In early December, the Yorkton Harvest visited the Moose Jaw Generals and stole three of four points. Despite not seeing the Harvest for a month, those two games were in the back of the Generals players’ minds when they took to the ice on Sunday afternoon in Yorkton.
“We talked about it before the game that we weren’t very good the last time and they took three of four in our rink, so we had to return the favour,” stated Generals head coach Ray Wareham. “I thought we got off to a good start and got some breaks and goals early. We just fed off that and everyone relaxed after that.”
The Generals scored three goals in the first period and Ryland Pashovitz earned a shutout in a 3-0 win over the Harvest.
“I thought we came out flying in the first period and were really good. We got out to a good jump with three goals in just over six minutes into the game,” he said. “We then settled in. The second period was a bit scrambly and ugly, but I thought in the third, we played well and did just enough to get through with the win.”
Rhett Gardner returned to the Generals lineup after being in Quebec over the break at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and scored two goals, including an unassisted goal. Stephen Wilson also scored unassisted.
Pashovitz made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Grant Naherniak got his first Western Hockey League win over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday evening and should be returning to the Generals some time this week.
“I thought Ryland has been good all year for us, but I thought that Regina weekend that we won back-to-back games was a turning point. He has stepped up his play and he has the ball right now and he is taking a run with it,” Wareham said. “It bodes well for us in the future that we have two guys that we can rely on.”
The Generals held the Harvest to just four shots in the first period and six shots in the final frame. They didn’t get a lot of chances on Pashovitz, who only had to make one big save, Wareham stated.
“I thought we did a good job on the back check, supporting the puck and chipping pucks out,” he said. “We did a good job of keeping them to the outside and not getting to the middle of the ice.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
