The Yorkton Harvest have played what was guaranteed to be their final game of the season on home ice, but they ended up playing like it was their most important game of the season.
The season comes to an end officially, next Sunday, Feb. 19 when they travel up north to Prince Albert.
Over the weekend, they played host to the Battlefords in their last home game of the season.
They fought back to win 7-6 in overtime in a game which saw what could have been the first penalty shot in a Yorkton Harvest game in a long time.
Dakota Odgers had the honour of scoring it. Teammate Lynnden Pastachak made it a little sweeter when he tallied with a minute left in overtime to cap a four-goal comeback in their Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League home finale.
The way they celebrated that goal was like Game 7 of the finals.
"We wanted to get a win," insisted Odgers outside the dressing room following their last home game of the season Sunday afternoon against the Stars.
"We showed a lot of character. We would do anything to get it."
Late in the game when the referee signalled for a penalty shot, Odgers had the game hanging on his stick with time running out in the third period. He scored and the game was heading for overtime.
"It felt good," said Odgers' dad and head coach Jeff Odgers, who agreed that it showed character.
The Battlefords creamed Yorkton the night before, 8-0. Nothing right went in that hockey game.
"leaving the game not feeling good about the game," coach Odgers said reflecting on the thought process after the loss.
"They competed all weekend," he said of the opposition, pointing out that they had stellar goaltending in both Saturday and Sunday.
"We had 85 shots at him over the weekend," he told the media. "Tanner was great for us all weekend," he said of Tanner Lesann, who had key plays in helping Yorkton make a comeback late on Sunday.
The 7-6 win means the Harvest will finish their home schedule with nine wins, but can still add to that total with possible road victories when they play four more games to close out the season.
In Sunday's game, they outshot North Battleford 47-31, including 16-8 in the third period.
Yorkton recorded a shorthanded goal and a penalty shot goal.
Battlefords started out taking a 2-0 lead when Brody Tachell and Kihisis Derocher tallied in the opening 10 minutes. Dakota Odgers answered with one at 6:57 shorthanded from Lesann.
The teams exchanged shots throughout a wild third period before Yorkton would eventually tie it.
Battlefords adde to their lead one minute into the second when Carter Danczak made it 3-1 before Devin McGonigal cut the lead to 3-2 from Odgers and Levi Morin a minute later.
Desrocher scored his second of the game to restore the two-goal lead to 4-2 before Nicholas Pouliot scored unassisted to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Stars would add two quick scores, both on the power play to put themselves up 6-3 with 5:10 remaining.
Two markers by Lesann before Odgers connected after being awarded a penalty shot with 1:12 left in regulation time.
Pastachak was set up by Lesann and Brayden Park for the overtime winner.
We're playing for "personal pride" now, says coach Odgers. "You're always playing for something," following Yorkton's wild celebration at the end of Sunday's win.
"The game's the game," he said, even though the playoffs have been long out of reach for some time.
He pointed to the Oilers' Sam Gagne who tied an NHL record set long ago by Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey when Gagne recorded eight points in a single game.
The Oilers are currently 11 points out of a playoff spot.
Odgers, himself, who played in the NHL for 13 seasons, says he only made the playoffs five times, twice with the San Jose Sharks and three time with the Avalanche.
