The Jungle Is Dead: A Cyclone Taylor Cup For The Ages

For friends of the Grizzlies/Salsa organization, when you bring up the subject of the old 1961 built Archie Browning Memorial Arena in Esquimalt BC, there are some not-so-fond memories of a tough non-playoff season which the Salsa spent there in 2003.  It was that year when their former and long time home on Blanchard Street, the venerable Memorial Arena (built in 1951) was demolished in favour of a new multi-purpose arena, built on the same site. 

Built in 1951, Memorial Arena witnessed the Salsa win the Fred Page Cup in 2001, you can still smell the onions cooking

The new building would come to be known as Save On Foods Memorial Centre and it serves to this day as Victoria's centerpiece in terms of multi-purpose arenas.  It is bigger, supposedly better and I will admit it is just great for a Shania Twain or Def Lepard concert.  It even has a $120,000 commissioned modern art piece outside the building which leaves nearly every visiting hockey fan a moment to pause and be grateful for the many tax dollars assigned to such a pretentious display of technical and artistic malfeasance. 


SOFMC complete with modern art which truly captures the "spirit" of Blanchard Street

To the sculptor's great credit however, the piece does serve as a wonderfully inspired monument for the many other Victoria natives who enjoy the contemplation and interpretation of its design while legally consuming their "medicinal supply" from one of the city's many "tree dispensaries".  But if you just want to watch a hockey game, even a WHL Royals game, the new confines in my humble view always fall short in terms of atmosphere.

Mowry Baden’s abstract sculpture Pavilion, Rock and Shell, unveiled outside Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in 2003

Meanwhile back at The Arch in Esquimalt, atmosphere has never been an issue.  By 2004 they would use the old seats from the original Memorial Arena to re-furnish the confines of the old rink on Esquimalt Rd.  Furthermore, the Township of Esquimalt in 2015 upgraded the building to give it a nice, bright and modern exterior look along with some new internal work.  All of this was completed just in time for the VIJHL Victoria Cougars to be granted the rights to host the 2016 BC Jr B Hockey Championships, aka The Cyclone Taylor Cup (CTC) from 8-11 April, 2016.  Plus it has a nice little McDonald's restaurant adjoining the rink for a quick post game snack.

The new and beautiful exterior look of the Archie Browning, host of the 2016 Cyclone Taylor Cup

I have often said that the unfair narrative of Jr B Hockey in BC is that it is too rough, poorly run, too cheap and featuring a vastly lower quality of play.  Many refer to the three Jr. B leagues in the province as "The Jungle".  I for one have never bought into that "Jungle" narrative and I can tell you that after witnessing first hand all eight games of the 2016 CTC this past weekend, that story is getting kind of old.  Frankly, it's just not true, not even close.  So while I don't usually spend a lot of time on this Grizzlies blog site writing about Junior B, today I shall.  Hopefully by the end of this piece you will understand why.  For Grizzlies fans the story I am about to tell has plenty of direct lines to their team and hopefully, it may portend a story which might one day become a dream come true at The Q Centre.  But mostly, it should underline a view I have long maintained:  The Jungle is dead.

The cozy confines of The Arch. The North Stand at left was home this weekend to +250 Wrangler fans

Look, I won't try and cover up the fact that if you asked me a week ago to tell you everything that I knew at the time about the 100 Mile House Wranglers, you would likely have left the conversation a bit underwhelmed at my knowledge of this plucky little club from the South Cariboo.  In fact, my only visits to the town comprise of little more than simply passing through its darkened streets during the Grizzlies annual trek up the Cariboo Highway to Prince George to play the Spruce Kings once per year.  Truth be told, when I was asked over a year ago to help out with the broadcast of this past weekend's CTC, I would later have to do a little scrambling to dig up what I could on the Wranglers.  As The Wranglers suddenly emerged as KIJHL Champions defeating the favored Kimberley Dynamiters 4-1 in their series in early April, I certainly was rapidly trying to learn whatever I could about "The Wrangler Nation".

I have to say that when I walked into the Archie on Thursday afternoon in anticipation of the first of four straight days of CTC play, the first thing that I saw was this entity known as "The Wrangler Nation".  I almost stopped in my tracks.  There I saw almost 250+ visiting Wrangler fans, all jammed into the seats in the North End of "The Arch".  It was a sight to behold and a reminder to everyone what small town hockey is all about and why tournaments like the CTC are more than just special, they are in fact a celebration of the game we all love.  All weekend the Wrangler Nation would rock the North End Stands of The Archie.  The town's rather large travelling throngs would in fact represent 40% of all pre-tourney ticket sales for the entire tournament, an amazing feat.

