The Yorkton Harvest hit the road this past weekend for a pair of games against the SMAAAHL bottom dwelling Swift Current Legionnaires on Saturday and Sunday and returned with two big victories, 3-1 and 5-2.
The pair of wins gives the Harvest a 12-15-4-2 record and more importantly puts them just three points back of the seventh place Saskatoon Contacts (14-12-2-3) with 11 games remaining in regular season play.
Saturday's game
It appeared as if Yorkton's old nemesis, penalties, would hurt them again as Swift Current's powerplay opened the scoring. With 8:23 remaining Legionnaires Tristan Hermanson beat Carson Bogdan for a 1-0 home side lead. A lead that would last through the remainder of the period as the Harvest trailed by one after 20 minutes of play.
Whatever Head Coach Dan Cross said to his team in the first intermission seemed to work as the Harvest came out firing, resulting in a quick second period goal. Oxbow native Tanner Jeannot put his 12th goal of the season past Swift Current goaltender Kyle Zinger to draw the Harvest even at one.
Try as they might the Harvest could not solve Zinger again in the middle frame, however they did manage to beat him once more in the third. Turner Ottenbreit continued his torrid offensive pace since returning from the WHL by wiring his eighth of the season past Zinger for a 2-1 Harvest lead just three minutes into the third period. An empty net goal by Logan Leslie, his third of the season, sealed the deal for the Harvest.
Bogdan picked up the win turning aside 32 shots to improve to 5-12-3 on the season while Zinger suffered the loss between the Swift Current pipes.
Sunday afternoon
The Harvest and Legionnaires met once again in a Sunday matinee game and while the time was different the result was the same as the Harvest trounced Swift Current by a score of 5-2.
Yorkton's Logan Leslie potted his third of the campaign to give the visiting side a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
Carter Doerksen answered for Swift Current via the powerplay to make it 1-1 but the Harvest responded with a powerplay goal of their own not long after as Jaden Kreklewich slipped his eighth of the season past Zinger to make it 2-1.
Swift Current's Hermanson drew the home team even with his second goal in as many games to send the game into the first intermission tied at two.
Marc Shaw would put the Harvest ahead for the third and final time early in the second period with his seventh goal of the season to make it 3-2.
Harvest leading scorer Chase McKersie made it 4-2 before the second period ended with his 14th of the season while Korwin Shewchuk rubbed salt in the Swift Current wounds with his sixth goal of the season with a third period Harvest powerplay marker that made it 5-2, which ultimately ended up being the final. Carson Bogdan picked up the win, his second of the weekend, while Kyle Zinger once again registered the loss.
The two wins give the Harvest three in their last four games, something that Harvest head coach Dan Cross feels is due to his team keeping its composure, something that the Harvest have struggled with at times this season. "I thought our boys composed themselves a lot better and I think as a result, because of that, we were able to kill off a couple of penalties and be successful with a 5-2 win on Sunday and a 3-1 win on Saturday."
Cross also mentioned that his team got stellar goaltending from Carson Bogdan this past weekend, which is something that he expects out of one of the top skilled netminders in the league. "Bogdan had a great weekend in both games stopping 32 and 27 shots," said Cross. "His performance was a big reason why we got two wins this weekend. Seeing as we are going into our last quarter of the season, his play in net should be beneficial."
Next action
The next game for the Yorkton Harvest (12-15-4-2) will be Sunday, January 26 when they visit the Regina Pat Canadians (16-12-3-1).
The next home action for the Harvest will be Wednesday, January 29 when they welcome those same Pat Canadians to the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Game time for the Wednesday game is set for 8:00p.m.
