With the regular season counting down its final days, the Harvest saw its last homestand of the 2012/13 season with three games on the week to close out its home schedule before playing their final four games on the road. With a tight race for the fifth place spot heating up between the Harvest, the Saskatoon Blazers, the Tisdale Trojans and Battlefords, points were of necessity as the Yorkton club will be looking forward to difficult road dates for the remainder of their schedule.
First up was a midweek night battle with the Tisdale Trojans, who were sitting in fifth place going into the meeting at the FAA giving the game a playoff atmosphere as both teams knew the importance of getting the two points. A shorthanded Trojans goal six minutes in by Drew Litwin gave Tisdale the first blood, but Eric Meyer scored on the same Trojans penalty to erase the shorthanded goal the Harvest allowed to tie things up. Both teams traded goals again as Jordan Ross put one in for the Trojans and Donovon Lumb scored in the final minutes of the first to send the teams to the dressing room tied 2-2.
In the second Lynnden Pastachak's 24th of the year on the powerplay gave the Harvest a 3-2 lead, but Cole McBride played spoiler with 4:50 left in the second tying it up despite the Harvest being ahead 28-21 in shots. In the third period the Harvest took over, dominating the game in every facet from the minute Ethan Bear scored from the point on the powerplay, scoring three more goals in the period and outshooting the Trojans 22-7 in the final frame. Seven different players from the Harvest scored in the 7-3 win, something head coach Jeff Odgers attributed to being up for the game. "Our guys were ready to go and in the third period we really stepped our game up and took over and credit to our guys for having a strong third period."
Saturday night saw the cellar dwelling Notre Dame Hounds come into town attempting to play the role of spoiler as the Harvest looked to separate themselves from the pack and get a cushion for the fifth place spot with a win. Captain Nicolas Pouliot got the Harvest on the board first, but three straight Notre Dame goals had the Hounds up 3-1 nearly midway through the second period with a chance to steal a needed two points away from Yorkton.
A let down was not in the cards however as six unanswered Harvest goals, guided by Pouliot's three point night and Chase McKersie's two goals lifted them to the 7-3 win.
A milestone on the season was also reached as Lynnden Pastachak reached 25 goals on the season, an impressive number for the Red Deer Rebels prospect who seems to have a promising career ahead of him as a goalscorer. Yorkton's Matt Kustra did not start in goal for the Hounds as he is set to play for the WHL's Prince George Cougars over the February break.
With four out of a possible six points on the week already accounted for, the Harvest looked to finally take down a familiar foe as the Pat Canadians came to end their regular season series in Yorkton. With every game so far going to the end with the Canadians pulling out a late goal or a lucky bounce to deny the Harvest the win, this game was expected to be tightly contested and entertaining and it did not disappoint.
Dakota Odgers and Chase McKersie both got on the board for the Harvest in the first period as they took a 2-1 lead at the intermission. Zachary Zborosky got the Canadians goal on the powerplay as Spencer Bombior was solid in goal for the Harvest in the first period.
A 2-1 lead going into the second gave the Harvest some confidence, but the Canadians stole all the momentum with three unanswered goals sparked by Mitch Lipon's marker six minutes into the period. The three goals gave the Canadians a 4-2 lead and flipped the script entirely as the high spirits the Harvest carried over from the previous two games had to be all but depleted after allowing three goals in five minutes. Turner Ottenbreit scored a crucial goal just before intermission to make it 4-3 and made the deficit a more than manageable one goal in the third.
Chase McKersie continued his strong play to tie it up on the powerplay off an Ethan Bear assist with 17:03 left in the third making it 4-4 with plenty of hockey left to be played. Emery Anderson gave the Canadians the lead back with 11:54 left to play and the streak of overtime games between the Canadians and Harvest seemed to be at risk yet again as in a plot twist the Canadians, and not the Harvest led in the final ten minutes of the third.
Corwin Stevely played hero for the Harvest, tying the game up on a hard working goal in front of the net and continuing the overtime streak. In the overtime frame Troy Murray, brother of Terrier Nathan scored the winner for the Pat Canadians with just :53 seconds left, giving the Canadians the extra point and forcing the Harvest to settle with just a single and ending an unbeaten streak that stretched over a month dating back to the beginning of January when they lost to the Moose Jaw Generals.
Coach Odgers was pleased with how his team fared in their final homestand saying, "Obviously you want to win that game we just played, but we took five out of six points in three games and went out and made a statement against a Tisdale team we are battling with in the standings right now and it was a good week for us."
Odgers also credited his team for working hard to come back in the third period saying, "We played last night and the Canadians didn't so the fact that we came back in the third makes me real proud of my guys because they worked hard and they kept their legs moving when they could have quit after going down 4-2."
Road life will now be the mantra of the Harvest as they spend their next two weekends on the bus as they go to Saskatoon to play the Contacts and Prince Albert to face the Mintos this weekend in two tough road games against teams that are expecting to be SMAAAHL title contenders. "We are going to need to work hard and win the battles in the rest of our games if we are going to finish where we want to, and it is going to be great preparation for winning on the road in the playoffs playing these next two weeks on the road to close out the season" said Odgers who looked at the scheduling from a positive angle.
Two weeks will see out the end of the regular season with the Harvest in sixth place going into the weekend, four games will determine if they stay.