Sunday morning's 10:00 am Bronze Medal game between CR Storm and Mission City Outlaws

By now, you all would know that the Championship Game ended 5-4 in favour of the Wranglers over the much favoured and offensively dominant Victoria Cougars.  It was a wild affair and in proper fashion it went right down to the wire.  The last time I can recall that type of anticipation and energy in a Victoria hockey building was the 2001 Victoria Salsa vs the Merritt Centennials in that Fred Page Cup Classic in the old Memorial Arena on Blanchard Street.   And yes, I am mindful and have been present at most of this year's action with the WHL Victoria Royals as they are poised to maybe bring serious hockey hardware back to Vancouver Island and that is great news of course.  But once again, in my view there is just a general lack of atmosphere downtown at the antiseptic like Save On Foods.  They don't even cook the onions.

Nope, for me this was way, way better.  Here you had two teams from two different leagues fighting it out in front of a nearly packed barn in Esquimalt on a Sunday afternoon.  And the Wrangler Nation simply stole the show.  Everywhere you looked, all you could see along that North End was a sea of navy blue, yellow, silver and white along with flags, signs, placards and one hell of a lot of noise.  It was pandemonium, sheer bedlam at times. 

Forward Nick McCabe got things going early with the first goal of the game for the Wranglers and the game would continue to go the way of the underdogs in spite of some Cougars push back in Period #3.  Only seconds into the final frame, the Wranglers would strike again.  This time it was on the PP, with former Victoria Grizzlies player and 2 time February call up, Nathan Looysen in the penalty box from a late 2nd period penalty.  3-1 was the score at that point of the game and with the superb play of goaltender Zane Steeves (eventual tournament MVP) holding back the Cougars, you began to think that the Wranglers were perhaps on their way to a big upset.  But after 3 straight unanswered Cougars goals from Dom Kolbiens, Jordan Passmore (with an assist from Grizzlies AP Nico Sommerville) and John Kretzschmar, the favoured Cougars were back in front with only about 7:26 left on the clock.

Meanwhile back on the Wranglers bench the jovial and upbeat but equally pragmatic Head Coach, Dale Hladun simply looked at his team and smiled.  He looked at his beleaguered charges as they had suddenly surrendered the lead to the powerhouse Cougars and said:  "Fellas, why do you look so sad, cheer up, what else is new?  We've been making it hard on ourselves all year, why stop now?  This is how we do it.  This is how we always win, the hard way.  This is Wranglers hockey.  Now come on, let's go!"

And remember too that the Cougars were without the services of two of the most important pieces to their 2016 VIJHL title.  Gone was #1 net-minder and Peoria, Arizona native, Anthony Cuirro. He had had unfortunately broken his collar bone during a routine shot from a teammate no less, during warmup on Friday night.  Also gone was top Cougar defenseman, Austin Wilk, who was suspended for a hit to the head penalty from the Saturday night game.  Those two moments on consecutive nights for the Cougars would come to help spell disaster on Sunday afternoon.  The Cougars, who had breezed through the Round Robin without even a single loss were simply always chasing the Championship game or so it seemed.

And then suddenly it happened.  With just under 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd period and with the Cougars holding a lead in the title game for less than 2 minutes, the Cougars would surrender the puck just to the right of their new #1 goalie, Gregory Maggio.  And you could not have coughed up the puck to any Wrangler more dangerous than #19 Brett Harris who quickly roofed the puck over Maggio and the game was tied again at 4-4.  The Wrangler Nation exploded and the McDonald's customers on the other side of the adjoining wall of the north end "The Arch" complained to the 15 year old management team that the noise and vibration coming through the walls of the building was so severe it was upsetting their enjoyment of their Happy Meals.  Overtime loomed large.

Happy Meal sales dropped to near zero during the CTC anytime the Wrangler Nation were shaking the walls of The Arch

But overtime would never be needed in the end.  With a late penalty to 20 year old Jordan Passmore for head contact, the Wranglers went back on the PP.  With just 55 secs remaining in the game, Ryan Friesen would get a side board feed from former BCHL alumnus and Alberni Bulldog Tyler Povelofskie and fire home the go ahead marker. The McDonald's Happy Meals were rocking and rolling on the other side of the north end wall all over again.  Moments later, the 100 Mile House Wranglers, a club which wasn't even in existence in that town less than 4 years ago, were 2016 Cyclone Taylor Cup Champions.


The 2016 CTC Champs, 100 Mile House Wranglers. "Wrangler Nation" in background

For most in attendance, it was one of the most exiting Cyclone Taylor's in many years.  For me, the honour of interviewing family and friends of the Wranglers, tears in the eyes of many was a moment I will never forget.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you that almost everyone along that North End Stand were in tears of joy.  No question about it, that old false narrative about Jr B hockey, that Jungle stuff, it just ain't true.  These kids can flat out play.  The Jungle is well and truly dead.

