Silesian Metropolis have finished up their fifth EWHL season and, for the second time, have qualified for the postseason. It was a banner year for the club as they finished with their best record in team history. In 22 games, the club finished with 13 wins, 5 losses, 2 overtime wins, and 2 overtime losses. Their record gave them 45 points on the year, which currently sits them second in the standings. The Polish squad was the first team to finish their schedule and will be waiting until March for the playoffs. Many of the EWHL teams still have three or four games remaining in the season. Poland’s top women’s team will likely finish second or third when all games are final.

The team got off to a hot start to the year with a nine game winning streak. They suffered their first loss on November fifth to the EC Graz Huskies. A winning streak that almost takes up half of your season is impressive, especially with all of them being regulation wins. The team would win their next game after the loss to go into the halfway mark at a 10-1 record. The second half of their schedule was much tougher, especially with two games against undefeated Hokiklub Budapest. They did come close to defeating Budapest once with a four three loss, but lost both contests. The team would only pick up five more wins the rest of the year, three in regulation and two in overtime. Despite the sub .500 record to end the year, they finished with a 2-1 win over Lakers Kärnten.

Once again, the leader of the squad was Karolina Pozniewska. The Polish hockey icon produced 27 points (15G-12A-27PTS) in 22 games. This currently has her ranked fourth among all skaters in the league for scoring. A big boost to the squad this year was having goalie Martyna Sass full-time. She gave another brickwall performance with a .941 save percentage in 20 games. Sass currently sits second among goalies in the league in that category, less .001 behind the leader. Veterans Klaudia Chrapek, Olivia Tomczok, Patrycja Sfora, and Wiktoria Dziwok all delivered strong performances as well. The big story this year was the young players that stepped up.

Poland has a great future ahead, and those young talents were on display in the EWHL. Hockey prodigy Malgorzata Zakrzewska finished third on the team in scoring with 12 points (9G-3A-12PTS) in 19 appearances. The 14-year-old forward ranked fourth among U18 skaters for points. 18-year-old forward Maja Brzezińska also finished with 12 points (5G-7A-12PTS) in 20 games. 16-year-old Weronika Huchel added five points (1G-4A-5PTS) of her own. These scoring contributions were key for the team as they only averaged 2.86 goals per game, sixth in the league (12-team league).

Silesian Metropolis will now wait until March to start their playoff run. Many of the players will still be in action during this time. Most are going back to the TLHK to play in the playoffs, while quite a few others are heading over to Slovakia to play in their top women’s league. Most of Silesian Metropolis will also be appearing with the Polish national team at their upcoming four-nations tournament. From February 8th to the 10th, Poland will play Denmark, Great Britain, and Italy. This will be the coaching debut of new national team head coach Joe Butkevich.

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