Record Win Streak Finally Snapped

The Acadia Grizzly Bears have been on an absolute tear as of late setting a new franchise record with 16 consecutive victories but the run came to an end after a low scoring affair in Banff didn't go their way.

St. Louis, Calgary, Boston, Brno, London, Hamburg, Ottawa, Whitehorse, Vancouver Island, Stockholm, Nova Scotia (obviously), the Slammers again, Seattle, Niagara, Chicago and the Huskies one more time - all the teams that the Bears defeated during an unprecedented February. 

"You know, our season didn't start the way that we had envisioned but over the course of the last couple of months, I've been really happy with the way we have played as a team and the results have gone our way," said head coach Dave Hakstol. 

When the torrid streak began, Acadia was in the middle of the Canadian Conference standings but have since climb all the way to the top and now are in a neck and neck race with Fredericton for 1st place. The team's scoring depth has come through with five players having more than 60 points right now and 7 with at least 50. The team has played 57 games. 

"I think it's that balanced attack that's led to our success here recently," said captain Claude Giroux, "One night it will be our line, the next night it will be the second line and the third and fourth lines have be contributing offensively lately too."

Not surprisingly, the top 6 scorers on the team are the forwards making up the top 2 lines. However, the next 5 players on the Bears' scoring are all blueliners including Colton Parayko who is having by far his best SICHL season. He's an impending UFA just as leading scorer Chris Kreider is.

"Last year we made a point of wanting to add more scoring from the backend, that's why Jakob Chychrun was brought in, but it's been much more than just one player," said GM Guy Flaming, "Parayko has been unreal, Brock Faber has taken another big step this year and so have Dylan Samberg and Mikey Anderson."

The SICHL trade deadline is on the immediate horizon but as you would expect, Flaming doesn't anticipate doing much to upset the chemistry of a winning team.

"I think it is safe to say that we are not looking to move anyone from the active roster, we're not feeling a need to tinker with the lines or do anything right now," he confirmed, "I know that we have three impending UFAs and we can only retain one of them as a Franchise Player next season but that's a problem for then, not now. All three will finish the year with us and that will sort itself out in September or October."

That said, it's fair to speculate that veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen would be easy to acquire should any team in the league want an Olympic caliber goaltender that is already under contract for a couple more years.  

Bear Tracks

• Forward Carter Bear (13th overall, 2025) was named WHL Player of the Month after compiling 25 points in 12 games during February.
• Forward Lynden Lakovic (24th overall, 2025) was leading the WHL in scoring when he suffered a season ending injury back in November. He ends the year with 18 goals and 29 points through 22 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
• Defenceman Carter Sotheran (4th round, 2023) was acquired at the WHL trade deadline by the Edmonton Oil Kings. He's since scored a hat trick and has pushed his season total to 63 points, 4th most by a defenceman this year.
• Defenceman Parker Alcos (5th round, 2024) was traded from Edmonton to the Memorial Cup hosting Kelowna Rockets. Alcos recently announced that he has the option to play NCAA hockey next year with Quinnipiac. 
• Forward Owen Griffin (5th round, 2025) leads to OHL's Oshawa Generals with 56 points in 57 games. 
• Goaltender Lucas Beckman (2nd round, 2025) was traded from Baie-Comeau to Chicoutimi at the trade deadline. He currently boasts a .913 sv% (.938 % with Chicoutimi). 
• Forward Rieger Lorenz (2nd round, 2022) of the Denver Pioneers leads all Bears prospects playing NCAA hockey this year with 28 points through 35 games. Ryan Walsh (Cornell - 7th round, 2024), Will Zellers (4th round, 2024) and Dylan James (2nd round, 2022) (both North Dakota) have 27 points.
• Defenceman Abram Wiebe (6th round, 2022) CHC Defenceman of the Month, he has 26 points this year with North Dakota. 
• Forward Cooper Simpson (3rd round, 2025) of the Youngstown Phantoms is 2nd in USHL scoring with 30 goals and 67 points through 52 games.