The moment every team dreams of: Provincial Champions!

Afterwards as I walked out to my car in the parking lot, I made sure that I did three quick things before I left rink.  First I went over to the Wranglers bus, offered my sincere congratulations and wished Coach Hladun and the whole team good luck in this weekend's upcoming Keystone Cup in Regina Sask as the much deserving representatives of the province of BC.  Next in an effort to stimulate my blog writing I stuck a yellow sticky from my briefcase on the centre of my steering wheel with the words "The Jungle is Dead".  And last but not least, just for craps and giggles, I swung into Chez Ron's along the north side of The Archie and picked up a Happy Meal for the long drive home.  Go Wranglers! -CC

The Saddest Win I Ever Saw

The weekend could not have gone any worse, so I won't take a long time describing it in painful detail for you Grizzlies fans out there.  Most of you reading this saw it first hand.  But for the fans of the other teams who read this blog and probably enjoy a sense of schadenfreude over such a tough ending, I will do my best to provide you with the facts as I saw it from the Broadcast booth.

You know the weekend started with such promise, with the Grizzlies hosting Powell River on Friday night, a team the Grizzlies had played very well against all year entering play with a 5-2 record.  Well it only took 14 seconds for the Grizzlies to surrender the first goal and to find out that Powell River wasn't going to roll over and play possum.  And it kind of went downhill from there. 

With nothing to play for, some fans felt Powell River might not ice a very strong team.  As for the Grizzlies and the Alberni Valley Bulldogs however, all three of the Kings' weekend matchups would have tremendous impact in how the Island Division Playoffs were concerned.  The last thing the Grizzlies wanted to do on Friday night was to hand Head Coach Kent Lewis and the Powell River Kings the keys to the Grizzlies' Playoff Bus.  Soon both teams skated off the Q Centre Ice with the Kings enjoying a relatively easy 6-2 win over a February struggling Grizzlies squad.  Sadly those playoff bus keys were placed squarely in the hands of Kent Lewis and his Kings, arguably the most consistent Island Division team over the second half of the regular season.

The Kings consistency was the one bit of hope held by Grizzlies fans leaving the Q Centre on Friday night, that and Powell River's goal tending and skill level.  I even had a few fans say to me:  "Well look Clay, Powell River are so much better than the Bulldogs, there is just no way that they are going to lose both games in Alberni on Saturday and Sunday, back to back.  No way, it won't happen!  They are just too good.  They are 4-1-1 vs the Bulldogs, there's just no way they will lose two games to Alberni Clay."  I had about five or six fans remind me of those facts on Friday.  I too was more than hopeful.

And as everyone reading this knows, in less than 48 hours the Bulldogs would in fact win two back to back games over the powerhouse Kings.  To many with whom I spoke, it was as though it was written in the stars.  I actually went up to Alberni Valley on Saturday night with the night off just to watch it myself. I wanted to see if any of the conspiracy theories which I had heard about over the course of the past couple of weeks from a large number of folks could have any validity.

Frankly, I just didn't believe any of that nonsense. For the record, I have never prescribed to conspiracy theories.  I don't believe in Bigfoot or UFOs.  I once met Buzz Aldrin and I can tell you that I do believe firmly that 12 Americans walked on the moon between July 1969 and Dec of 1972.  I also believe that Oswald acted alone.

You only have to talk to Buzz Aldrin for about 5 seconds to know that on 20 July, 1969 he was there. 

Call me old fashioned, call me what you want, but I just don't buy into to any of that malarkey.

What I saw in Alberni that night was a Powell River team who looked like they were mailing it in.  That's sure what it looked like.  I mean the shots were close, but the Kings were outplayed in every aspect of the game.  At one point in the first period, Kings' Backup goalie, Stephan Wornig (.914 season save percentage) had given up 4 goals on 12 shots before the refs called one back due to an Alberni crease violation.  On Sunday Wornig faced 61 Bulldog shots which is obscene, but he stopped 59 of them on that day.  Now does any of that constitute a second gunman at the Grassy Knoll?  Probably not.

Grassy Knoll?  Likely Not.  Kings' goalie Wornig was well off on Saturday, but solid on Sunday

I did see Kent Lewis standing at the top of the East Side Stand throughout the game talking to a few of his scouts.  In my view, letting his ACs run the show on the bench late in the season and playing a few APs is not unusual.  He never once ventured into the Kings Dressing Room from what I saw.  To that I would say by all means, it's the last couple of games of the season, no problem.   It's the perfect opportunity to let your young rookie coaches, get some experience in their first BCHL game.  What better way to help an AC learn how to coach a BCHL bench than to give that coach the keys to the team for a night?  I have little issue with any of that.  The game would end 6-2 and the Bulldogs found themselves back in a playoff spot with the 2 points on the win.

