A Titanic Season If There Ever Was One: 2016 Grizzlies

To say that this past weekend was a bit of a rough one for the Victoria Grizzlies would be a massive understatement.  Facing the #5 Interior Division, Merritt Centennials on Saturday night and the #1 Mainland Division, Chilliwack Chiefs on Sunday afternoon, the Grizzlies came away with nothing but two more losses on the weekend's action.  They now sit in a tie at 46 points for the final playoff spot in the Island Division with Alberni Valley after a Bulldogs win on Sunday.  Yes times are certainly tough at the moment.  The good news is that now the club only has to worry about preparing for its unquestionable toughest road trip of the entire season: Cowichan Valley, Wenatchee, Penticton and Langley.

#2 Chuck Bennis wasn't the only Grizzly who had his hands full on Sunday afternoon vs The Chiefs

I have been asked by many of you in the last several days about what my thoughts are about this now season high 7 game losing streak.  Every time I start to form a thought about it all I can see is that notoriously famous image of Joe Namath on the sidelines of that Monday Night Football Game with Suzy Kolber many years ago.  "Suzy, the Jets are struuugellllling."

Joe Namath's famous moment with Suzy Kolber on MNF

Poor Suzy.  I always felt so bad for her in that interview.  But she handled it like the true pro that she is and Namath soon got sober and it all worked out in the end, but I digress.

You know I had more than a few conversations over the weekend with some hockey people around the league about the Grizzlies.  Let's just call them "unnamed BCHL sources" and leave it at that.  As I was trying to map out the current situation as I see with the Grizzlies, I kept going back to the RMS Titanic.  Yeah, that's right, the Titanic, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic.

A long series of errors was all it took to send Titanic to the bottom in April of 1912

Don't worry my metaphor confused the hell out of everyone else, you're not alone.

Believe it or not, many years ago I used to be a card carrying member of get this:  The Titanic Historical Society.  I am sure that they still exits somewhere and I don't have either the time nor the inclination to Google them at the moment.  But back in 1981, I was very proud to have had this little card in the sleeve of my wallet with my name on it.  The card read "Titanic Historical Society, Chicago Illinois".  Truth be told, I am only about 90% sure that they were out of Chicago but I don't really think that its all that important to my story.

For the past week or so now I have been noticing all these little things that the Grizzlies are not doing quite so well.  Sometimes its a big thing, like a bad penalty or sometimes its something small and subtle like a shift which went on just a bit too long.  It might be an injury or a mental lapse. Sometimes its something which happens on the ice.  Sometimes its something off the ice.  Sometimes its something I sense on the road or maybe something I see around the Q Centre.  It doesn't really matter, but I can see it.  I have even seen a few things in the Broadcast Booth that Yours Truly would like to do over again, if I am being honest.

It will take more than just #12 PJ Conlon scoring in 6 of his last 10 games to secure the Grizzlies a playoff spot

Do you know why almost 1,500 people died one night in April of 1912 in the frigid waters off of Newfoundland in the worst maritime disaster in history?  It wasn't just because of an iceberg.  It wasn't just because Fredrick Fleet up in the Crows Nest that night arrived on watch to discover that there were no binoculars for the lookouts to see approaching ice.  It wasn't just because Captain Smith (under great but subtle pressure from his bosses who were onboard) ordered that ship travel at top speed in an area know to have ice just so that a speed record to New York could be set.  No it wasn't just that boastful desire to provide The White Star Line with newspaper headlines to please its shareholders which killed all those passengers and crew.

Those people on the Titanic didn't lose their lives just because her builders, Harland and Wolff had failed to place the vertical bulkheads high enough to stop water from spilling aft should the forward part of the hull be breached.  It wasn't just the rivets from Belfast which were made of a cheaper steel to increase the profit margin in the great ship's construction.  Those people didn't die that night just because she didn't have enough lifeboats either.  And perhaps most tragic of all, it wasn't because a nearby ship, the SS Californian, who was in visual sight of Titanic as she slowly sank, had turned off her Morse Code radios for the night because the regulations in those days permitted such lunacy.

Passing ships mistakenly thought Titanic's distress flares were mere company signals and paid no attention as disaster loomed in the still and frigid waters of the North Atlantic

No, sadly the tragic lesson of the Titanic was that it took all of those things and many more to conspire to sink that great ship and send all those poor souls to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.  You see, it wasn't just the one thing that went wrong that night.  It was a little bit of all those things.

And that's where the Grizzlies are at the moment.  They are a club who are struggling through a very tough slump to be sure, the worst stretch in many years and one which could cost the team a spot in the BCHL Playoffs.  In my humble view, the Grizzlies are dealing with a whole bunch of little things quite frankly, none of which are going right at the moment.

Whatever the issues are, the answers are in that organization, not just the Dressing Room.  A 7 game winning streak in January is proof that the ability to win is still very much in place.  But everyone and I do mean everyone, over these final six games will need to pull a little harder and do his or her job just a little better than they did yesterday.  We are each going to have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and simply get on with it pure and simple.  And that includes me too by the way.

I like that line from that Stanley Kubrick 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket.  "Yep, this is one big sh#t sandwich and we're all gonna have to take a bite."

Actor R. Lee Ermey, a former USMC Drill Instructor, ad libbed most of his lines in Kubrick's classic tale of Vietnam   

So I hope that you will all follow along in this final chapter of the Regular Season as the Grizzlies fight for their very playoff lives.  I will certainly do my part to keep you appraised of how it goes.  My sense is that the Grizzlies will find a way to make sure that Fredrick Fleet has a good pair of binoculars before he goes on watch. I also think that the Captain will exercise good judgement as he negotiates his hockey club through a treacherous ice field on a moonless night, without even so much as a breath of air.

