The Yorkton Harvest looked to a familiar face to replace Jeff Odgers as their new head coach. The SMAAAHL club announced at the Yorkton Minor Hockey banquet that last year's assistant coach, Dan Cross, will be their new bench boss next season.
"I didn't think twice about accepting the job with the Harvest," said Cross. "I handed in my application and talked to them verbally when I found out Jeff was stepping down, so I was really hoping to get the job."
Although there are some differences between Cross and Odgers, it seems they have similar coaching styles for the most part.
"We have the same philosophy on the game," said Cross. "Next year we will play a similar system to what we played under Jeff. There will be some changes in how we play, but not many. But we are, after all, two different individuals, so not everything will be the same."
Cross will get started as the Harvest's new architect and bench boss on April 27-28 at their spring training camp. He will have his share of work to do with Yorkton expected to lose a large chunk of their core to the junior level next year such as leading goal-scorer Lynnden Pastachak, star forward Dakota Odgers and defensive star Ethan Bear.
"I'm looking forward to evaluating what we have," said Cross. "We will have a handful of openings up front and some on the back end, so it will be good to see who is interested in playing in Yorkton next year."
The Harvest's head coach believes his squad has the potential to be a strong team next year because of their expected veteran presence on the back end and Carson Bogdan returning between the pipes.
"This year our defence was mostly made up of rookies, but next year we should have a lot of experience back there," he said. "We expect Bogdan to return and that would be huge. He played so good for us down the stretch in the playoffs. He is one of the best goalies in the league."
There will be no shortage of hockey in Cross' life next year. Besides coaching the Harvest, he will be running the Yorkton Regional High School's Hockey Canada Skills Academy.
"It will be a busy year," he said. "But I'll do the skills academy in the morning and the Harvest in the evening, so I'll definitely have time for it all. And the school is very reasonable for giving me time off to coach the Harvest."