So those keys to the Grizzlies' Playoff Bus which I was talking about after the Friday loss to Powell River were most definitely not only out of the hands of the Grizzlies, they were now firmly in the hands of the AV Bulldogs.  Suddenly a single point on Sunday for Alberni would be all that would be required to secure a post season berth for the Bulldogs and complete the miraculous comeback from being down 8 points to the Grizzlies with less than three weeks to play.



I can confirm that there were no Bigfoot sightings on that long disappointing drive home from Alberni on Saturday night

And as we all know, that's what happened.  About halfway through the Grizzlies first period in Chilliwack we would find out that the Bulldogs game had gone to OT.  They would end up winning in OT vs a Powell River team who were outshot 61-25 in the contest, but by then the die was cast.  The stats didn't matter.  The automatic point for making it to OT was all that mattered and as they say, that's all she wrote.  The Bulldogs were in the playoffs and the Grizzlies were out.  No sour grapes, the Bulldogs earned 8 points in their final 5 games and the Grizzlies over the same number could only muster 4 points.  Them's the breaks.

But the players didn't seem to take much notice of the results in Alberni and quickly dispatched the Chilliwack Chiefs by a score of 8-5, enjoying their highest goal output of the entire year.  Cole Pickup had 4 goals and Captain PJ Conlon added 4 assists himself on his last game in Junior Hockey.  It was an inspiring performance by every Grizzlie player and while it was indeed the saddest win I ever saw, it was one of the proudest moments I ever had calling any game I can recall.

But what I appreciated all weekend was watching the Grizzlies support each other.  I enjoyed watching the vets take a moment in Chilliwack and just soak it all in.  Yes it was emotional and yes, for the 20 year olds especially, it was a season that ended several weeks too early.  But in the end I kept thinking about the big picture and about the 7 returning veterans and the 1-10 start, both of which haunted the Grizzlies all season long.  For me it really was just a bridge too far.

I am so proud of this fine group of young men and the effort they put in to come back from the worst start in franchise history and how close they came to making life very hard on the Nanaimo Clippers in Round 1, but alas, it just wasn't meant to be.  So I will talk to you all in a few weeks to properly dissect the season and share my thoughts about this brave, tight and plucky team. It was a team remember who in spite of everything, raised average attendances at the Q Centre from 881 per game last year to 1,161 in just one season.  And they managed all that with a .448 winning percentage, so they must have been doing something right.

This team may have lost the final battle, but they ended up winning the war.  They may not go down in history as the best team the Grizzlies/Salsa ever iced and no they didn't win The Fred Page Cup.  But they may just end up going down as the team that saved the franchise.  Well done Grizzlies, well done. -CC

Nick Jermain and Boston Bar: Improbable Grizzlies Destiny in 2016

In spite of starting the year with a record of 1-10 when this Grizzlies season is finally all over and sports writers sit down to dissect the year, I doubt many will remember the name Nick Jermain. The fact is that this Merritt Centennials forward might just go down as one of the most significant opposition players to have positively impacted a Grizzlies season in quite some time.  Few as well will remember a broken drive shaft bearing under the Grizzlies bus in Boston Bar, BC on a snowy Saturday night in January, but that too could prove to be of equal significance in a year which never ceases to amaze this writer.

 

Last Saturday night as the Grizzlies were travelling over the Coquihalla Connector after losing 5-0 to the Penticton Vees, Connecticut born Nick Jermain was busy just a few kilometers away as his Centennials trailed the visiting Alberni Valley Bulldogs late in the 3^rd period by a score of 2-1.  Had the score stood up, the Bulldogs would have overtaken the Grizzlies in the standings that night and taken over that 4^th and final playoff spot.  It was a massive moment for the Grizzlies and yet few if any Victoria fans had much knowledge of the name Nick Jermain.  With less than two minutes to play, it would be Jermain who would score for the Centennials with his team's net empty in favour of the extra attacker and force overtime.  Then, just moments into the first OT period Jermain would score again, denying the Bulldogs that vital second point of the night.  Alberni would remain tied in points with the Grizzlies at the conclusion of play on what to most would view as just another day in the regular season.  For Grizzlies fans, the moment was simply enormous.

