The season has advanced far past it's zenith, and the playoffs are now beginning to take shape. The Grizzly Bears of Great Falls find themselves in the seemingly very unlikely position of potentially opening the playoff tournament with the top seed. It has been quite the ride for the big bears, shocking the league with a bit of a worst-to-first cinderella story. At this juncture, the Bears are sitting at 41-16-5 with 87 points, tied with Kelowna despite having played two fewer games. So what are the bears chances? Do they have a real shot or is this just a pleasant story until one of the real power houses knocks them out? Let's pontificate for a bit, shall we?

 If the Grizzlies can maintain their current level of competitiveness, they'll open the playoffs against Thunder Bay, a franchise deeply entrenched in a rebuild and buried in the standings with the worst record in the SMJHL. Not to malign Thunder Bay or their efforts, but the goal differential does not lie (-132): these guys are rebuilding. There's no such thing as a gimme in hockey. The randomness and physical attrition built into a seven game series can dethrone even the most stalwart of favorites, but let's not kid ourselves. Great Falls couldn't ask for a more favorable opponent to line up against. In six games so far this season, Great Falls has dominated Thunder bay winning all six contests with a combined score of 25-13 over that span. Assuming this is a gimme - and I do caution against assumptions - this leaves Great Falls with three competitive series to win for the ultimate pay-dirt.

The keys to pulling off this feat are to lean into their strengths, which are broken - as I see it - into two parts: a smothering defense and a swarming offense. The defense is led by a four headed demon of max tpe super-studs. Dirty Puma, Sandis Darzins, Kienen Mckeller and Sazed Kholin can all claim to have maxed out their junior level tpe and are sporting +/- at or above 19 with a defensive game rating in the 70s. It's not surprise that Great Falls allows the fewest goals in the SMJHL with a stingy 167 allowed, 23 better than the next best squad (190 tied between St Louis and Maine). 

On offense, the goals come because this team knows how to swarm. While the Bears are middle-of-the-pack offense, they are deceptively dangerous because the goals can come from literally anywhere on the team. All told, the Bears sport a whopping six players with 20 goals or more and another four in double digits. The power play has been anemic, which if anything says a lot about the room for improvement they so clearly have. With a real shot at a soft first round matchup, the Bears have as good a shot as any of taking home hardware this postseason. Beware the swarm.

Approved for +5 TPE @parky

Wander my friends, wander with me. Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally.
Despite our weariness, we'll follow the road over hill and valleys, to the end of the journey

Le monde n'est qu'une scène. Il vaut mieux rire que pleurer, car le rire est le propre de l'homme.
Riez de tout cela, ne vous inquiétez pas. Profitons d'aujourd'hui