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(GRADED) Deep Dive #2 - Great Falls Grizzlies
#1
(This post was last modified: 05-13-2022, 04:05 AM by Opera_Phantom. Edited 1 time in total.)

Hi all, i hope you all have a good day?

For my second deep dive i have decided to deep dive into the team that drafted me in the last SMJHL Draft: The Great Falls Grizzlies. They are a great mystery to me, so i thought it would be good to get to know them better. Offcourse the extra TPE you earn a long the way is a nice bonus Wink

Okay, so why not begin with the start?


The Foundation

On June 23rd 2021, the league announced that the SMJHL would expand from 12 to 14 teams.
On August 5th 2021, the name of Great Falls Grizzlies was revealed in the podcast Hockey Talk Tonight #57
The first GM named was Geekusoid, now refered to as @Chevy. He is still the GM of the team, leading the team into its 5th season. Grizzlies inaugural season was season 61.

Expansion Draft

Alright, i already mentioned about the expansion. On August 20th, 2021 the Great Falls Grizzlies selected their first crop of players in an expansion draft together with another new team, Regina Elk. Grizzlies had the honor to select first and they picked C Ricky McDangle from the Colorado Raptors, a player that is still active and just is over 1000 TPE. In total the Grizzlies selected 6 players, the other selections were: LD Arturs Tumovs (from Anaheim), RD Janne Virtanen (from Maine Timber), LD Daryl Urquhart (from St.Louis Scarecrows), LW Janis Lux (from Anchorage Armada) and LW Gerry Atrick (from Kelowna Knights).

S61 Entry Draft

After the expansion, the Grizzlies selected 3 more players in the S61 Entry Draft, including Frederico Von Schnicktenburg (@Durden, the current co-GM) and goalie Brick Wall. After the draft they added several FA’s to fill up their roster.

Season By Season Result

S61: 9th (30-34-2 / -27) | Playoffs: lost in round 2 against Vancouver (1-4)

A decent first season as they finished above their expansion draft partner Regina Elk (11th). Janis Lux finished the season as Grizzlies first top scorer: 20 goals, 39 assists and 59 points. Till this day this is still a record. No one else scored more points for the Grizzlies in one season.

S62: 8th (38-27-1) / +40) | Playoffs: lost in round 1 against Nevada (0-4)

They got a little stronger with 38 wins and a +40 goal difference. Unfortunately they got kicked out of the playoffs in the first round. Top scorer in this season was C Grogu Mandosson, 20 goals, 36 assists, 56 points.

S63: 3rd (40-20-6) / +53) | Playoffs: lostin finals against Newfoundland (1-4)

In S63 the Great Falls Grizzlies had their strongest season in history as they finished 3rd in the regular season and reached the Playoffs Finals. Giannis Kroustis was a major piece in this success leading the team in points both in the regular season and playoffs.

S64: 10th (29-31-6) / -18) | Playoffs: -

S64 was Great Falls Grizzlies worst season. Finished 10th and missed out the playoffs. Despite that 5 players finished the season with more than 50 points, which broke their record of 4 (S63)

Current Season and Future

S65 will be a tough season for the Grizzlies. They peaked in S63 and to accomplish that they sacrified a lot of future assets. Obviously they are rebuilding now. That was painful noticeable in last season. They need to hit with every draft pick they still have to turn things around quickly. One thing is clear, every rebuild starts with a good goalie and it looks like they have picked the right guy. One stone set in the new building block, lets see how quickly they can build the powerhouse again like they were in S63.



Stars | Player | Update Thread | Gordie#6746 | Manual Lineup Sheet | HockeyNation | Grizzlies
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#2

@gordieboom APPROVED! +5 TPE
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#3

This is great!
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