		GP	W	L	OTL		PTS		GF	GA	DIFF	PCT
1	xy - Nanaimo Clippers	56	36	18	1		74		226	183	43	0.661
2	x - Powell River Kings	55	32	19	3		68		208	156	52	0.618
3	x - Cowichan Valley Capitals	56	27	23	3		60		182	191	-9	0.536
4	Alberni Valley Bulldogs	56	21	27	4		50		166	197	-31	0.446
5	Victoria Grizzlies	56	23	29	4		50		163	167	-4	0.446

 

(*even the league's web site shows the Grizzlies in 5th spot in the Island Division Standings which are so tight and confusing even BCHL computers can't get the tie-break formula straight.)

The Grizzlies now enter play in this final weekend of regular season action tied with Alberni Valley in points.  However the Grizz still enjoy the razor thin advantage of the first tie breaker by virtue of having won more games than the Bulldogs on the season.  Had the aforementioned Jermain not scored late in that 3^rd period, the Grizzlies would now trail the Dogs by a single point and no longer be in a position to control their own destiny.  Perhaps at no time in franchise history have the Grizzlies ever been involved in such a dramatic and potentially cataclysmic conclusion of a regular season.  With precisely two games left to play for each organization, the Grizzlies and the Bulldogs will each try and play their way into the 2015/16 BCHL playoffs with the winning prize being a first round matchup against the offensive powerhouse, Nanaimo Clippers.  To some that may seem like quite the underwhelming prize for such a daunting task, but for a Grizzlies team who essentially started the year with a single win in its first 11 games, that will probably suit them just fine.  Call it fate, but it’s just been that kind of a year.

 

This final chapter will all get underway on Friday night as the Grizzlies will host the Powell River Kings, a team with whom the Grizzlies have enjoyed some relative success thus far in 2015/16 with a 5-2 season series lead.  Powell River, secure in 2^nd place and with nothing to play for in terms of playoff position, will come to Vancouver Island with the ability to play the role of either “Spoiler” or “King Maker” for the Grizzlies or the Bulldogs.   The Kings will finish the weekend with two contests in Alberni Valley at the Weyerhaeuser Arena on Saturday and Sunday after they play the Grizzlies Friday night at The Q Centre.  The Grizzlies will travel to Chilliwack on Sunday to play a Chiefs team who have also secured their playoff fortunes and have nothing to play for other than perhaps a little momentum in preparation for a First Round matchup against the Coquitlam Express.  But that 4pm Sunday Chilliwack game if you remember, is only happening as the very last game in the entire league by virtue of a broken bus in Boston Bar.  The Grizzlies were scheduled to play the Chiefs that night, 16 Jan if you recall.  With half the team sick with the flu, plus a few nagging bumps and bruises and coming off the longest day of bus travel in the year after departing Prince George the night before, I for one did not like the Grizzlies chances.  Remember that they lost the previous encounter against the Chiefs in the Bauer Showcase in September by a 4-0 margin.  But as luck would have it, the Grizzlies bus for the first time in franchise history would fail to deliver the team to its game night destination and the game would have to be rescheduled.  We will never know but maybe, just maybe that was a blessing in disguise that broken drive train, that broken bearing.

 

Grizzlies minority owner Mark Wagstaff does not visit the broadcast booth very often, certainly not on the road.  But the following day in Surrey he popped in to the booth during pregame and told me something which I will likely never forget:  “You know, what’s so strange about that broken bus last night?  In all those years that I owned Penticton, the Salsa and the Grizzlies, not one time in over 25 years had any of those teams ever failed to make it to a road game.  Not one time did we ever have to cancel a game.  Not even once, very strange.”   Very strange indeed.  That game could prove to mean absolutely nothing, or it could turn out to be a very useful insurance policy for the Grizzlies come 4pm this Sunday afternoon if things don’t go perfectly on Friday and Saturday.  Is that fate, luck or destiny?  Or is it just a bad episode of Twilight Zone?   

 

The Grizzlies “Magic Number” now sits at just 2.  Any combination of a Grizzlies win and a Bulldogs loss will send Victoria into the playoffs.  But the Bulldogs’ “Magic Number” sits at 2.5 games.  Thank you Nick Jermain and thank you broken bus.  If the Bulldogs lose both games to Powell River this weekend, that too will achieve the “Magic Number” of 2 no matter what the Grizzlies do.  I said three weeks ago, just prior to the Cowichan Valley game that in order to qualify for the post season, the Grizzlies would need to win 3 of its final 6 games or play exactly .500 hockey and that prediction looks like it may run true to form. 

