The Yorkton Harvest Midget AAA hockey club opened up the 2010-11 season on the road with games in Beardy's and Saskatoon, and came back home with a win and a loss.
Graham Garrett, Harvest head coach, said the mix of newcomers and veterans on this year's squad looks good. He said everyone seemed a little edgy in the opener against the Blackhawks but he also noted that they were just fine by the second period.
"I thought in the first game there's some nerves but as the weekend went on, guys got more comfortable."The Harvest were edged in Beardy's, 3-2, but rebounded with five goals Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon, skating to a 5-1 victory over the Blazers.
Beardy's has had a fairly solid team and Garrett said he doesn't think that will change this year.
"They're about the same as last year. The game could have gone either way."
Yorkton got scoring from seven different skaters throughout the opening weekend.
Sunday against the Blazers, the Harvest recorded at least 10 shots on goal in each period. Against the Blackhawks they had 10 shots in each period.
Rookie Ryley Stefanyshyn opened the scoring at 19:21 into the opening period and Levi Cable made it 2-0 exactly one period later. Collin Shirley got the home side on the scoreboard at 16:09 of the middle frame but Yorkton rookie Ben Johnstone made it 3-1 for the visitors with 25 seconds left in the second period on a power play.
Teammates Roddy Sewap and Devan Fafard round out the game's scoring with third-period markers.Harvest goaltender Kale Thomson recorded the win in net.
Garrett said Thomson was a big part of the win that game, saying he kept them in it throughout the first period and noted that there was a big penalty kill in the second period that saw Saskatoon go to work on a 5 on 3.
Against the Blackhawks on Saturday, the teams exchanged goals in the first period. Matthew Hildebrandt opened the scoring for Beardy's at 15:10 while John Odgers replied for Yorkton at 12:35 from Tanner LeSann.
Kade Halabuza tied the game after Beardy's took a 2-1 lead in the second period but they would notch the winner at 7:33 of the third when Chase Norrish gave Beardy's the lead for good.
NEW CAPTAINReplacing the departed Riley Storzuk as team captain will be Dustin Skilliter for the season, Garrett said.
NEXT ACTIONThe Harvest return back to Yorkton for their home opener scheduled for the first weekend of October when the Battleford Stars pay their one visit to the confines of the Farrell Agencies Arena Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.Ben Johnstone was voted the game's second star in both games.
