Inching their way into the SMAAAHL top eight has not been easy for the Harvest as they attempt to chase the Saskatoon Blazers and Notre Dame Argos for the final two playoff spots in the league. A huge test for the Harvest and their playoff chances came into the FAA over the weekend as the league best Prince Albert Mintos headed to town for a two game set.
With the Blazers a point ahead with games at hand over the Harvest and the Argos sitting a few more points up in seventh, the Harvest needed to avoid a sweep by the Mintos in order to keep the gap manageable.
Saturday afternoon did not give the Harvest much hope as after Spencer Bombior stood on his head during a first period that ended tied after a Dakota Odgers goal despite the Harvest only mustering three shots, the Mintos made their dominance felt. Three unanswered goals early in the second period showed why the Mintos are the league's best team headed into the break and the Harvest couldn't recover, losing 6-2 and being outshot 40-13. Spencer Bombior made 34 saves in the loss and head coach Jeff Odgers was impressed with his performance even with allowing six goals, "Spencer kept us in it in the first period and we just gave them to many chances, and a talented offensive minded team like the Mintos will make you pay for your mistakes," said Odgers.
Sunday saw a change of script as the Harvest came out with the lead after Lynnden Pastachak took advantage of a five on three powerplay to score his thirteenth of the season and notch his twenty-ninth point in twenty five games for the Harvest.
The Mintos tied things up off of a Lochlan Morrison point shot that gave a screened Carson Bogdan no chance to send both teams to the dressing room with a tied score after the first period.
Bogdan was busy in the second period again as the Mintos outshot the Harvest 11-4, but Bogdan kept the Harvest in it allowing only one powerplay goal to give his team a chance to mount a comeback in the third. Twenty minutes would determine two very valuable points in the standings and the Harvest would need an inspired performance if they were to come back against a team that dominated much of the 120 minutes the teams played over the weekend.
Chase McKersie came up big with a game tying goal early on in the third with the Harvest's second powerplay goal of the game off assists from Ethan Bear and Daktoa Odgers, who notched two assists on Sunday.
Back and forth action continued in the third as the Harvest pulled out all the stops in an attempt to pull off the upset with blocked shots and plenty of forechecking being shown, anything to get the go ahead goal. It finally game as Ethan Bear took a Mintos turnover and turned it into a rocket launcher of a shot from the point that went into the top of the goal and gave the Harvest the go ahead goal and the win.
Carson Bogdan was excellent in goal making 26 saves, and the Harvest won with Lynnden Pastachak out for most of the game with an upper body injury picked up blocking a shot, shelfing their leading goal scorer.
Ethan Bear was huge in the win, showing the skills that have made him a top prospect of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds. With three goals and nineteen points in 21 games for the Harvest, Bear mentioned that the Thunderbirds are taking notice and are planning on giving him a call up to the WHL in the near future. Injured in training camp with the Thunderbirds, Bear is happy with how things are going with the Harvest saying "Playing with Jeff (Odgers) has been helpful to me improving my game and it his been a good experience for me and my development as a player."
Odgers was happy with the big win over the Mintos saying, "It feels pretty good to get the win and realistically coming into the weekend this was the goal as Prince Albert is one of the best teams in the league and we did a good job battling hard with a short bench after picking up[ some injuries." As for the loss and being outshot 40-13 on Saturday Odgers attributed the struggles to getting into some penalty trouble where the Mintos made them pay.
The Harvest now look to a big game with the seventh place Argos before the break in a meeting that Odgers mentioned as "Huge as we are trying to chase the Argos and have had a lot of troubles getting wins there so it will be big for us to go there and try to catch up with them in points a bit before the break."
A win would keep the Harvest on pace with the Argos and the Saskatoon Blazers in what is shaping up to be a three team race for the final two playoff spots in the SMAAAHL.
The Blazers have the advantage of having some games at hand on the Argos/Harvest for the time being, but a win would put the Harvest in eighth place for the time being an inch them one point away from seventh heading into the break, something that seemed unachievable at the beginning of the year is now a reality.
A big win over the league's best team has made it clear, the Harvest are ready to turn it up and push for the playoffs. With a group of young, hungry players who are just hitting their stride it is hard to see another let down any time soon.
