November is known as a month of thanks in the United States. I don’t think many teams are thankful for their play in November. It was an up-and-down month for most teams, making me believe the THL may be a more open league than I thought. That is only for the top clubs, as the bottom of the league mostly showed they’re a step behind.

THL Standings

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS	Goal Differential
GKS Katowice	22	16	3	3	0	54	+35
GKS Tychy	22	12	5	4	1	45	+20
Unia Oswiecim	21	13	7	0	1	40	+32
KH Torun	23	10	10	1	2	34	+1
JKH GKS Jastrzebie	22	10	9	1	2	34	+2
Podhale Nowy Targ	23	9	10	0	4	31	-5
Cracovia Krakow	23	5	10	5	3	28	-22
Zaglebie Sosnowiec	22	8	12	1	1	27	-10
STS Sanok	22	2	19	0	1	7	-53

THL Power Rankings

1. GKS Katowice (Oct Rank – 1): The streak is over! In a month where Katowice only played in four games, it felt like the top clubs wanted their chance to slay the dragon. Katowice would lose twice in November. Their first two losses of the season. Unia Oswiecim broke the streak, while Jastrzębie also picked up a win to end the month. Katowice did smash Cracovia and Sosnowiec to keep their top spot.
2. Unia Oswiecim (Oct Rank – 2): Oswiecim made their case that they’re the best team in the THL, ending Katowice’s streak. They also made a case they’re not consistent enough to win it all. They lost 6-2 to Podhale while also falling to Toruń 4-3. Despite the losses this month, I still feel they’re the second-best club, but the gap is razor-thin.
3. GKS Tychy (Oct Rank – 4): Tychy’s offense won shootouts, while the defense and goaltending carried them in the other games. The offense still has not been great, and they sit second to last in goals for with 66. Defense and goaltending have been outstanding, with the least amount of goals against by nine with 46.
4. Podhale Nowy Targ (Oct Rank – 8): I am finally putting some respect on Podhale’s name. Their offense is becoming too much to contain. In November, they put up at least four goals in each game, besides a shutout loss to Tychy. This included a ten-goal game against Jastrzebie. Wronka and Co. have it down for scoring. The team makes me nervous in net with Pawel Bizub as the starter now with the release of Kevin Lindskoug.
5. KH Torun (Oct Rank – 5): Torun continues to hang out around the middle of the THL. In November, they saw big wins over Jastrzebie and Oswiecim but fell to Cracovia and Sosnowiec. This team has shown a way to hang in each game. Julius Pohjanoksa has been a strong replacement for Markus Ekholm Rosén in goal.
6. JKH GKS Jastrzebie (Oct Rank – 3): After their offense found its footing in October, it all went bad in November. A team that handed GKS Katowice only its second regular season loss fell to sixth? Yes, as although they had that big win, they also lost to Sanok and gave up 18 goals in losses to Podhale and Torun. It was a rough month when this squad never really had it all together. A month where they showed their floor.
7. Zaglebie Sosnowiec (Oct Rank – 6): Sosnowiec continues to hang around. They collected points against everyone they should have beaten and lost to those above them in the standings. This team can win against anyone in the league, but the depth isn’t there for a long-term run. Still, exciting things are happening with the team and their growing fanbase.
8. Cracovia Krakow (Oct Rank – 8): The young players are still struggling to produce, and with no huge star import, the team is just not there. They can pull it together for some decent games and did start the month 3-0, but they finished it going 0-1-2-1. This included a 7-2 blowout by Katowice.
9. STS Sanok (Oct Rank – 9): Let’s just focus on the positives. They won another game this month! That brings their total for the year to two. Karol Bilas is also back from injury, while Dominik Salama has returned to the squad and looked great. Otherwise, the team went 1-5.

THL Players of the Month

November MVP – Krystian Dziubiński (Unia Oswiecim). Dziubiński is our November MVP. The star of the Polish national team posted five goals and three assists in four games. Four of his points came in Osiwecim’s 5-4 streak-ending win over GKS Katowice.

Forward – Bartłomiej Neupauer (Podhale Nowy Targ). The veteran Neupauer formed a solid line with Wronka and Worwa for Podhale. The team’s offense as a whole has been top-notch, while Neupauer added four goals and two assists in four games.

Defenseman – Daniel Krenželok (Cracovia Krakow). Krenželok has been a much-needed highlight for Cracovia. The Czech defender posted ten points (4G-6A-10PTS) in seven games during November. He currently sits second among all defenders in points with 18.

Goalie – Tomas Fucik (GKS Tychy). Fucik continues to be the rock Tychy needs during the offensive dry spell. He leads the THL with a .935 SV% and recorded a 38-save shutout against Torun.

U23 Player – Karol Biłas (STS Sanok). Biłas returned to action for Sanok over the past month. It was a much-needed boost to their defense, and while he has some rust to shake off, he posted two assists in six games.

November’s Top Stories

Nov 8. A couple of teams have made goaltending swaps in Poland. In Sanok, their fans were excited by the return of Finnish goalie Dominik Salama. Salama had played with Sanok to end the 2022 season, and he led the team last year as the starter. The talented goalie should help keep Sanok in more games. Torun also made a change for a Finnish goalie with the signing of Julius Pohjanoksa. Pohjanoksa played in the Liiga for parts of four years while also leading the Mestis in save percentage twice.

Nov 16. JKH GKS Jastrzebie star Marcin Kolusz suffered a broken finger and will be out of action for a few weeks. This was brutal for the club, which had already suffered so many injuries. The number of forwards down forced Kolusz to switch from defense back to his old forward role.

Nov 21. We saw one of the most interesting transfers in a while in Poland. The Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL loaned prospect Marcus Kallionkieli to STS Sanok. For more about the player and transaction, read our piece here.

Nov 30th. In search of something to help shake up their offense, GKS Tychy added an interesting player in Janne Tavi. Tavi is at the journeyman stage of his career but comes with a great resume. He played in 646 Liiga games over 12 seasons. He scored 119 goals and assisted on 156 at the top level of Finnish hockey. The one-time Liiga champ spent last season in the Alps Hockey League, where he recorded 18 points (9G-9A-18PTS) in 27 games.

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