Futures starting to be announced

Victoria Grizzlies/Penticton Vees trade, futures from the
Wade Murphy trade:

Announced today, as part of the Wade Murphy trade made with the Penticton Vees from last season at the trade deadline, the Victoria Grizzlies welcome two defencemen in 19 year old Zach Urban and 20 year old Chad Bannor. Also reported to be part of this trade according to the eliteprospects.com website is, highly rated 19 year old, forward Curtis Loik. Although I trust the source in eliteprospects.com, I would be a little guarded at this time as to Loik status, as he is committed to play for the NCAA Div 1, Penn State Team for the 2012/13 season; unless this has been deferred until the following year.

Breaking down this trade at this time, the Grizzlies certainly have some exciting pieces to add to their 2012/13 season roster

Zach Urban

Zach Urban: Is a versatile 6'3', 185lbs, defenceman who can do it all. He is a rarity in the BCHL, as he is a big puck moving defenceman, with skill and who can chip in with his fair share of points. Playing on the record breaking Penticton team from last season, Urban's experiences from last season took him all the way to the RBC cup with the Vees and should be invaluable to the Grizzlies for this upcoming season coming from a winning attitude/enviroment.
Expect Urban to increase his points total from last season and add some real quality to the Grizzlies defence.
If Grizzlies fans want a reason to be excited, Zach Urban is a good reason!!!!!

All stats taken from www.eliteprospects.com

SEASON                         TEAM                                              LEAGUE         GP  G      A     PTS   PIM

2010-2011 Penticton Lakers KIJHL 39 3 5 8 160 | Vernon Vipers BCHL 1 0 0 0 0 | Powell River Kings BCHL 5 0 0 0 4 | Playoffs 1 0 0 0 0 2011-2012 Penticton Vees BCHL 58 4 18 22 88 | Playoffs 15 0 0 0 26 2012-2013 Victoria Grizzlies BCHL - - - - - |

PLAYOFFS                                      TEAM                                                               TOURNAMENT                        GP     G    A     PTS    PIM 2011-2012 Penticton Vees Doyle Cup 5 0 0 0 10 | Penticton Vees RBC Cup 6 0 1 1 6

Chad Bannor

Chad Bannor: A 6'1', 188lbs, defenceman who has spent the last two years with the Vees playing in over 80 games with 4 points to his credit. Bannor, looks to be more of a stay at home defender and with his experience going through the RBC cup and as a 20 year old, will be looked upon for leadership with the Grizzlies this season.

All stats taken from.eliteprospects.com

 SEASON                                       TEAM                                                   LEAGUE               GP G A PTS PIM                                     

2010-2011	Penticton Vees	BCHL	30	0	0	0	19	|	Playoffs	4	0	0	0	7
2011-2012	Penticton Vees	BCHL	51	0	4	4	39	|	Playoffs	12	0	0	0	6
2012-2013	Victoria Grizzlies	BCHL	-	-	-	-	-	|
PLAYOFFS                                            TEAM                                                                  TOURNAMENT                                    GP   G     A     PTS  PIM 2011-2012 Penticton Vees Doyle Cup 4 0 0 0 5 | Penticton Vees RBC Cup 6 0 0 0 0 Curtis Loik: I will have more on Loik, once it looks to have been made official. As a rule of thumb, I never posts trades until It is a certainty, despite the good sources, I'll hold off at this time. Wade Murphy In regards to this trade, Wade Murphy status at this time cannot be confirmed that he is coming back to the Grizzlies yet. Victoria Grizzlies/Prince George Spruce Kings futures, believed to be part of the Jarryd Ten Vaanholt trade:             Cody Bardock Cody Bardock: As part of the Grizzlies trade with Prince George for forward Jarryd Ten Vaanholt, the Grizzlies have acquired the right to 18 year old defenceman Cody Bardock, Another big bodied D-man at 6'4', 210lbs, Bardock who just finished his rookie season on a much improved Prince George team, should be a nice addition to the roster and with defenceman like Urban, Gonzales, Ursic, Urban, Bilious, Schmeisser, DeJong and Bannor creates a bit of a numbers game at the defensive position, but, certainly not a lack of size. SEASON                                                TEAM                                                                   LEAGUE        GP G A PTS PIM                                      2011-2012 Prince George Spruce Kings BCHL 35 1 7 8 8 | Playoffs 0 0 0 0 0 2012-2013 Victoria Grizzlies BCHL - - - - - | I believe there should be more futures coming from the Spruce Kings this summer, stay tuned folks.

