18. Milestones 1TPE

2. Looking Towards the Future

As we near the end of S75, the SMJHL draft will be happening soon. Going into next season, what are your team's biggest needs and areas of strength? Do any holes need to be filled with call-ups? Do you have a position that is incredibly stacked? Give us all an overview of your team, from top to bottom.

Great Falls is looking pretty good for next season.  We are only losing one player to call-up, Jani Manty. Granted he was second in team scoring this season, so that will be difficult to replace. Goalie Peter Parker retired at the end of the season, so we will most likely look for another goalie in this upcoming draft as well. We also lost David Doughty who is heading to Ottawa in the expansion draft.  Besides that, the entire team from last season will be back. So we will need to look for a forward, a defender and a goalie in the upcoming draft. Before we lost Manty, I would have said we were stacked at C, since as the 4th center I ended up playing on the wing for the past season.  Now we have 3 centers and so I should be able to move back to my natural position. (150 words, 3 TPE)

10. In the Zone

Some players are excellent in the regular season, however there are a certain few that really elevate their play in the playoffs. The pressure and the thought of winning it all really benefits some, while others just have that natural clutch factor, with a knack of showing up at the right times. Write about players who have been crucial to their team, or players that could be in contention for Playoffs MVP.

Xavier Beausoleil (COL) - Averaging well over a point a game in the regular season with 89 points, Xavier kept that hot streak going and certainly helped propel Colorado to the 4 Star Cup championship.  Leading all skaters in assists (23) points (32) and powerplay goals (4). Certainly a force to be reckoned with.


Napoleon Dinklage (COL) - Leading all defenders with 35 hits and a +13 rating, they certainly made their presence felt on the ice.  Lots of bruises for opposing players going up against the Raptors. Also had 8 helpers on the offensive side.


Timo Leppanen - (Maine) - Helping propel Maine to the semifinals against Newfoundland, Timo led all playoff goalies in GAA (2.11), SV% (0.939) and shutouts (2).  It took all seven games for Newfoundland to eliminate Maine and based on these statistics, if they had advanced it certainly seems like Maine could have made some noise in the finals. (150 words, 3 TPE)



8. An Alternate Timeline

If you weren't playing for your current team, which team would you most like to be playing for in the playoffs.  Explain why you chose that team and how you think you'd slot into their roster.  Would your player make a big impact on the team?  Would you improve their chances of winning a cup?

If I weren't playing for the Great Falls Grizzlies I'd have to assume I'd be playing for the St Louis Scarecrows.  My former player played there (canonically my current players Dad) so it would have fit for my second player to end up there as well. While St Louis is a young team, and going through a rebuild, I would probably have still slotted in as their 3rd line Center.  Assuming equal performances, my 42 points on the season would have been second best for St Louis last season.  I can't really say that I could have helped their chances at winning a cup since I'd think they were still fairly slim.  Perhaps would have won a few more games and done better than 15-50-1 but the odds were massively stacked against them, but they know this.  A couple rough seasons of a rebuild will pay huge dividends in the future and St Louis should rise to glory again soon. (160 words, 3 TPE)

9. What's in a Name?

A player name is the first of many steps that mark the start of a new SHL career. From meme names, real life references and parodies of hockey players, there are a wonderful assortment of names that can be found throughout the league. Which player(s) have the best name and why?

Oh what a great prompt, where to even begin.  Starting out with my "All Food Team" from an earlier PT we have Teemu Salami, John Peanut, Wonderbread, Sad Ketchup.  Bog Damsel is a great name.  I wonder if they were the one who was handing out swords in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. Wain Gretski is a clever nod to The Great One. Pique Boo is apparently a silent skater and has an ability to sneak up on people. Gewmba Stolemamoney seems like someone with an axe to grind.  Gewmba (Goomba?) better watch out. Jacques Hammer is a fun play on pronunciation, and I assume they are a heavy hitter. Jiggle E Puff and Slowpoke are both named after Pokemon, perhaps playing hockey is safer than fighting other Pokemon? Spack Jarrow sounds like someone who drinks even MORE than Jack Sparrow, if that's possible. But I would be remiss to not mention the absolute best name in the league. Future Considerations. (163 words, 3 TPE)

15. Charity Drive

Professional hockey players are among the luckiest members of a community, but not everyone is given the same opportunities. As such, many players are expected to give back to the community by volunteering their time and energy off the ice with various charitable organizations. Write about a charity or event that your player helped out with.

Leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Great Falls Grizzlies held a "Feed your neighbors" event where there were good donation bins at the games the week before the holiday.  At the end of the week, the collected food was donated to a local food bank for people in need.  The team also used the day of from playing to serve a Holiday dinner at a local homeless shelter.  The shelter cooked up a traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies and all kinds of other holiday favorites.  The club paid for the food and also provided a huge stack of pumpkin pies for dessert.  Great Falls is a small community and the Grizzlies are a huge part of the community providing entertainment and fun for local residents, but its incredibly important to provide nourishment as well. Feeding people is an easy way to make everyone feel included, especially around a major holiday. (153 words, 3 TPE). 

16 total.