The Yorkton Harvest opened the new year with a pair of games on the road. Playing in Beardy's on Saturday night, then again at Prince Albert on Sunday afternoon.
The good news is that the Harvest are quite comfortably are tied for seventh spot in the SMAAAHL standings following their two road games. Also good, is that they are one win away from moving up to sixth.
The not-so-good news is that neither of those two road games did they manage to collect any points."We didn't have our legs with us. This happens after a three-week layoff," states Harvest coach Graham Garrett.
Yorkton and Prince Albert exchanged goals all night long at the Art Hauser Arena Sunday, all six goals came one after the other, but not until after the Mintos opened up a 2-0 lead.
Against the Mintos on Sunday, two quick goals by Prince Albert's Jordan Tkatch, coming within three-and-a-half minutes of each other, gave the home squad a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
From there on in, each goal the Harvest scored was answered right back by the host.
Garrett said Yorkton was not on top of their game in the second period and then a game misconduct and an interference call to John Odgers gave Prince Albert a five-minute penalty, said Garrett."It turned out to be a rough game," adds Garrett, who also said the team "handled themselves properly".
The Harvest cut the lead to 2-1 only 1:30 minutes into the second, scoring with a Minto in the penalty box. Yorkton would operate at 33 per cent on the man advantage, as would Prince Albert.
Levi Cable did the damage, with Ben Johnstone and Dustin Skilliter helping him to do it.
But with 5:12 left in the frame, the first-place Mintos restored their two-goal lead when Landon Belchamber tallied to up the lead to 3-1.
Ryley Stefanyshyn would again bring Yorkton to within a goal when he connected on a pass from Dustin Minto at 15:04. Brennen Bosovich tallied for Prince Albert to make it 4-3 before Kade Halabuza tied it for the Harvest less then a minute later from Johnstone and Devan Fafard.
Belchamber, who has been in on the scoring each time the two teams met, tallied for his second of the day to ice the game with 33 seconds left on the clock.
Prince Albert also outshot Yorkton by a count of 36-21, most of the damage came in the second period when they fired 15 shots at Yorkton netminder Spencer Bomboir.
The night before, it was Yorkton and the Beardy's Blackhawks in a game that usually proves to be as entertaining as any as the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League opened up the 2011 season as Yorkton took on a familiar opponent.
The last time the two clubs met, Yorkton combined to beat the Blackhawks for 13 goals over two games.
Such was not the case for the Yorkton squad on this particular occasion.
About the only good news for Yorkton supporters on this night was that Gage Rapitta opened the scoring. He tallied at the 4:00 mark of the first. Kody Thue and Kailum Gervais both set up the game's opening goal.
From there, it was all Blackhawks, led by 16-year-old Alex Forsberg who led all scorers with a hat trick en route to a 6-3 Beardy's win.
Forsberg was the top draft pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam entry draft and should be playing in Prince George, along with former Harvest forward Tayler Thompson.
The game also saw Beardy's score five goals in the second period, capping it off with one in the third.
They also badly outshot Yorkton 55-28, including a 22-6 advantage in the third.
After Forsberg and Colton Laroque had answered Rapitta's goal, Yorkton evened the affair when Halabuza scored at the 12:09 mark of the second, from Cable and Skilliter.
Three unanswered Blackhawks markers put them ahead 5-2 going to the second intermission. Brett Boehm scored at 7:35 before Forsberg rounded out his three-goal effort at 7:13 and 3:14 and Johnstone completed the scoring at 2:24 from Fafard and Skilliter.
The game's final two goals came on the power play.
Kale Thomson took the loss in goal while Steven Glass got the win, stopping 25 of 28 shots.
NEXT GAMEThe Harvest will no doubt have their hands full over the next seven days, playing three games in a row as they continue their five-game road trip.
On Friday, they head back to the one city where they've always had problems (Prince Albert) and they'll look to avenge their Jan. 9 loss. The following night (Jan. 15) it will not get any easier as they take on the league-leading Saskatoon Contacts in a weekend homestand, both games being played in Saskatoon.
The Harvest hold 30 points in the league standings with a dead-even record of 13-13-1-3.The Blackhawks currently hold sixth place with 32 points but Yorkton is ahead of the Saskatoon Blazers by five wins.
Garrett said he's unsure of what to expect when Yorkton heads back to Prince Albert on the weekend, but did suggest that there is a rivalry coming together between the two clubs, who also met in the opening round of the playoffs last season.
It won't get any easier the following night as the Harvest meet the fourth-place Saskatoon Contacts."You want to come back at least at .500," he told the paper, which happens to be Yorkton's record going into press time.
He said that the team is full healthy heading into the weekend despite some suspensions.
