The Eleventh Season 2003 - 2004 FINAL KIJHL LEAGUE STANDINGS (2003/04)

Season Summary

THE LEAGUE announced a change to the playoff format for the 2003-04 KIJHL season and introduced a 'Wild Card' chance. Should the fifth-place club in the Neil Murdoch or Okanagan Shuswap finish with more points than the fourth-place team in the Eddie Mountain, then that team would take its spot in the playoffs.

The two Divisional playoff rounds remain a best-of-seven. The three Division Champions will meet in a round-robin playoff; each team will host two home games and visit each team once. The two highest seeded teams will then meet to play a single game: winner-take-all for the League Championship.

THE ALL STAR BREAK will feature two games; a PROSPECTS GAME (15-17 year olds) and the ALL STAR GAME (18-20 year olds).

The Grizzlies Season Schedule:

Revelstoke Grizzlies 2003 - 2004
(Final Roster & End of Regular Season Stats)

Team Captain: Dustin Jack

THE ALL STAR GAME:

Held in Castlegar, Saturday, January 17th, 2004. (18-20 year olds) & PROSPECTS GAME (15-17 year olds):

The Grizzlies were grouped into the Eddie Mountain Division for the games.
Representing the Revelstoke Grizzlies for the ALL STAR GAME: DUSTIN JACK, ROCKY MIX & DEREK JURISTA.

TOP PROSPECTS GAME
Representing the Revelstoke Grizzlies for the TOP PROSPECTS GAME: TYSON BAULKHAM, DYLAN BEERS & COURTNEY FORSYTH

TOP PROSPECTS GAME SCORE: NEIL MURDOCH 8 - EDDIE MOUNTAIN 3

DYLAN BEERS scored the Eddie Mountain's 1st goal in the 3rd period.

End of Regular Season Top Ten Scorers Okanagan Shuswap Division

THE ICE MELTER:
Excerpts from Steve Miller's Couches Corner - Final Segment

"This season saw us improve on last season's statistics, after almost totally rebuilding the team. Last season we were one of the most penalized teams and this season we were able to reduce that by almost 300 minutes and we secured four more wins. As well we were competitive with our arch rivals, the Sicamous Eagles, after losing all eight games to them last season we split this year’s series, 4 wins apiece. Sicamous was set to win the Division title should they win the final two regular season games against us. They hammered us 11 to 1 in Sicamous but our competitive nature saw our boys the next night on home ice beat the Eagles 5 to 3 and that in turn dropped the Eagles into a second place finish and propelled Osoyoos into first place." (Osoyoos 70 points, Sicamous 69 & Summerland 68) "Overall our team's performance was not excellent by most people's standards. But when you look at how the season ended it becomes a little easier to accept our lot in the world of junior hockey. As is often the case teams have to overcome some forms of adversity and that showed in the second half as we were one of the best teams in the league come December and January. We were consistently beating the top teams in the league and nobody was looking forward to playing us in the playoffs. We ended up playing and ultimately losing our first round to Osoyoos, But, prior to that, the Storm were the hottest team in the league. Going into the playoffs they had not lost since we beat them in a 7-6 come-from-behind victory in Osoyoos on Jan. 26. The next weekend everything went sideways for us. We lost our top scorer, Rocky Mix, for the season with a concussion and also lost two more regular players due to shoulder injuries for several weeks and ultimately the season. This left us in a precarious position, losing most of our depth and having a young team made it difficult to overcome. The players that remained were very diligent in their efforts to prepare for the playoffs but in the end it wasn't enough vs Osoyoos."

FROM the FACE-OFF CIRCLE: Because of the league's new 'Wild Card' playoff format, the Grizzlies were pressured to maintain their 4th place standing. The Okanagan Shuswap's 5th place team, by virtue of more points, would cross over to the Eddie Mountain Division to meet the 1st place Rockies. With just two regular season games to play the Grizzlies had 40 points and the Princeton Posse had 38. The Grizzlies got the split with Sicamous while Princeton lost both games to Summerland and Sicamous, thereby sending the Posse over the mountain to face the Columbia Valley Rockies.

Revelstoke Grizzlies Meet Osoyoos Storm In Division Semi-Finals

At the end of regular season play:
The 4th place Grizzlies meet the 1st place Storm. Of the 8 regular season games played with the Storm, the Grizzlies won 3, lost 4 and had 1 overtime loss to earn 7 out of 16 points. The Grizz scored 31 goals and allowed 42 against. The Grizz had 8 power play goals, Osoyoos 9 and each team had one short handed goal.

Semi-Finals Series Summary

Game 1 In Osoyoos: (Final Score Grizzlies 3 - Storm 5)
The Grizzlies trailed 2-1 after 1 and 4-2 after 2.

Grizzlies scorers: 1st period:
1 Steve Cullis PP (Will Loff & Mike Revell)

Grizzlies scorers: 2nd period:
2 Steve Bull PP (Courtney Forsyth & Steve Cullis)

Grizzlies scorers: 3rd period:
3 Dustin Jack PP Unassisted

In Goal for Grizzlies: Matt Kirkpatrick

Shots on Goal: Grizzlies 32 - Storm 61
PIM: Grizzlies 40" - Storm 40"

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Game 2 In Osoyoos: (Final Score Grizzlies 2 - Storm 5)
The Grizzlies led 1-0 after the 1st period. Osoyoos tied the game in the 2nd with a power-play goal, led 2-1 after 2 and out-scored the Grizz 3 to 1 in the 3rd.

Grizzlies scorers: 1st period:
1 Courtney Forsyth (Will Loff)

Grizzlies scorers: 2nd period:
No scoring

Grizzlies scorers: 3rd period:
2 Steve Cullis PP (Mike Parkin)

In Goal for Grizzlies: Matt Kirkpatrick

Shots on Goal: Grizzlies 29 - Storm 43
PIM: Grizzlies 68" - Storm 60"

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Game 3 In The Forum: (Final Score Grizzlies 3 - Storm 4 (OT)
The Grizzlies led 1-0 after 1, then the Storm scored 3 unanswered goals in the 2nd to take a 3-1 lead. With 20 seconds left to play in the 3rd the Grizz scored to tie the game 3-3, forcing overtime. The Storm's Mitch Strang ended the game at 8:46.

Grizzlies scorers: 1st period:
1 Travis Sanderson (Dustin Jack & Dylan Beers)

Grizzlies scorers: 2nd period:
No Scoring

Grizzlies scorers: 3rd period:
2 Travis Sanderson PP (Craig Kulchyski & Dustin Vetter)
3 Derek Jurista 0:20 (Travis Sanderson & Dustin Jack)

In Goal for Grizzlies: Matt Kirkpatrick

Shots on Goal: Grizzlies 40 - Storm 57
PIM: Grizzlies 14" - Storm 20"

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Game 4 In The Forum: (Final Score Grizzlies 2 - Storm 5)
The Storm scored 3 in the 1st and twice in the 3rd to end the series.

Grizzlies scorers: 1st period:
No Scoring

Grizzlies scorers: 2nd period:
1 Craig Kulchyski (Derek Jurista)

Grizzlies scorers: 3rd period:
2 Josh Yurkowski (Dylan Beers & Partik Bhungal)

Grizzlies scorers: Overtime period:
No Scoring

In Goal for Grizzlies: Tyler Bilton Saves: 11 - 25 - 8 - OT 11

PIM: Grizzlies 32" - Storm 18"

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REVELSTOKE GRIZZLIES SEMI-FINAL PLAYOFF POINTS vs OSOYOOS