The Yorkton Harvest have a slightly longer layoff than the rest of the teams in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League as the struggling Harvest don't open post-Christmas play until January 11 after falling to below .500 and the final playoff spot in the league during a December slump.
After a solid start under first year head coach Dan Cross, the Harvest went into the Christmas break with a 1-6-2-1 record that turned what was looking like a plus .500 record during the first half of the season into a 9-12-4-2 finish before the holidays that has the team clinging onto a playoff spot and five points back from the seventh place Saskatoon Contacts.
With top end players like Dakota Odgers, Lynnden Pastachak, Nicolas Pouliot and Ethan Bear leaving Midget for the Junior ranks a Harvest team that finished strong to 2012/13 before bowing out in five games to the Regina Pat Canadians has failed to continue promising play at the beginning of the season with depth issues and injuries coming into play.
Before the break, Cross pointed to the Harvest's issues with penalties during recent weeks as one of the continuing factors in a long slump.
"We just keep taking penalties, and sometimes those early penalties can turn into frustration ones later on in the game which really hurt us because right now we are still playing neck and neck with teams five on five," said Cross.
Those struggles with keeping teams out of the box has contributed to the team's -8 goal differential this season, and while it may be easy to point at the negative when looking at the Harvest before the take to the ice for their final 17 games there have also been plenty of positives to talk about still.
For one, the Harvest's nine point lead on the Swift Current Legionnaires should all but assure them of a playoff position. The rest of pack just seems too far out of the race to beat out the Harvest, with the Notre Dame Hounds the only team outside of the playoffs that seems to be improving and even they are ten points back of the Harvest.
Individual players have also seen success this season as many of the Harvest players have made appearances in Junior games as call ups, including blueliner Turner Ottenbreit who spent a stint in Saskatoon with the WHL's Blades this December.
The young Harvest can also point to the emergence of young guns in Tanner Jeannot and Tyler Kreklewich as positives leading into the final stretch. Jeannot has exploded onto the scene with 23 points in 27 games while Kreklewich has 10 goals and has paired nicely on a forward line with his brother Jaden, who has 20 points. If those main scoring contributors along with leader Chase McKersie can up their production over the final 17 games of the regular season the Harvest should turn things around.
Rookie goaltender Carter Phair has also been a bright spot. In 13 games the youngster from Carnduff has posted a 6-5-1 record with 2.75 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. Cross has also given Phair plenty of praise throughout the season, mentioning on separate occasions that Phair has "Went above and beyond anything we could have expected of him."
Looking ahead to the rest of the schedule, the Harvest will have plenty of opportunity to play catch up with the two clubs ahead of them in the playoff standings. Five of the Harvest's final 17 games are against the Saskatoon Contacts and the Harvest's rivals from the 2012/13 season in the Pat C's. Regina is eight points above Yorkton in the standings, while the Contacts are only five points ahead and play the Harvest in the first game of the final stretch.
The Harvest will also have a much easier schedule heading forward as they will play a majority of their final slate against non-playoff teams. Six of their final 17 games are against teams that are out of the playoffs. If the Harvest can make the most of those meetings, and not allow the non-playoff teams into the race with losses to cause a drastic change in the standings, they should be able to improve their record come playoff time.
Heading into the final 17 games the Yorkton Harvest are in a very similar position to the standings of the 2012/13 Harvest team that rode a hot start to finish in fifth place. While that kind of climb is unlikely, things could be a lot worse in head coach Dan Cross' first season behind the bench. As long as his Harvest squad can scrape together a couple of wins to turn things around it looks as if Yorkton will be playing playoff hockey in the SMAAAHL for a second straight year.
