The Yorkton Harvest AAA Midget Hockey Club started a new era on Sunday when they hosted the Tisdale Trojans. With Jeff Odgers stepping down to focus more time on farming and his family, 2012/13 assistant Dan Cross, former Yorkton Minor Hockey Coach of the Year, took the helm for the first time in a regular season game.
On Sunday afternoon his Harvest team started strong, with a snipe from three year vet Levi Morin being the highlight of what was a hot start for Yorkton going up 3-2 in the second period. The lead would not last for long as Tisdale would tie things up heading into the final period.
In the third Tisdale would be the stronger skating team, pressuring the Harvest puck carriers, eventually forcing a crucial mistake that would allow the Trojans to tuck home a goal in front of a wide open cage after a defensive zone turnover from the Harvest. An empty net goal would give the Trojans a 5-3 victory.
Still, despite the loss, Dan Cross was happy with the way the Harvest started the game and reminded everyone that it is a process to build a Midget hockey team. "We are focusing on game preparation and getting off to strong starts this year and our guys came out and did that, now the next challenge is to put it together for 60 minutes. Cross also said that a main goal is to reverse the team's disastrous record for the first ten games. "If we can start stronger this year we will be on track."
