After a stirring Game One effort, the Yorkton Harvest are now asking themselves "What If?" after the first three games of their first round playoff series with the Regina Pat Canadians. With the road win in Game One giving them all sorts of momentum in the Best of Five series, the Harvest failed to grab the all important win in games two and three and now find themselves on the brink of elimination heading into Game Four Thursday at the FAA.
Game One as mentioned, saw the Harvest finally break through and score a decisive victory over the Pat Canadians who found away to earn points against Yorkton in all four regular season games this season. Backed by 39 minutes of shutout hockey from Carson Bogdan in goal, the Harvest scored the game's first three goals to head into the third period up 3-1 after the pat Canadians scored with just 23 seconds left in the second period. Chase McKersie, Jaden Kreklewich, and Eric Meyer earned the tallies for the Harvest to give them the 3-0 lead.
Tristan Frei scored on the powerplay to make things interesting in the third period, but Brandon Kayter's short handed solo effort put the Harvest up 4-2 and gave them the opening game win to kick off the series. Kayter, who scored just one goal all season came up huge for the Harvest, backing up Bogdan's impressive 39 save night to send the Harvest back to the FAA for Game Two with a chance to overtake the series with a home win.
In Game Two the roles were reversed as this time hot goaltending from the Pat Canadians and a hot start in the first period would lead to the Canadians evening up the series.
Zachary Zborosky played the role of spoiler in the first period at the FAA. Scoring the game's first goal just under two minutes in, Zborosky added to the Harvest's wounds with a powerplay goal after Corwin Stevely's holding penalty to make things 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
In the second and for much of the third the Harvest pressed on trying to chase their first goal of the game to get back into things, but Logan Flodell shut the door on the Harvest forwards every time, earning a 30 save shutout. Regina notched an insurance marker late in the third period, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway as Flodell's sterling night in goal prevented the Harvest from going up 2-0 and wasted a 30 save night from Carson Bogdan in the process.
"They just got a better jump on us like we got the jump on them in Game One" said Jeff Odgers postgame. Odgers also had praise for Carson Bogdan after his strong first two games in the series saying, "Bogdan kept us in it after having a very impressive first game and by no means is anything that happened tonight his fault, you need to score at least one goal to win a hockey game."
With the series tied, the Harvest were hoping to reprise their Game One performance back in Regina. Chase McKersie once again got the scoring started for his team in Regina, notching his second of the series off assists from Dakota Odgers and Eric Meyer to make it 1-0 Harvest. 14-4 shots in favor of the Harvest only yielded a 1-0 lead after one however as Flodell once again shut the door on the Harvest throughout the game.
Tristan Frei continued to be a villian for the Harvest in this series in the second period, scoring two goals for the Pats, both assisted from Mitch Lipon to make it a tie game heading into the third after Ethan Bear scored his first of the series for the Harvest.
A third period that would define the series was up next as if the Harvest won they would go back home Thursday night with a chance to eliminate the Pats at home, lose and they would need to win just to force a Game Five on the road.
The latter was the ultimate result as Mitch Lipon's unassisted goal halfway through the third period broke the tie befor e Zborosky scored his third of the playoffs for the Pat Canadians to seal the deal in what was a 5-2 win for the Pats. A backbreaker for the Harvest was once again caused by Flodell, who made 32 saves on the night as the Harvest outshot the Canadians 34-27 and lost, a tough break for a team that is doing anything in its power to stay alive in the playoffs after a gritty second half of the regular season.
So the stage is set for Game Four. Win at home and the Harvest live to see another day and a Game Five in Regina. Lose, and it is time to pack the bags and say goodbyes to the 2012-13 Yorkton Harvest.
After four tight regular season games and three even more intense playoff games, the Pat Canadians-Harvest rivalry will come to it's breaking point Thursday night at the FAA.
Will the Harvest force Game Five Saturday on Regina? You will have to go to the rink to find out.
