The Yorkton Harvest came off one of their toughest weeks so far this season with three losses in three outings. The Harvest outshot the visiting Regina Pat Canadians 40-30 at the Farrell Agencies Arena Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Harvest, a four goal first period scoring spree by Regina pretty much put away the game as the Pat Canadians emerged with a 4-1 win.
Regina's first period marksmen included Tim McGauley, Joshua Schwindt, Brandon Halbgewachs and Allen Kilback with one goal apiece.
The damage was all done in the opening frame as the Harvest settled down and held Regina off the scoreboard for the remaining two periods. The problem was, Yorkton wasn't able to claw back the four opening goals. Following a scoreless second period, Dustin Skilliter scored the lone Harvest goal early in the third period, a powerplay marker assisted by Ben Johnstone and Denin Boesch.
Saturday night the Moose Jaw Generals snowed the Harvest under a flurry of goals at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre to come out with an 8-1 win.
A two goal first period with goals by Sean Whelan and Kyle Oleniuk gave the Generals a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Generals came out firing on all cylinders in the second period, scoring three more goals with Austin Yano, Steven Wilson and T.J. Reeve each slipping the puck past Harvest netminder Kale Thomson to lead 5-0 after two periods.
The Generals delivered the coup-de-grace with three third period goals, one each by Austin Yano, his second of the game, Dylan McIntoch and Rhett Gardner.
Yorkton's lone goal came midway through the third period off the stick of Tanner LeSann assisted by Skilliter.
Yorkton Harvest woes continued into Sunday evening as the visiting Tisdale Trojans came away with a 7-3 win over the hapless Harvest.
The Trojans, who jumped into an early two goal lead after the first period, were never threatened by the Harvest.
Jarrett Fontaine opened the scoring for Tisdale. Avery VanBlaricom followed up with a second marker to give Tisdale a 2-0 lead.
LeSann pulled Yorkton within one late in the period assisted by John Odgers and Josh Lees.
Roddy Sewap tied the game midway through the second period with a singlehanded marker before Dylan Frey scored Tisdale's go-ahead goal to leave the Trojans leading 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Odgers tied the game for Yorkton early in the final frame assisted by LeSann.
Unfortunately for the Harvest, Tisdale exploded for four goals in the final eighteen minutes to clinch a 7-3 win with goals from Jordaan Braun, Brett Hope, Tanner Eberle and Taylor Balog.
Harvest head coach Graham Garrett says he knew the loss Sunday afternoon was going to happen. "There are certain games that you know you're not going to come out on top. This was one of them, " he explains. He admits Tisdale played a good game. He also thought his team played well, but there are just some games where the outcome seems predetermined, he insists. "It's tough to beat that," he notes.
With only one more series of home games, the Harvest have to put some wins together on the road, Garrett states. The Harvest aren't out of the woods with too many losses after Christmas, he points out. Yorkton needs to get the desperation to fight for a playoff spot some of the other teams seem to have, he declares. Wednesday's game and those following have become 'must win' games, Garrett says.
Garrett doesn't blame his goalies for the recent losses. "I think too often defensively we're just leaving them hanging high and dry. It's no fault of their own. They've both played great all year. Our guys just gotta start playing for our goaltenders and for each other," he suggests.
Part of the Harvest's difficulty last week may have been the absence of the team's top scorer, Garret speculates. Levi Cable, presently trying out with the Kootenay Ice, is looking to move up to the next level of hockey. Other players just have to step up to deal with the situation, Garrett asserts. "You take the top scorer out of anybody's lineup for two weeks like that, it's tough to find offense. Sometimes other players grasp that opportunity and go with it. We haven't found anybody that's been able to do that yet," he states.
