The Yorkton Harvest grabbed two-out-of-four points in back-to-back contests in their return from the Saskatchewan AAA Midget Hockey League's Christmas break.
The Harvest squared off against the Tisdale Trojans in the Farrell Agencies Arena on Saturday, Jan. 5 to kick off the New Year.
Eric Meyer netted a hat trick and Dakota Odgers notched five apples to lead the Harvest over the Trojans in a commanding 8-2 victory.
Myer netted the lone goal of the first period 14:59 into it.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Myer kept the ball rolling in the second period, potting his second of the night on the man advantage at 15:48. Team captain Nicholas Pouliot and Turner Ottenbreit both found the back of net later in the period to give Yorkton a 4-0 lead over Tisdale.
Forward Brandon Arnold finally got the Trojans on the board with 2:55 left in the second.
Harvest leading-scorer Lynnden Pastachak kept the momentum in favour of Yorkton by quickly lighting the lamp just 18:51 into the final period.
Trojans forward Dalton Menke snuck one past Harvest puck-stopper Carson Bogdan on the power play at the 12:50 mark to put Tisdale within three.
The Harvest went on a scoring frenzy in the final 10 minutes of the game. Pastachak scored his second on the night, Myer finished out his hat trick, and Korwin Schewchuk netted a short-handed goal to close out the match.
Harvest head coach Jeff Odgers credits some of his players' strong starts to the New Year to their stints in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League over the Christmas break.
"I think it's huge for some of our guys to get the opportunity to play up there (SJHL),"he said. "Eric Meyer played a bit with the (Melville) Millionaires, Pastachak played for the (Estevan) Bruins, and Dakota with the (Yorkton) Terriers. It gives them some good experience at the next level and motivates them to get there."
Odgers also praised Bogdan for his strong showing in the blue paint against the Trojans, where he stopped 33 of 35 shots.
"He was huge, especially early in the game," he said. "We had a couple turnovers early in the game and one chance where they had three point-blank shots on him and he stopped them all. And on another time a turnover lead to a breakaway against him. Those were all crucial times where he came up big."
The Harvest couldn't keep their momentum going the following night against the Moose Jaw Generals in their own barn. They failed to pot one past Generals goaltender Ryland Pashovitz, losing 3-0.
The Generals got out in front right off the hop with Rhett Gardner netting one at the 17:16 mark.
Moose Jaw's second goal of the period was questionable. Ben Duperreault scored on Harvest netminder Spencer Bomboir with a General lying on top of him.
Odgers didn't question the official's decision not to call a penalty, though.
"There was a guy that ended up on our goaltender, but the puck should have been cleared," says the former San Jose Shark. "There were a couple misplays that lead to that goal."
Generals winger Stephen Wilson scored the final goal of the game with nine minutes left in the opening period to hand the Harvest a loss.
The Yorkton head coach didn't believe his squad was too tired from playing back-to-back games in two nights. He simply felt they weren't ready for the match, giving up an early lead that sealed their fate.
"I think the start wasn't us being tired, it was just not being mentally ready to go," says Odgers. "We pretty much handed them three goals at the start of the game. We found a way to battle back and get some shots and create some stuff, but against a team as good as Moose Jaw it is hard to come back against them."
The win was extra sweet for Moose Jaw as the Harvest beat them 3-2 in their own rink the last time these two teams met on Dec. 9.
The 11-14-2-2 Harvest now sits in seventh spot in the league. They're one-point up on the eighth-place Notre Dame Argo, three-points ahead of the ninth-spot Saskatoon Blazers, and seven-points back of the Trojans for sixth spot.
Every one of Yorkton's 15 remaining regular-season games is crucial to them capturing a top-eight playoff spot, especially their next game on Wednesday, Jan. 9 against the Argos in the Farrell Agencies Arena.
"If you look at the standings, you see how bunched up it is," says Odgers. "It is going to be hard to get some separation. The speech before every game is going to be the same that this game is a very critical game."
