The Great Falls Grizzlies at this point sit 2nd to last in the entire league through the opening 8 matches of the S68 SMJHL season. Things will probably not get that much better for the squad but this year isn’t about winning anyway. The more important thing this year is the growth and development of a team together that with good planning and execution can hope to challenge for a championship in a couple seasons time. Why you may ask? Well let us take a look at the roster of the teams in the SMJHL to learn why.

We will focus in particular on the S69 draft class, the most recent crop of players. The Grizzlies have 5 players from the S69 class and 4 of those are over 200 TPE and all of them are still considered active. The only teams that had as many or more selections in the draft this past season were Kelona who took 6 players (4 are over 200 TPE, but all 6 are listed active), and the other team is St.Louis who took 7 players (6 are over 200 TPE and 7 are active). Being in arguably the 2nd or 3rd best position right after a draft is a really nice place to be for your future.

Now, the number of players you have doesn't matter if they don't earn. Well i am here to prove that they earn as well as just have a sheer volume of folks that are still around.

Let’s start at the tippy top. This class got really spread out in terms of who the top earners are but, Great Falls is the only team with 2 of the top 8 earners from S69 thus far. Pork Tenderloin (Rankle) is 4th in TPE on 232..just 6 back of the leader who is on 238. Then in 8th Tiberius Kane (Premier Bromanov) on 230.. Just 8 back of the leader. The other skater above 200 TPE is James Dion, myself at 204 35th in the class. The Grizzlies also have a goalie settled long term. With Copernicus Doomslatter sitting at 20th in the class at 218 TPE.

The Grizzly Cubs are a mighty bunch this season and don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. Last piece of this I want to bring up is just how the treasure state team found some of it’s treasure and two pieces in particular that were diamonds in the rough if you will. These two were taken well below the position in the class in the draft. James Dion is not as large but still he was undervalued it looks so far. 35th in the class and taken 44th overall. That’s a 3rd round talent out of a 4th. But, the big one is Tenderloin. Rankle’s player flew so far under the radar he went 27th in the draft and is now (as mentioned above) 4th. That’s a 23 spot jump, a bottom 2nd rounder earning like a top 5 pick is not too shabby eh?

That’s a deeper look into the great class of S69 for your Great Falls Grizzlies. Chevy and go did a wonderful job and I hope this deep dive has highlighted why.

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@Leatherneckmike APPROVED! +5 TPE