 

With a crescendo of 4 goals in Period #1 last Sunday vs Langley, the Grizzlies held serve in the Island Division standings and got that second vital win of its six remaining games.  The first goal in Langley came by way of The Plumbers.  Crashing the net hard was Joey Visconti, after a Spencer Hunter rush, Visconti put away a goal mouth loose puck and gave the Grizzlies the early lead.  Then it was up to Keyvan Mokhtari who buried a Brayden Gelsinger rebound top shelf to make it 2-0.  It was the young rookie’s first goal since 17 Dec, 2015 but none of that mattered to a Grizzlies bench which erupted in adoration of the BWC product who was helping his teammates see their playoff hopes suddenly restored.  The next Grizzlie goal would come by way of the extra man on a perfectly timed Ovechkin like one-timer by Dante Hahn from an equally beautiful cross-crease pass by Gelsinger.  It was Hahn’s 3^rd PP Goal of the season and it put the Grizzlies up 3-0, all in a weekend devoid of much offense where the Grizzlies had failed to score against Penticton on Saturday night and in a 2-1 loss to Wenatchee on Friday. 

The massive Sunday first period onslaught by Victoria would end with Nathan Looysen of the VIJHL Victoria Cougars, scoring his first goal of the season in a Grizzlies uniform and the rout was on.  Looysen, who won the VIJHL Scoring Championship this year with 101 points, looked fantastic all weekend in Grizzlies white, black and yellow-gold and took his goal well having already picked up an assist on Hahn’s PP marker earlier in the period.  Mitchell Benson would turn away all 24 Rivermen shots and collect his first shutout and fifth win of the season in front of a disappointed Langley crowd of 1,358.  Benson was solid all night and will likely feature in the backup role to Matt Galajda this weekend as the Grizzlies attempt to ice out the 2015/16 regular season and earn that final playoff spot on the island. 

 

The regular season will end at Prospera Centre by virtue of the Grizzlies first ever cancelled game on 16 Jan, 2016

Four games, two for the Bulldogs and two for the Grizzlies and three of which will feature perennial playoff matchup team the Powell River Kings are all that separate an early end to the season or a trip to the big dance.  Call it what you like, crazy, ridiculous and unnecessary or just plain exiting.  No matter what, there won’t be a single true Grizzlies fan anywhere on the globe this weekend who won’t be paying close attention to every second of action in this most tumultuous of final games for the club.  And if the Grizzlies eventually do indeed qualify for the playoffs, likely few will ever remember those strange quirky moments which could end up deciding the team’s fate.   It just may be that the way this season will finish could come down to a couple of very late out of town goals on a Saturday night in the smallest building in the BCHL, the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena in Merritt BC, with goals scored by a Connecticut hockey player named Nick Jermain.  Well that and a troublesome bearing under a team bus in a little place called Boston Bar.  Talk to you all on Friday night from the Q Centre. -CC        

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

Win 3 & Let The Others Be

Before I start this week's blog, I would like to take a moment and commemorate the life of Al Gillies, the Victoria Grizzlies long time Equipment and Stick/Skate repairman Extraordinaire.  I just learned only moments after posting this blog of Al's passing and I have added this piece just now.  Last Friday on the team's trip up to Port Alberni, as we passed Al's house near Spencer Road at exactly this very hour, our Bus Driver honked twice to say hello to Big Al and I know I said a quite prayer for Al along with those on the bus.  Al was a kind, smart and savy equipment man and he was an even better human being and friend to all of us here in the Victoria Grizzlies.  We love you Al and you will be missed.  God Bless you and your family in these difficult times, our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

 Win 3 & Let The Others Be

I always love a good race.  Whether its the Kentucky Derby, the Daytona 500 or yes, even this year's US Presidential Primary Elections, I just love watching a good race.  This year's Island Division playoff run is no exception.  With that said, this year's race is becoming less clear every day.  I will admit though that it is by far more interesting than anything going on in the other two divisions, so maybe we should count ourselves lucky.  What's weird though, at least for the moment, is that just about everybody in this race is losing.  And I do mean everybody.



In a post New Hampshire presser on Tuesday, Trump reacts badly to news of the Grizzlies 4-1 loss to the Kings

Unless your team is the Powell River Kings or the Nanaimo Clippers, you just aren't winning very many games in the run up to the BCHL playoffs in the Island Division.  Conveniently the Grizzlies have managed to have timed their current 5 game losing streak just as the very two teams with whom they are in contact are also suddenly losing.  In the span of the past week, the Grizzlies (0-2) along with the Cowichan Valley Capitals (0-2) and Alberni Valley Bulldogs (0-2) have combined for exactly 0 points between all three clubs.  And that's good news to Grizzlies fans.

Strong goaltending and D will be huge keys to the Grizzlies playoff chances

You have to start asking yourself, does anybody want to win this thing or what?  The fact is that the Grizzlies believe it or not, once again control their own destiny.