And when the whole tumultuous season is over, no matter what happens, I think I might just look up that group of geeky Titanic enthusiasts with whom I used to swap stories with way back in the day. I wonder if they will charge me very much for a membership card which I suspect is very much in arrears?  Until then I will talk to you tomorrow night from "The Stick" in Cowichan.  -CC

Too Soon To Be Talking Playoffs? I Don't Think So

Well folks, it is officially on.  I am talking about the run to the playoffs.  And yes, I am aware that it is December 16th. 

 

Coming off a solid run in November but with two recent weekend home losses, if there was anyone who thought that the Grizzlies would simply stroll their way into 2nd, 3rd or even maybe 1st place in the Island Division anytime soon, those people are now pretty quiet.  But its not all bad.  The Victoria Grizzlies are now officially embroiled in what may be the most exiting playoff race in years.  Frankly, I think the whole thing is good news and is something to embrace.

 

With the Alberni Valley Bulldogs' huge Monday Night Hockey win a few days ago vs the road trip beleaguered Trail Smoke Eaters, the Grizzlies now stand precipitously close to falling out of a playoff spot as they sit just one point ahead of the Bulldogs.  It sets up a literally massive road game on Thursday night for the Grizzlies.

 

And that is my point in this week's blog, this year is all about the season, it’s about the journey, not the destination.  This is arguably one of the most exiting regular seasons I can remember in years. Sure the Grizzlies have had their struggles, but man this is fun.  The Grizzlies are literally fighting for their playoff lives each and every night and so too are many of the other clubs in this amazing Island Division.  Somebody will miss the playoffs on the island, but who?  Alberni Valley?  They could miss out but they just keep winning, they just won't go away.  The Grizzlies?  Maybe, but the team is just way too good to not qualify for the post-season in my opinion.  Could it be Powell River which ends up in that 5th spot?  I don't see that frankly, they play way too well at home.  Cowichan Valley?  No way, not unless something really bad happens at the ISC this season and that just isn't in the cards in my view.  And the Clippers, well they are well ahead in first place and going nowhere soon.

 

I see this as a simple two way race for that final 4th spot in the island Division.  The race is squarely between the Bulldogs and the Grizzlies and frankly I expect it to come right down to the wire.  With a 2-0 shutout loss to the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night at the Q Centre in front of a sparse and nearly silent Q Centre crowd, the Grizzlies opened the playoff door for the Bulldogs.  After losing again the next day to the visiting West Kelowna Warriors, that playoff door opened even more.  And with no less than 3 games in hand by Alberni Valley heading in to Thursday's crucial showdown at the Weyerhaeuser  Arena, the pressure on the Grizzlies is mounting.  But that's what the regular season is all about.  Frankly, if I was a Grizzlies season ticket holder, I would be so exited, you couldn't drag me away from the Q Centre.  This year, literally every game, every point counts.  That 2OT home loss to Nanaimo two weeks ago and the single point the Grizzlies earned as a result is all which separates the two clubs in the standings.  And that's where the average fan comes in, the average fan can actually make a difference this year.  The noise in the Q Centre could be a key factor as we approach the stretch run.

 

Look, let's not mince words, it was a bit like a library in the Q Centre on Saturday night for the Wenatchee Wild and that was disappointing for everyone.  The fact is that there were just way too many fans (6,600) downtown at The Royals game enjoying their Teddy Bear Toss Night, full stop.  That’s what happens on certain nights in a town like Victoria with no less than 7 junior hockey teams.  So all I will say is great job to the few die hard Grizzlies fans who did show up on the weekend, well done to those fans.

 

Now here is a stat which might surprise you:  the Grizzlies are 7 wins out of 21 attempts vs clubs with a better than a .500 record.  That's means that the Grizzlies have no better than a 33% chance of beating teams with winning records.  That’s not so good.  When the Grizzlies play teams with records less than .500 they are a little better but not much, 6/15 which is a winning percentage at around a 40% clip.  Maybe none of that is very good, but does any of that really matter now? 

 

The fact is that the Grizzlies are very competitive as of late vs the teams which really matter, the Powell River Kings (4-1) and the Cowichan Valley Capitals (3-3).  And with recent dominant performances vs the Alberni Valley Bulldogs including last Tuesday’s 4-2 win on home ice and the 28 Nov 4-2 Q Centre win, the Grizzlies should be able to keep this going and make those win/loss stats mean very little.  But it’s going to be tight.  I truly believe that this season will likely come down to the final week to decide all the playoff spots in the Island Division.

 

 

ALONG THE DASHERS:

 

The Grizzlies now have an open roster spot for a forward now that #9 Haydn Hopkins has departed for the OHL's Erie Otters.  Luckily Head Equipment Manager, Mel Smith had only stitched a single Home jersey for the player who only played but a single game as a Grizzly at 1 GP, 0 G, 0A, -1.  The question now will be who will Coach Didmon sign, an impactful 20 year old or a young player for the future?  My guess is that he will probably first call up a few AP forwards like Cory Hatcher or Nathan Gelsinger from the Westshore Wolves to help get a handle on his local prospects.  Both players are lighting it up in the VIJHL.  Watch this space.

 

This season wearing #26, Mitchell Barker, could be a key veteran vs the Bulldogs down the stretch

So the club is now less than 24 hours away from what is easily the biggest game of the season, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Thursday night.  The Grizzlies haven’t had a lot of success at the Weyerhaeuser this season in two early season visits, both losses, so they will  have to bring their A game on Thursday if they expect to get anything out of this huge 4 point game.

 

Oh BTW, if you haven't seen this Grizzlies Christmas video yet, give it a gander:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJf5T3FZhY  Roy our video guys did more of his magic.  Great job Roy and to everyone in the organization who participated again this year! -CC