The Seattle Bears are coming off a poor performed season where the teams expectations were much higher, but unfortunately for them, the outcome was about as bad as it could come. Despite the strongest start the team has seen in the regular season for a good chunk of time, the team started to fall flat on their heels and couldn't make anything happen. Well, that's not completely true. For a significant portion of the season, the team had the strong ability to put pucks in the back of the net and often were racking up the goal totals against opposing teams. What drug them down was the fact that they also had the opposing teams stacking up the offense against them. I can't recall on the top of my head how many times the Bears scored an easy 4-6 goals more than the other team but came out on the losing end. The question ended up circulating around the team: is the issue defense, goaltending or all of the above? There isn't quite a clear cut answer. Maybe certain things weren't clicking. Maybe the chemistry wasn't right on the ice. If you viewed it from the outside looking in, the Bears were comparable to basically every team ahead of them and most had the team sitting 1st or 2nd in the conference. To end the season, the found a way to tear down all the hype, all the early season efforts, and barely fight to find themselves in the wildcard round against the Chicago Phoenix where they were quickly swept by a much, statistically worse, organization and hockey team. At the end of the day, it is what it is. A lot of good people on the team but it's never how a team with much higher expectations wants things to go. The team was built to go much further but despite what seemed to be strong foundations, something was not right. The Bears inner circle new something had to be done, but what? As the playoffs slowly come to an end (unless we're talking the VHLM which for whatever reason is either done or almost done), the media caught up with Bears GM Blake Campbell to have a quick word on what we can maybe see from the Bears this off-season.
"Obviously this season didn't end the way we wanted it to, but at the end of it all, we get a higher pick. I think that's the best way to look at it. Our house burnt down but hey, at least the 65" TV on the wall made it through kind of thing? Losing to Chicago was difficult. There's some rivalry there for sure, but they're also a weaker team in terms of scouting charts. However, they worked harder and clicked better. There's nothing more to say there. They had a very good season and looked like they enjoyed it so that is good. We didn't and because of this, we really had to do the mirror effect and look at the team honestly. We were presented with some tough situations throughout the season, as well as some players who are likely about to call it quits and head off into the sunset. We want to keep the ball going, even if we have to take a step back. I'd much rather take a single step back and then 2-3 forward as opposed to trying to continue on and likely doing so for maybe another season or two, and then falling down the stairs.
It's going to be an amazing off-season for the league. There's going to be a lot to be excited for and I think there's going to be an incredible amount of moves from a majority of the teams. I think a lot of what is going to happen, based off the talks we have had with other teams, could very well surprise a lot of people. I know for sure we have one deal that is going to rock a lot of people - probably throughout the league and even the Seattle Bears. We have another too that I think are going to have the people talking. We started trade talks I think right when the playoffs ended. I think it's pretty normal to get on the road and plan your destination at a good time or else you're going to end up at either a different destination or to the same one as others but much slower. We also started scouting early as normal this year and have had great talks with about 30 or so other members in the league. We've even started scouting for next seasons draft. At this time, that's about all I can say but know that we have worked incredibly hard and big things are coming for Seattle. We're very excited for our future.
Also claiming double media thanks to the Christmas/Holiday stuff. I had one left to claim.
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