It was an unexpected flurry of points for Saskatoon Blades prospect Turner Ottenbreit as he started his second SMAAAHL season with the Yorkton Harvest over the weekend against the Swift Current Legionnaires at the Farrell Agencies Arena, but it was one that showed just how much the young blueliner has developed from the end of the 2012/13 Harvest season.
Ottenbreit came up with six points over two games, including two goals in big wins over Swift Current to start the Yorkton Harvest season at 2-0 following a preseason loss to the Tisdale Trojans the weekend before.
Head coach Dan Cross was surprised with the production of his blueline, but notes that the backend is the strong point of the 2013/14 Harvest roster.
"Ottenbreit might not be a powerplay weapon like Ethan Bear was for us (last season), but he has worked on his game a lot over the summer and played well at Blades camp and it showed this weekend that if we get things going from the blueline, building up play and chipping in with goals, we can get these types of weekends.
Yorkton swept Swift Current rather easily, a feat that Cross says defines the top end playoff teams in the league from those fighting to make it at the end of the season.
"With so many weekend back to backs eventually you see a lot of splits, one team wins on Saturday and the other takes the game on Sunday, but if you can come out and sweep a team on a consistent basis you can really put together a good record at the end of the season," says Cross who hopes to get the Harvest into the Mac's Midget Tournament with an improved start in 2013/14.
