushed hard in the third and were unlucky to capitalize, wasting a five-on-three power play.

Defencemen Brandon McMillan, for hooking at 2:44, and Tyler Myers, for delay of game at 3:34, were penalized just 50 seconds part. Kelowna killed off those two minors, then wound up surviving a wild six-on-five affair for the final minute.

“We don‘t want to leave anything to chance,” continued Huska. “We‘re going to need a good effort because we know what‘s coming down the pipe: Vancouver‘s going to have a great effort, and it‘s going to be the most difficult game of the series.”

As for the game‘s wild finish, Huska said “it‘s not the way we like to have games end. But the five-on-three, the guys we had out there did a good job of blocking shots and they had active sticks. And Mark was very good.

“You need to get that from your goalie, and he‘s been very good for us in these playoffs so far.”

At the other end, Giants goaltender Tyson Sexsmith also had a great effort, making 22 saves.

“We need to bury our chances. We didn‘t get a whole lot of chances, but we got more than Game 4,” said Sexsmith. “We have to able to bear down and bury our chances, especially on a 5-on-3.”

Added Giants coach Don Hay: “It was a real tight checking game for both teams. They didn‘t get a lot of scoring chances after they scored the goal. We didn‘t get a lot of scoring chances.”

Kelowna‘s bench boss admitted that the Rockets were lucky that Vancouver didn‘t score, stating “Evander Kane missed an empty net. But when you‘re working hard, you seem to get the bounces.”

Grantham‘s goal, scored short side after tucking it home upstairs late in the first at 18:22, was his third marker of the post-season.

“It‘s the time of year where we need everyone to contribute,” said Huska. “And (Saturday), Ryley was able to do that.”

ICE CHIPS: Kelowna was 0-for-1 on the power play; Vancouver was 0-for-3... The three stars were Kelowna‘s Tyler Myers and Cody Almond plus Sexsmith... Saturday‘s attendance was 10,083.

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