Vernon awarded the 2014 RBC Cup

Not done with competing in three of the last four RBC Cups, the Vernon Vipers have been awarded the 2014 RBC cup tournament.
Having experienced the Vernon Wesbild Multiplex first hand, it is by far one of the finest Junior Hockey rinks in Western Canada. As being a Vipers fan is a way of life for most Vernonites, you can bet that the Vipers will make the 2014 RBC Cup a roaring success. Junior A hockey fans(certainly in BC) should be excited for 2014.

Congratulations to the Vipers organisation and the city of Vernon.

Wesbild Centre

Grizzlies starting to come out of Hibernation

Times Colonist

So, to say Grizzlies fans might be getting a little antsy might be an understatement. It’s getting towards the end of May and we are wondering the following, who's coaching, what's going on with the ownership and where do we stand with players coming in for the new season.

Well it does look like things are progressing with ownership, after what was reported in the Times Colonist on Tuesday, with Ron Walchuk looking to buy out Len Barrie and potentially one or two of the other owners as well. Walchuk, is no stranger in Victoria hockey circles after being part of the former management team for the successful South Island Thunderbirds of the Major Midget League latley. From the Thunderbirds the Grizzles have seen in recent years, Wade Murphy, Wes Myron, Nolan DeJong and Ron's son, the promising David Walchuk show there talents at Bear Mtn Arena. In Ron Walchuk the Grizzlies would have in place a successful businessman who knows how to handle the Junior Hockey world. With the ownership rumoured to be in place soon, the other chips will start to fall into place.

You then would assume the Coaching would be announced soon after and then player signings along with the futures coming to the club at that point from the numerous trades.
Speaking of those futures, Penticton, Vernon (Jared Soleway and Turner Lawson rumoured to be in from the Vipers), Prince George and MJHL's Dauphin Kings owing numerous futures to the Grizzlies at this time. With this comes expectations as commented on by the Grizzlies management team at the end of last season, with the players coming in expected to make the Grizzlies an automatic contender.

The wildcard in amongst this deck of cards during the 2012 Grizzlies off season, is Wade Murphy. Murphy, after his trade to Penticton didn't skip a beat, becoming one of their go to guys and a major reason the Vees where as successful as they were in the post season and the RBC Cup. Now, with Wade being regarded as one of the best players in Junior A across the country and a player who is expected to be drafted in this year’s NHL draft in Pittsburgh, you have to think the sky's the limit for Murph right now. One scenario could be a similar outcome as to what Jamie Benn experienced. With Benn entering his 2nd season with the Grizzlies in 2007 and fresh off of being drafted by the Dallas Stars, the Stars encouraged Benn to take his Junior game to the next level and before you knew it; Jamie spent the next two seasons ripping up the scoring charts with the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and representing Team Canada at the world Juniors.

With Murphy’s rights held being held(I believe) by the WHL's, Victoria Royals and also recently being drafted by the Major Junior equivalent league in the states, the USHL ,courtesy of the Green bay Gamblers. Wade has some options before heading off to the NCAA’s Merrimack University in 2013. But, for the black and gold, a return to Grizzlies colours would be a dream come true and gives the Grizzlies the best offensive player since Tyler Bozak (my opinion). on the roster for opening day. In what was set up as part of the originally Wade Murphy trade to Penticton, Murphy was rumoured to becoming back to the Grizzlies for this upcoming season. We will have to wait and see how this scenario plays out.

Whatever happens in the next couple of weeks, we can be sure it will be steps in the right direction for this organization. A new stable ownership, a fresh coaching team and a number of futures and prospects to complement the likes of Gonzales, Hansen, McLellan, Lawson, Powell, DeJong, Kaiser and Bilious to name a few, you can’t help but think………we’ve got ourselves a team. Bring on the 2012/13 season.

Victoria Grizzlies on Proboards

On this page fans, friends, players and everyone else can post to a topic or start a new one entirely. Several people have asked us wh...y they can not post directly on this page and the answer is simple--if everyone was posting here there would be no room for photos, videos, notices and general information to be posted. So we created a Forum where all your comments can be seen and replied to by other fans. I think our Grizzlies have the most knowledgeable fans in the whole BCHL. It only takes a minute to sign up, get a password and log in. Hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to see what all of our Grizzlies fans have to say! ALL comments are welcome but please, no cutting individuals or players down! If you have an idea you would like passed on to the Grizz management please put it on our new Forum. I wish I knew how to put a permanent link to this new site on our Grizzlies Official Home page but I cant find a way. If anyone knows haw to do that on our Great New look Facebook please let me know on our new Forum page! Thanks Tony


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