#WHLChampionship Feature: Third time’s the charm for Joseph

When it comes to playoff experience, you won’t find a more seasoned player on the Vancouver Giants’ roster than Jadon Joseph. The Sherwood Park, Alta. native has appeared in 53 Western Hockey League Playoff games in his career, the most of any teammate and player in the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship Series.

“He’s [Joseph] brought that experience from his years in Lethbridge and he certainly helped in the early rounds,” said Michael Dyck, head coach of the Vancouver Giants. “He’s got a decent sized body that’s good in the faceoff circle and can play on both sides of the puck. He’s been good for us on the power play and killed penalties as well.”

Tallying 53 WHL Playoff games in his three-year WHL career, the 6-foot-1, 172-pound centreman has recorded 24 points (12G-12A) including five power-play goals, two short-handed goals and one game-winning goal. Nine of those points (7G-2A) have been earned in the Giants 2019 WHL Playoff run.

While Joseph’s statistics continue to improve game-by-game, an even bigger value his coaches and teammates see is in his empiricism.

Not only has Joseph participated in a WHL Playoff run for every season he’s played, but he’s also competed in a Conference Championship in all of those campaigns. The first two occurred with Joseph’s draft team, the Lethbridge Hurricanes. In 2017 the Hurricanes took on the Red Deer Rebels in the first round of playoffs, providing Joseph with his first post-season lesson: never give up.

“I think back to my first year when we were down to Red Deer 3-1 in the series,” Joseph said, “In that group, we [the Hurricanes] just knew we weren’t going to lose a game and I just try to emphasize that to the team [the Giants] now. No matter what position you are in, there’s always a chance to get back.”

And they did. Lethbridge went on to beat the Rebels 4-3 and continued their close performances in the second round against the Medicine Hat Tigers, narrowly winning that series 4-3. But, by the time the Hurricanes made it to the Eastern Conference Championship, they couldn’t get past the Regina Pats, falling 4-2.

In the 2018 WHL Playoffs, history would repeat itself. The Hurricanes flew through the first and second rounds of playoffs against the Rebels and the Brandon Wheat Kings, winning both series 4-1. But again, they would be stopped at the Eastern Conference Championship in a 4-2 series defeat, this time by the Swift Current Broncos.

But as they say, the third time’s the charm – at least in Joseph’s case. While it may be a different Conference Championship title, it’s a place Joseph hasn’t been able to get to before and where he doesn’t want his journey to end.

“I’ve been to the Conference Championship [three times now] and I’m extremely blessed to have that, but it’s an honour to be in the final with the group of guys I’m with now,” Joseph said. “It’s awesome, we’re extremely happy to be in the position we’re in. We know we can still be better at some point but, we’re back home with a split, that’s still a positive note. We’re happy to be home with our hometown fans and we know we have a lot more to prove.”

As for what they need to prove, Joseph believes it’s in his team’s compete level.

“I think the biggest thing that we haven’t done yet is play a full 60-minute game,” Joseph said. “With us doing that, nobody can really compete with us when we play a full 60 minutes. We’re one of the top teams here too and we’re okay with being the underdogs and we’ve proven that to people the whole season and we’re going to stick to that. We just need to get going again.”

To compete for a full 60 minutes, you need to have strength in numbers, another trait Joseph is confident the Giants have.

“The reason we’re here is because we are good individually, but we’re better as a team and we work better as a team,” Joseph said. “That’s what got us into this situation and that’s what we’re going to stick to. We’re very happy with where we are right now.”

Game 3 of the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship Series is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7 (7 p.m. PT) at the Langley Events Centre in Vancouver, B.C. The winner of the 2019 #WHLChampionship Series will go on to represent the WHL at the 2019 Memorial Cup presented by Kia in Halifax, N.S, from May 17 to 26.