Both the Canadians and Giants came away with wins in their respective second-round games on Monday and as a result will face off for a spot in the league championship final this Wednesday in Regina.
For the Giants, the contest was a continuation of their season-long success, and they had little difficulty moving past the Standing Buffalo Dakotas, rolling to an 8-1 victory. The task likely wasn’t exactly what Moose Jaw was expecting, either -- the last place Dakotas (3-10-2) pulled off a first-round upset of the Earl Grey Rockets (8-5-1) in their opening game of the playoffs. All the same in the end for the Giants, though, after putting together a 9-2-2 run through the regular season.
The defending champion Canadians (5-6-1), meanwhile, continued where they left off last week after taking a 5-4 win over the Little Black Bear Blues in the fourth-fifth place game.
Based on the regular-season standings, the contest should have been Golden’s to win after they rolled through the season with a 12-1 record. That one loss, though, came at the hands of the Canadians -- and Moose Jaw would come through again in the ‘A’ semifinal, rolling to a 6-2 win.
The meeting in the ‘A’ final will be the third of the season between the Moose Jaw teams. The Giants won the first game between the two 7-3 to open the Rambler Park campaign back on June 15; the rematch on July 13 was far closer and saw the Giants emerge victorious out of a 3-2 squeaker at Lyle Helland Ball Diamond.
The winner of Wednesday’s contest will advance to the gold medal game on Friday, Aug. 27 in Regina while the loser will drop down to the ‘B’ final and face the winner of Golden and Little Black Bear for the right to play in the championship final.
