The 2024 THL season has come to a close. It was a battle of the bottom half teams for seeding to end the year. A few teams moved up and built momentum for the playoffs, while others are going in cold. We will reflect on the final month and what it could mean for the playoffs. Do our final rankings match the THL standings?

THL Standings

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS	Goal Differential
GKS Katowice	40	26	6	7	1	93	+55
Unia Oswiecim	40	25	11	3	1	82	+56
GKS Tychy	40	21	9	6	4	79	+32
JKH GKS Jastrzebie	40	20	12	4	4	72	+37
KH Torun	40	15	20	2	3	52	-12
Cracovia Krakow	40	10	16	6	8	50	-26
Podhale Nowy Targ	40	14	19	1	6	50	-11
Zaglebie Sosnowiec	40	12	22	4	2	46	-16
STS Sanok	40	4	32	0	4	16	-115

THL Power Rankings

1. GKS Katowice (Jan Rank – 1): There’s not much to say about the defending champs who kept their ship steady while coasting into the playoffs. They had already clinched the top spot early in the month but would drop two of their seven games. Katowice will look to win their third straight championship in the playoffs. They were never once not our top-ranked team.
2. Unia Oswiecim (Jan Rank – 2): Oswiecim fought to keep their second seed. Despite losing to GKS Tychy to open the month, they finished with a 5-2 record to stay three points ahead. Osiwecim has been on the losing end of the championship and bronze medal game the past two seasons. Could this be the year Oswiecim finally takes it all? They haven’t been the champs of Poland since winning seven straight from 1998 to 2004.
3. GKS Tychy (Jan Rank – 3): Tychy had a chance to jump into the number two spot. They got off to the start they needed by shutting out Oswiecim two to nothing. They would then lose their next two games to Jastrzebie (7-3) and Cracovia (3-2 SOL). They would finish the month with a 3-1-2 record. Tychy is a weird team to judge going into the playoffs. They are the only THL club to allow under 100 goals, with only 92 against this year. They also only scored 124 goals, at least 26 less than every other team that finished top four in the standings.
4. JKH GKS Jastrzebie (Jan Rank – 4): Jastrzebie, like all the other teams in the top half of playoff seeding, finished with a primarily solid month. The club went 5-2 with the only the notable result in my opinion being the 6-2 defeat at the hands of Oswiecim. Jastrzebie is a good, if inconsistent, team. Do they have what it takes to run through a rough playoff schedule? It’s easy to say when this is published after the playoffs have started, but Torun was surging late in the year and is not a pushover.
5. KH Torun (Dec Rank – 6): One of our only changes in the rankings as Torun jumps Podhale. Torun showed their potential by beating both GKS Katowice and Unia Oswiecim. They also fell to both Podhale and Sosnowiec in overtime. Their offense took a step up, averaging 3.8 goals per game. I did pick Torun to pull off an upset over Jastrzebie in the playoffs. When firing on all cylinders, Torun can be a top club in Poland.
6. Podhale Nowy Targ (Dec Rank – 5): Podhale was always a wildcard this year, and it stayed that way in the final month with a 3-4 record. They allowed as little as 16 shots in a game and then had multiple games where their goalies faced 50. They allowed the third most goals this year and scored the fourth most. They might not be the most challenging first-round matchup, but they will be the most annoying.
7. Zaglebie Sosnowiec (Dec Rank – 8): Sosnowiec finished the year strong with a 5-1 record. Their lone loss was to the top of our power rankings, GKS Katowice. It seems they are starting to put it all together, with Patrik Spesny having a great month and Riley Lindgren producing well. They didn’t have enough time to catch up in the standings, but they won’t make it easy for Katowice in round one.
8. Cracovia Krakow (Jan Rank – 7): Cracovia finished their season, going 3-3 in the final month. They have been about as average as you can get. The veterans are not lighting the world on fire, but Bezwiński and Brynkus have been the best young players in the league,
9. STS Sanok (Jan Rank – 9): At least the season is over. They picked up zero points in their final month with a depleted roster. Filip Swiderski was given a rough task in net, but the young goalie was pretty solid.

Playoff Match Ups

(1) GKS Katowice vs. (8) Zaglebie Sosnowiec

(2) Unia Oswiecim vs. (7) Cracovia Krakow

(3) GKS Tychy vs. (6) Podhale Nowy Targ

(4) JKH GKS Jastrzebie vs. (5) KH Torun

THL Players of the Month

February MVP – Patryk Wronka (Podhale Nowy Targ). With Alan Lyszczarczyk out with an injury, Wronka had a wide-open lane to the regular season scoring title. He took full advantage, posting two goals and ten assists in just five games. His 12 points see him end the year with 55, eight more than any other skater.

Forward – Ruslan Bashirov (KH Torun). Our top forward spot goes to KH Torun’s Kazakh sniper. He scored six goals and assisted on three in six games during the month. This was despite some lower lineup spots. Almost half of his points this season came in February alone.

Defenseman – Kamil Gorny (JKH GKS Jastrzebie). Gorny has continued to play top minutes for Jastrzebie and remains one of the best defenders in the country. He posted four assists and scored once in five games during the month.

Goalie – Patrik Spesny (Zaglebie Sosnowiec). Sosnowiec had a huge month; a big part of that was Spesny. He finished with a .959 SV% across five games, posting two shutouts. If he can keep that play up in the playoffs, Sosnoweic will be a force.

U23 Player – Filip Swiderski (STS Sanok). Swiderski was put in a rough situation and faced 250 shots over just six games (five starts). He finished with a .872 SV% while taking over the starting role for Sanok to finish the year.

February’s Top Stories

Feb 1st. Peter Bezuška played his 400th game with Unia Oswiecim. He joins the short list of imports to play over 400 matches in the THL. The Slovak defender is second all-time in games among imports with Oswiecim and seventh among all imports in league history.

Feb 1st. Grzegorz Pasiut stepped down as captain of GKS Katowice. He had been wearing the C on his chest since the 2020 season. The team’s leading scorer, Finnish forward Joona Monto, has taken over as captain. Pasiut has remained at the top of Katowice’s lineup.

Feb 2nd. Róbert Kaláber has been extended by JKH GKS Jastrzebie on a three-year deal. The 54-year-old Slovak head coach has led the club since the 2015 season. Recently, this year, Kaláber also signed an extension to remain the leader of the men’s national team.

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