With a game in hand now and 2 more wins than Alberni on the season, the math ever so slightly favours the Grizzlies.  Victoria's 4-1 loss at a packed Hap Parker Arena on BC Family Day on Monday was but the latest installment in the longest skid since the start of the season.  The good news is that the team played pretty well after a long day on the road.  It was a brutal day of travel, 17 hours in total and a road trip which even featured a car accident in the Courtney White Spot parking lot to boot.  Apparently an elderly female driver who thankfully escaped without injuries was hoping to create a Drive Thru Window at the Courtney restaurant with her green SUV as the Grizzlies awaited their pre-game breakfast.  What else is new when you travel to "The Rock"?



Its just not a trip to "The Hap" without some sort of drama

Brett Stirling was back in the lineup, along with rookie phenom Tyler Welsh.  Both men were likely not yet 100%, but were able to make up for that with a lot of skill and determination. The goaltending was also pretty solid.  The Grizzlies did connect on the PP in the First Period with PJ Conlon collecting his 20th of the year.  The bad news is that the Grizzlies were once again outshot, this time by a count of 36-30.  It marked the 7th straight game in which the Grizzlies were outshot.  It is a trend the club really needs to break and soon.

The newly designed "Drive Thru" window at the Courtney White Spot

If anybody asked me (and nobody does BTW) I would map out the road to the playoffs for the Grizzlies by suggesting the following simple strategy.  With 8 games to play, call up some APs to rest up anybody who needs a break and not risk further injuries.  But at the same time pick 3 specific matchups which you think you can really win and do everything in your power to win those games.  In other words, play those three target games like they were playoff matchups and win them all.  As for the other 5 matchups, consider them all bonus games.  I call the strategy: "Win 3 & Let The Others Be".

If the Grizzlies can manage to win just 3 of their remaining 8 games, it will force the AV Bulldogs to win 4 of their last 7 games and also demand that the Bulldogs collect an extra point from an OT game in there somehow.  Basically that math would ask the Bulldogs to earn points in 5 of their final 7 games, essentially 9 points in total out of those remaining 7 games.  In spite of a softer February schedule, that could be a very hard task for a Bulldogs team who finish the year with two games at home vs Powell River.

Can #22 Gelsinger with the best snap shot on the club stay hot down the stretch?

This approach will allow the team to get healthy just in time for the playoffs while still remaining competitive.   It will also realistically manage expectations in the face of some pretty daunting opposition down the stretch including two remaining games vs Chilliwack and road games in Wenatchee, Penticton, Langley and Cowichan still on the ledger.

It all starts this weekend for the Grizzlies who will host Merritt on Saturday night and Chilliwack on Sunday in their ultra cool retro 1990's Victoria Salsa jerseys.  Hopefully, Merritt could prove to be Win #1 out of the three victories which I believe the club needs in order to ensure a playoff spot. Alberni will host Salmon Arm on Saturday and Merritt on Sunday.  There will be scoreboard watching a plenty in Victoria over the weekend, that is for sure.  No matter what happens, I can promise you one thing, its going to be entertaining.  See you all this weekend at The Q. - CC

A Plan Is Only a Plan, Grizzlies Hit a Wall

Years ago when I was overseas in the Zhari-Panjway I heard this thing I never forgot.  At the end of a briefing concerning an upcoming offensive, the senior officer commanding the whole thing looked at us and said: "Now let's remember here folks, we all know that a plan is only a plan until first contact with the enemy, OK?  Remember that the enemy also gets a vote in how this whole thing rolls out, so let's stay focussed on the task at hand."

The enemy sure has had a vote in how things have been going for Victoria Grizzlies over the last while.  In the span of just a single week, the Grizzlies have suddenly and rather dramatically lost 4 straight games.  But it gets worse.

The Grizzlies have lost half of the club's No. 1 defensive pairing in Brett Stirling to what looks to be a fairly serious injury.  They have suffered serious injuries to upstart rookie forward, Tyler Welsh and veteran Centre Mitchell Barker as well.  For two games due to suspension, they lost the services of 6'3'' D-Man, Kevin Massy.  Meanwhile Captain PJ Conlon, who now looks a bit like Count Choclua, is sporting a bubble mask due to a Clippers high stick on Sunday which resulted only in a two minute minor.  And while he won't get any of his teeth back, he is forced to play the game in constant pain and with limited vision. There are other players with a raft of issues.  At least one is presently having severe difficulty in shooting the puck.  

In the 1970s we used to give kids pure sugar for breakfast.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the team is suddenly allowing the most SOG for its two rookie 18 year old goalies to deal with each night. Frankly, that's not going so well either if you catch my drift.

