Claimed: Thank You, Rodriguez

[Banackock 8,141]

Rodriguez in his Quebec days sending a member of the Reign to their asses.

 

The Seattle Bears have been quite the Roller-coaster team ever since GM Blake Campbell took over the reigns from previous management. During his first season, the team made a run for it knowing that they had the potential to be a strong contender. Despite their high talent level, their conference which they played in was an exact match and than some for their talent and depth. This resulted in GM Campbell giving up on the season, the team and their goals and totally entering a rebuild. Selling off each asset they could to get some more of a future asset or "help us right now" piece. Campbell was quoted in saying that he wishes to not enter a full rebuild. That his goals were to skip some of the initial stages to allow some sort of competitive hockey in Seattle and hopefully make the process go a little quicker. 

 

"That's exactly what we did. We missed playoffs the following year and then we were laughing. We brought in some top pieces to add onto the great pieces we already had in AK-47, Podarok and Wolf. Adding Petenis was a huge piece for us and bringing in Jakab Holik was one of the best moves we could have done. He's an elite goalie, whether his numbers truly made people believe that here. He was a huge reason for the success in the season and the team just couldn't handle playoff atmosphere so we crumbled."

 

Another key piece the Seattle Bears add was at the time defender Fillipe Rodriguez. Coming in from a trade from Quebec, Rodriguez wasn't sure on how he felt on the deal. If correctly remembered, he was indifferent on the situation and was almost blindsided as Quebec seemed to be all over the place with what direction they were heading. Though he wasn't exceptionally excited about coming to Seattle, he was ready to make it his home and home it became. Rodriguez fit in well with the teams plan and made the locker room a more enjoyable experience. At the time, he held down the fort on the back end with numerous other partners and night in, night out displayed performances that easily made him one of the Bears top players.

 

Blocking shots and laying the body was part of Rodriguez' job with the Bears

 

Joining the team to enter Season 51, the Bears went on to make their first playoff birth since starting the rebuild/retool era of Campbell's tenure. With a 37-29-6 finish, the Bears barely clinched by 8 points. The team seen some average play from a majority of their players and while not having amazing elite depth, they still managed to see exceptional depth scoring from most of their players. From Rodriguez, the team seen 19 goals, 43 assists and 62 points through 72 games that season. On top of that, he added 238 hits and 116 shots blocked. Rodriguez had just begun making a strong name for himself in Seattle and he hadn't yet known it.

 

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S51(SEA) 72GP | 19G - 43A - 62P | 238HIT | 116SB

 

Season 52 was next and it was the first of two seasons where the Bears stood up, said fuck yeah and then failed in the playoffs. Adding even more depth through trades and free agency. Joel Jarvi, Biggu Kyanon and Thor Odinsson all ended up joining the team in the off-season. With a huge performance in the regular season, the team finished with a 58-11-3 record and easily coasted to being the best team in the regular season (who also scored the most goals by a landslide). One of these huge performances, while not a huge increase, was from Rodriguez once again. 21 goals, 48 assists, 69 points, 199 hits and 85 shots blocked to end the regular season off put Rodriguez at the top of Seattle once again.

 

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S52(SEA) 72GP | 21G - 48A - 69P | 199HIT | 85SB

 

Rodriguez found his scoring touch the moment he switched positions (49 in 72)

 

Season 53 was extremely similar to Season 52 for the Bears. The team played huge during the regular season, going on to win the regular season crown for a second straight season. The team managed some trades, as well as a huge free agent signing in one of the most elite defender to lace them up, Jeff Hamilton. Jakab Holik was bigger, better and stronger than he's ever been and the team was sharp and ready to get things underway. The team seen huge numbers from almost all of their players and GM Campbell actually ended up praising the team for their offensive capabilities a couple times throughout the season. The one biggest difference in the season was that the top pairing on the blue line lost Rodriguez. The team desperately needed to fill a void at Center and true colors, loyalty and a sign of Rodriguez' character shined bright like a diamond. Rodriguez decided to switch position, going from a stay at home - two way defender, to splitting time on the 1st and 2nd line with Sven Wolf. Let's just say, this move paid off for him and he climbed to the top of the ranks for Seattle, engraving his name into S53 as the biggest reason why the team was able to make their final push. With a career year behind him, he finished the season with 49 goals, 66 assists, 115 points and all while still managing to play one hell of a physical game with 226 hits.

 

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S53(SEA) 72GP | 49G - 66A - 115P | 226HIT | 35SB

 

 

"Fillipe Rodriguez was a monumental asset the moment he walked on that plane with a ticket saying Seattle on it. Though he wasn't hugely open to the idea of becoming a Bear right away, he grew to the idea and were very happy for that because he will go down in my books as one hell of a Bear and one of the best players to work with. We knew when we picked him up what kind of player we were getting. Someone who put the team first, was extremely loyal, was an exceptional asset to have in the locker room and someone who would become a strong player for whatever franchise he played for. All of these things, he was or became for us. His loyalty was beyond what we expected and each season, he got better and better for us. Rodriguez was a key piece to every season and when we mentioned our original players to our plans, he was always on of them. He was a stone set in place for us. One of the originals to the plan we wanted to build around. 

 

Rodriguez, the Seattle Bears organization would like to thank you for your time with the organization. Your loyalty and character which you added to the locker room was what made the team a better place to play with. You were a huge piece to the team but especially in S53. I don't want to take credit away from Holik, Hamilton or anyone else deserving, but if you wouldn't have switched to center, we would have been in trouble. 

 

I could go on forever giving you and the media reasons as to why you're an amazing player and person. We could thank you for countless things and be here all day. Simply put Roddy @evrydayimbyfuglien , we thank you and hope that your agency and our organization once again can cross paths. 

 

All the best and with much thanks,

GM Blake Campbell

 

 

[Banackock 8,141]

For Forsberg (1 of 2 double weeks used for him) +12

[evrydayimbyfuglien 600]

Thanks, man. it was a good run. sad to see it all come to an end.