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(GRADED) Deep Dive #2 - The Bear Cubs First Steps
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(This post was last modified: 01-02-2023, 05:50 PM by Scrufdaddy. Edited 1 time in total.)

Now that the season’s over and the Grizzlies aren’t in the playoffs I think it’s a good time to take a look at how the young Grizzlies performed in their freshman season. Being a rookie even in the SMJHL can be a rough time and not everyone comes out of their rookie season feeling like they did what they set out to do. I think one of the better ways to analyze the success of a rookie is to see how they’ve excelled at what they actually wanted to do, rather than analyze how good of a hockey player they were overall. I’d wager that very few rookies come out and are able to be great, well rounded 200 foot players on the ice for 66 games a season, and not everyone even wants to be that in the first place! So without further adieu, let’s talk rooks.

G: 26 | W-L: 9-11 | SV%: 0.884 | GAA: 3.45 | SO: 1
The Great Falls Grizzlies had 5 rookies this season. Two defensemen, two forwards, and a goaltender. I think we should start with their goaltender, Copernicus Doomslatter. Doomslatter came out of the draft touted as a goalie that was rarely out of position and could react and recover to make up for the few times he was caught off guard. Anything up high he was likely to get in front of, but down low is when the trouble began. Over the course of his initial season he played in 26 games and posted a 9-11 record with a 0.884 save percentage and a 3.45 goals against average, as well as one shutout. That save percentage and goals against average was good for 16th in the league in both categories among goaltenders to play at least 10 games. Overall, I’d say Doomslatter was a good goaltender in his rookie campaign and there is tons of room for him to improve.

G: 14 | A: 14 | +/-:  -31 | SB: 52 | Hits: 115 | TA: 32 | GA: 54
Tiberius Kane
First up for the forward group is left winger Tiberius Kane. Kane came into the draft touted as an offensive winger who could both play the puck and let it rip, but seemed to lack some of the finer defensive qualities. His best ability is no doubt his high hockey IQ which allows him to set up plays easily. In his rookie campaign he was even on goals and assists, sitting at 14 each. He also knew how to lay the body, racking up 115 hits. 52 shots blocked ain't too shabby but significantly more giveaways than takeaways and a -31 aren’t great. If he can rack up more points in his subsequent seasons I think Kane will be a force to be reckoned with. He seems to be a good model for a power forward in today’s game and I think we have a lot left to see from Kane.

G: 12 | A: 27 | +/-: -12 | SB: 11 | Hits: 79 | TA: 40 | GA: 37 | FO%: 55.9
The other rookie forward for the Grizzlies this season was center James Dion. Dion has some of the silkiest gloves of the rookie class and it shows on the scorecard. He managed to rack up more almost 30 assists and also had more takeaways than giveaways by a slim margin. Dion is a defensively responsible centerman that can set up plays and do what he needs to do to put his team in a good position. Additionally he has shown incredible prowess in the faceoff circle, winning 55.9% of the draws he took. That’s just 0.1% shy of best on the team among players who had more than 300 faceoffs.

G: 2 | A: 15 | +/-: -22 | SB: 202 | Hits: 93 | TA: 25 | GA: 15
Next up on the block will be the defensemen group. The first one we’re going to be talking about is Matt Ox who had a decent rookie campaign to my eye. Any defenseman who blocks over 200 shots in a season has got to be doing something right in my eyes. His 202 was good for 6th overall in the league. Ahead of him was fellow rookie and teammate Pork Tenderloin and teammate Chris Valentine, who led the league in the category. On the offensive end Ox was serviceable, being able to set up forwards for good scoring opportunities here and there and even managing to clap a few bombs himself. Overall I think Ox had a good season and really most of the problems he had on the ice were likely more problems with the team than problems with Ox himself.

G: 3 | A: 17 | +/-: -11 | SB: 220 | Hits: 97 | TA: 41 | GA: 12
Last but not least is the meathead himself, Pork Tenderloin. Tenderloin was set out to be a defensive phenom and I think he had a decent go at it. His 220 shots blocked were good for 4th in the league and the most by a rookie in SMJHL history. 41 takeaways compared to just 12 giveaways is great and shows he can do a good job separating the other team from the puck. Not too shabby on the offensive end either, which was surprising as Tenderloin really did have no intention on doing much on the offensive end of the ice but it’s good to see that those skills can come into play as well. I’m extremely excited to see where he goes in the future and if he can possibly surpass his teammate Chris Valentine who set the SMJHL record for shots blocked at 260 this season.

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@Rankle APPROVED! +5 TPE

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