And that sums up for me what we seem to have forgotten during the club's 7-0 start to 2016.  The enemy also get a say in how this whole thing rolls out.

Just 24 hours after the biggest win of the season in Nanaimo on Friday, the Grizzlies were simply not ready to host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and were quickly defeated 6-3 in front of a speechless crowd at the Q Centre.  Shots were 41-19 for AV.  With no Kevin Massy it wasn't even close and the Grizzlies were man handled by the Bulldogs.  Then, late in the 3rd, Brett Stirling went down in the south end of the arena and you were thinking, "Oh God not Sterling, not now."

Then on Sunday afternoon, without the services of Barker and Welsh, it got worse when Nanaimo rolled back into Colwood and promptly reminded Victoria fans why Sheldon Rempal is the best 20 year old in the BCHL. Suddenly the Grizzlies were on a two game slide since their improbable January run.  The game ended 7-2 and the Grizzlies were outshot 44-30 by the Clips.

Jared Virtanen now wearing #19 jersey in Salsa retro jerseys in the 7-5 loss to the Vees on Thursday

But the moment which said it all was Thursday night vs mighty The Penticton Vees on Salsa Jersey night.  After assuming the risk of travelling on the same day as a game, the Penticton Vees rolled into the Q Centre and proceeded to surrender the puck for two periods straight to seemingly every Grizzlies player who was fit enough to play in the contest.  Five straight unanswered 1st and 2nd period goals to Brayden Gelsinger (2), Braeden Cross, Cole Pickup and Alex Peck saw the Grizzlies enjoying a commanding 5-1 lead over the Penticton Vees.  At that point you were suddenly thinking that the Grizzlies were about to defeat the top Junior A team in North America.  It was the loudest I have heard the Q Centre since Game 7 in the 2014 Playoffs vs Alberni Valley.

I suspect that Fred Harbinson, (Vess Head Coach) may have been suddenly remembering indeed that the enemy has a vote in how this whole thing was to roll out.  Well it didn't take him long to remember that philosophy and by pulling his goalie late in the second period on the PP, the Vees struck and it was suddenly 5-2 over a very wobbly Grizzlies team.  You could have heard a pin drop.

In the 3rd period the Grizzlies were outshot 23-4 in the most lopsided period of hockey the team has suffered in several years.  A fan said to me after the game that it was like watching a train wreck, you didn't want to look but you could not help but stare in amazement at two hockey teams going in totally different directions.  On the one hand you had the injury depleted Grizzlies up 5-1 and trying valiantly to hang on to a large lead.  On the other bench though you had two future NHL First Round Draft Picks, Tyson Jost and Dante Fabbro who were frothing at the mouth every time Victoria made a mistake.  The game would end 7-5 for the Vees.  The Grizzlies after being outshot this time 47-33 were less than 24 hours away from facing Alberni Valley with equal froth spewing from the mouths of the Bulldogs at the prospect of playing such a wounded team in the Grizzlies.

And last night, you could almost feel it after the first goal with that Hudson Bay Train locomotive whistle blowing all the way to Bamfield on a Garrett Halls marker just 4 minutes into the contest.  It just wasn't going to be the Grizzlies night.  Outshot 35-24 this time, the Grizzlies really could not mount much of a fight and the Bulldogs skated away with a 4-2 win.  More importantly, they now sit just two points short of the 4th and final playoff spot in the Island Division.  With the tie break formula favoring the Bulldogs, a win tonight vs Penticton would vault the Bulldogs back into a tie for 4th spot overall. They would then need only another singular win in their remaining final 8 to take the final spot in the playoffs should both teams finish even in wins.  And this has all transpired in less that 7 full days time.  It is quite unbelievable. 

At the risk of crying over spilled milk, had the Grizzlies beaten the Bulldogs last Saturday, they would have extended their lead to 10 points on AV.  It would have put the proverbial nail in coffin for the Bulldogs' playoff chances.  Alberni's season would have been effectively over.  Now the Grizzlies will scoreboard watch and pray that the NHL Draft replete Vees can hand the Bulldogs a loss tonight in their final regular season visit to Vancouver Island.  Hopefully the Bulldogs enemy will get a big vote in this contest.

So now the Grizzlies will rest up, heal, likely watch Superbowl 50 and go to bed early on Sunday night.  Because when they board the 6am bus on Monday morning to head off to "The Rock" to face the nearly impossible to beat at home Powell River Kings, they will want to have a say in what is certainly a must win for this suddenly shaken club from Victoria.  I will look forward to talking to you at 2pm Monday from The Hap Parker in a game which could very well tell the tale of the tape for the Grizzlies playoff plans for 2016. -CC