Christmas is over for the Yorkton Harvest officially on January 5 as they host the Tisdale Trojans at the FAA, but you can say it came early as a big victory over the Notre Dame Argos before the break saw the Harvest grab eighth place in the SMAAAHL and playoff positioning heading into the final two month stretch.
Now 17 games will determine the fate of the 2012/13 edition of the Yorkton Harvest as they look to continue to erase the memories of their terrible September and October with a spot in the playoffs. They will have players who are ready to continue their strong play after SJHL appearances as Dakota Odgers and Jaden Kreklewich were rewarded for their strong December performances with stints with the Terriers and Millionaires respectively.
The race for the final two playoff spots looks like it will be a three horsed one as the Argos, Saskatoon Blazers, and Harvest are all separated by just two points in the 7-9 slots in the SMAAAHL standings. Swift Current is a long shot candidate at five points back, but the three teams lodged in the race will definitely be keeping an eye on each others scores heading into the stretch with each game from here on out having major consequences come the end of the season.
The Harvest will begin with tough tests in Tisdale and Moose Jaw at home this weekend as the sixth and fifth placed Trojans and Generals are chasing the Saskatoon Contacts and Regina Pat Canadians for home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs and will be looking to extend their eight point cushion over the Harvest at the same time.
Tisdale beat the Harvest 5-2 in their last meeting in November while the Generals and Harvest split points in Moose Jaw in December with a tie and a Harvest win in their last matchups.
After the Harvest play host they will head to Saskatoon the following weekend to play the Contacts and Blazers in another very crucial weekend in their playoff push. The Contacts are one of the league's top teams while the aforementioned Blazers are sitting in ninth and will be looking to use their three games at hand to their advantage and begin to make a push back into the final playoff spot with a win over the Harvest.
The next two weeks will be huge for a Harvest squad who were clicking on all cylinders heading into the break, wins on the weekend over teams entrenched in into the playoffs with seventeen games left can give the Harvest some room to breathe, while losses can set off the panic button. Playoff atmosphere will be in the FAA all January and February, and you have to love it. Seventeen games will decide if the Harvest season is one of failure, or one of perseverance leading to success.
