Following a somewhat less than stellar performance on the extended road series, the Yorkton Harvest have had a good week on home ice, winning two of three games for the week.
The turnaround started with a narrow 1-0 shutout win over the visiting Regina Pat Canadians Wednesday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Dakota Odgers notched the lone goal of the game, a power play marker which proved to be the game winner late in the first period assisted by Jeffrey Ness and Lynnden Pastachak.
Harvest net minder Spencer Bomboir turned aside 24 shots on his way to the shutout.
Saturday night the visiting Beardy's Black-hawks claimed a 6-3 win over the hometown Harvest in the first game of a two game series.
The Blackhawks scored three goals in the first period to go ahead 3-1 after 20 minutes. Elliot Peterson opened the scoring for the Blackhawks with a solo short handed marker. Taylor Clark and Braden Oleksyn each added one goal.
Taylor Clark scored Yorkton's lone first period goal assisted by Levi Morin and Kody Thue.
Devin McGonigal opened second period scoring to pull Yorkton within one early in the period assisted by Ness and Yanni Mamais.
Mamais tied the game assisted by Tanner LeSann and Pastachak.
Jaryd Watson scored Beardy's go-ahead goal on a penalty shot late in the period.
Two third period power play goals, one each by Ryan Pilon and Oleksyn clinched the 6-3 win for the Blackhawks.
It seems the Harvest came out Sunday afternoon determined to split the weekend series. Despite being outshot 34-24 by the Blackhawks, the Yorkton Harvest claimed a narrow 3-2 come-from-behind win on the strength of a single goal in each of the three periods. Yorkton's power play and penalty kill units were working well. The power play unit accounted for two of Yorkton's three goals while the penalty kill unit held Beardy's to one goal in seven power play chances.
Boehm opened the scoring for Beardy's with a pair of first period goals to give the Blackhawks a two goal lead.
Jaden Kreklewich lit up the scoreboard for Yorkton late in the period assisted by Josh Lees.
Ness tied the game for Yorkton with a power play marker midway through the second assisted by Blake McMillen and Jake McMillen.
Tanner LeSann notched the game winner late in the final frame assisted by the McMillen brothers.
Harvest netminder Bomboir, named game star, held the Blackhawks scoreless for two periods to seal the win.
Yorkton Harvest head coach Jeff Odgers had a lot of praise for his goalie Spencer Bomboir. He had a shutout against Regina Wednesday night. He came back Sunday against Beardy's, the top team in the league, Odgers says. "We didn't make it easy for him. They had 17 shots in the third period and we gave them some powerplay opportunities and he came up huge."
The Harvest powerplay came up big in Sunday's game. Bomboir came up with some big saves, the Harvest did an excellent job of getting in the shooting lanes and keeping Beardy's to the outside. "They were beating us on Saturday with that cross box pass and we were able to take it away," Odgers states.
The Harvest have set out a plan for the rest of the year. The first obstacle will be to make the playoffs. The recent wins will give the team some confidence by showing that the Harvest can play with the best teams and are capable of beating them. "It's something to build on, that's for sure," Odgers asserts.
He admits one of the team's nemesis all year has been penalties at bad times. A lot of that is youth and a lot is emotion, getting caught up in the game. "As we go along, learning to control that is going to be key," Odgers closes.
